Tiki Rums - what and why?

I was poking through the Grogalizer earlier and noticed some of the rums listed - like Dark Jamaican Rum and Dark Puerto Rican Rum and Dark West Indies Rum. I've always been kinda curious about such "Tiki Rums" - how are they different and what makes them different and why were they chosen? For some reason today I got the urge to investigate and research the differences as much as possible, to dig into the root of Donn and Vic's selections, and to deeply investigate the differences between them.

I'm also curious about why these recipes never list something like "Gold Anguilla Rum" or "Dark Nicaraguan Rum" yet they do find special use for the demerara of Guyana. For some reason that seems strange to me.

I figure there's no place to start researching Tiki Rums than Tiki Central? What are your thoughts?

And any pointers to websites or books are appreciated - I will be breaking out my Trader Vic and Donn Beach books tonight to see if I can find any clues.

Not an expert in this subject, but I do suspect that a lot of it has had to do with availability. Jeff Berry told me that even back in the day ('40s - '60s) Bacardi had a pretty good lock on the market in the U.S. That's why so many recipes call for Bacardi or Puerto Rican rum. Since Jamaica and Guyana were British colonies until 1962 and 1966 respectively, it's possible that Jamaican and demerara rums were more widely distributed than say Nicaraguan rums.