Editing Turks and Caicos Islands (section)

===19th century===
In 1807, Britain prohibited the slave trade and, in 1833, [[Abolition of slavery|abolished slavery]] in its colonies.<ref name="britannica.com"/> British ships sometimes intercepted slave traders in the Caribbean, and some ships were wrecked off the coast of these islands. In 1837, the ''Esperança,'' a Portuguese slaver, was wrecked off East Caicos, one of the larger islands. While the crew and 220 captive Africans survived the shipwreck, 18 Africans died before the survivors were taken to Nassau. Africans from this ship may have been among the 189 liberated Africans whom the British colonists settled in the Turks and Caicos from 1833 to 1840.<ref name="sadler">{{cite book |chapter-url={{GBurl|RZna-xKapDIC|pg=PA209}} |first=Nigel |last=Sadler |chapter=The Sinking of the Slave Ship ''Trouvadore'': Linking the Past to the Present |title=Underwater and Maritime Archaeology in Latin America and the Caribbean |series=One World Archaeology |volume=56 |editor-first=Margaret E. |editor-last=Leshikar-Denton |editor2-first=Pilar Luna |editor2-last=Erreguerena|editor-link=Margaret Leshikar-Denton |publisher=Left Coast Press |location=Walnut Creek, CA |isbn=9781598742626 |date=2008 |pages=209–220}}</ref>{{rp|p=211}}

In 1841, the ''[[Trouvadore]]'', an illegal Spanish slave ship, was wrecked off the coast of East Caicos. All of the 20-man crew and 192 captive Africans survived the sinking. Officials freed the Africans and arranged for 168 persons to be [[apprenticed]] to island proprietors on Grand Turk for one year. They increased the small population of the colony by seven per cent.<ref name="sadler"/>{{rp|p=212}} The remaining 24 were resettled in [[Nassau, Bahamas]]. The Spanish crew were also taken there, to be turned over to the custody of the Cuban consul and taken to Cuba for prosecution.<ref name="sutton"/> An 1878 letter documents the "Trouvadore Africans" and their descendants as constituting an essential part of the "labouring population" on the islands.<ref name="sadler"/>{{rp|p=210}} In 2004, marine archaeologists affiliated with the Turks and Caicos National Museum discovered a wreck, called the "Black Rock Ship", that subsequent research has suggested might be that of the ''Trouvadore''. In November 2008, a cooperative marine archaeology expedition, funded by the United States [[National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration]], confirmed that the wreck has artifacts whose style and date of manufacture link them to the ''Trouvadore''.<ref name="sadler"/><ref name="sutton">{{cite news |last=Sutton |first=Jane |date=25 November 2008 |title=Shipwreck may hold key to Turks and Caicos' lineage |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shipwreck-slaves-idUSTRE4AP0OH20081126 |url-status=live |editor-last=Trott |editor-first=Bill |publisher=[[Reuters]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016043117/http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/11/26/us-shipwreck-slaves-idUSTRE4AP0OH20081126 |archive-date=2015-10-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Schmid |first=Randolph E. |date=26 November 2008 |title=Researchers find wreck of slave ship |url=https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/north/2008/11/27/researchers-find-wreck-slave-ship/52182486007/ |url-status=live |work=[[Telegram & Gazette]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304213412/http://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/north/2008/11/27/researchers-find-wreck-slave-ship/52182486007/ |archive-date=2022-03-04}}</ref>

In 1848, Britain designated the Turks and Caicos as a separate colony under a [[Council President of the Turks of Caicos|council president]].<ref name="britannica.com"/> In 1873–4, the islands were made part of the Jamaica colony;<ref name="britannica.com"/> in 1894, the chief colonial official was restyled [[Commissioner of the Turks and Caicos Islands|commissioner]]. In 1917, Canadian Prime Minister [[Robert Borden]] suggested that [[Proposed Canadian annexation of the Turks and Caicos Islands|the Turks and Caicos join Canada]], but this suggestion was rejected by British Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] and the islands remained a dependency of Jamaica.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kersell |first=John E. |year=1988 |title=Government administration in a very small microstate: Developing the Turks and Caicos Islands |journal=Public Administration and Development |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=169–181 |doi=10.1002/pad.4230080206}}</ref>