The Turks Islands are believed to have been settled by Amerindians since at least 900 AD, they were then discovered by Christopher Columbus and his crew in approximately 1492. Within 20 years of the Spaniards' arrival, the local population had been eradicated by a combination of slavery and disease. Bermudan 'wrackers' first visited the Turks Islands to rake salt between 1660 and 1730, signaling the start of the local salt industry. Between 1710 and 1764 the islands were colonized by Spain, France and Britain. Slaves on the Turks and Caicos Islands saw the opportunities proffered by the traffic of sailing boats and a significant number of them boarded unattended boats, sailing away from their masters. In 1767 the Government reacted to this development by holding any sailor who left sails on his boat overnight financially liable for any slaves who escaped upon it.In 1799 the Turks and Caicos Islands were placed under the jurisdiction of the British colony of the Bahamas, but tensions between the two colonies made the arrangement unsustainable and in 1848 the Turks and Caicos Islands were permitted to govern themselves. The islands struggled to govern themselves economically between 1848 and 1873, so in 1874 the Turks Islands were transferred to Jamaica. The slaves on the Islands were released in 1838, after an apprenticeship of 4 years. Whilst Jamaica became independent in 1962, the Turks and Caicos Islands have chosen to remain a British Overseas Colony; the colony gained its first self-elected government in 1976.