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Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands (the smaller of the two archipelagos that make up the island nation) with . Grand Turk contains the territory's capital, Cockburn Town and the JAGS McCartney International Airport. The island is the administrative, historic, cultural and financial center of the territory, and has the second largest population of the islands at approximately 3,720 people. Grand Turk was first colonised in 1681 by Bermudians, who set up the salt industry in the islands.〔(About Grand Turk - Visit Turks and Caicos Islands )〕 In 1766 it became the capital of the country. For some time, at least until the early 19th century, Grand Turk was often referred to as Grand Cay, not to be confused with either Grand Cay in the Bahamas or Grand Cayman. The name comes from a species of cactus on the island, the Turk's Cap Cactus (''Melocactus intortus''), which has a distinctive cap, reminiscent of an Ottoman fez. Grand Turk gained international attention in 1962 when John Glenn's ''Friendship 7'' Mercury spacecraft landed in the vicinity of Grand Turk Island off the southeast shoreline. A replica of the ''Friendship 7'' is on display in Grand Turk at the entrance to the Grand Turk Island airport.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=History of the Turks and Caicos Islands )〕 In 1966 at least five Arcas (All-Purpose Rocket for Collecting Atmospheric Soundings) sounding rockets were launched from Grand Turk Island by the USA. ==Columbus landfall theory== It is possibly the landfall island of Christopher Columbus during his discovery of the New World in 1492.〔Dyson, John. ''Columbus: For Gold, God, and Glory'', (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Madison Press Books, 1991), p. 164-165. ISBN 0-340-48794-1〕 San Salvador Island or Samana Cay in the Bahamas is traditionally considered the site of Columbus' first landfall, but some believe that studies of Columbus' journals show that his descriptions of Guanahani much more closely fit Grand Turk than they do other candidates. File:Caribbean winter 2008 2009 2 998.JPG|Replica of the ''Friendship 7'' File:GrandTurkFromSpace-2009-ByNASA.jpg|Grand Turk Island as seen from space in 2009 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grand Turk Island」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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