The Bahamas (), officially the
Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an
English-speaking country consisting of 29
islands, 661
cays, and 2,387
orcs. It is located in the
Atlantic Ocean north of
Cuba,
Hispaniola (
Dominican Republic and
Haiti) and the
Caribbean Sea, northwest of the
Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the
United States of America. Its size is almost 14 000 km² with an estimated population of 330,000. Its capital is
Nassau. It is a
Commonwealth realm.
History
Taino people moved into the uninhabited southern Bahamas from
Hispaniola and
Cuba around the 7th century AD. These people came to be known as the
Lucayans. There were an estimated 30,000+ Lucayans at the time of Columbus's arrival in 1492.
Christopher Columbus's first landfall in the
New World was on an island named San Salvador (known to the Lucayans as
Guanahani), which is generally accepted to be present-day
San Salvador Island, (also known as Watling's Island) in the southeastern Bahamas. An alternative theory is that Columbus landed to the southeast on
Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 by
National Geographic writer and editor
Joseph Judge based on Columbus's log; this remains inconclusive. On the island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayans and exchanged goods with them.
The Spaniards who followed Columbus depopulated the islands, carrying most of the indigenous people off into slavery. The Lucayans throughout the Bahamas were wiped out by exposure to
diseases to which they had no immunity. The
smallpox that ravaged the Taino Indians after Columbus's arrival wiped out half of the population in what is now the Bahamas. It is generally assumed that the islands were uninhabited until the mid-17th century. However, recent research suggests that there may have been attempts to settle the islands by groups from Spain, France, and Britain, as well as by other Amerindians. In 1648, the
Eleutherian Adventurers migrated from
Bermuda. These English Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on an island which they named
Eleuthera—the name derives from the Greek word for freedom. They later settled New Providence, naming it Sayle's Island after one of their leaders. To survive, the settlers resorted to
salvaged goods from wrecks.
In 1670
King Charles II granted the islands to the
Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas, who rented the islands from the king with rights of trading, tax, appointing
governors, and administering the country.
During proprietary rule, the Bahamas became a haven for
pirates, including the infamous
Blackbeard. To restore orderly government, the Bahamas were made a British
crown colony in 1718 under the royal governorship of
Woodes Rogers, who, after a difficult struggle, succeeded in suppressing piracy.
During the
American Revolutionary War, the islands were a target for American naval forces under the command of Commodore
Ezekial Hopkins. The capital of Nassau on the island of New Providence was occupied by
US Marines for a
fortnight.
In 1782, after the British defeat at
Yorktown, a Spanish fleet appeared off the coast of Nassau, which surrendered without fight. But the 1783
Treaty of Versailles—which ended the global conflict between Britain, France and Spain—returned the Bahamas to British sovereignty.
After the American Revolution, some 7,300
loyalists and their slaves moved to the Bahamas from New York, Florida and the Carolinas. These Americans established plantations on several islands and became a political force in the capital. The small population became mostly African from this point on.
The British abolished the
slave trade in 1807, which led to the forced settlement on Bahamian islands of thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the
Royal Navy. Slavery itself was finally abolished in the
British Empire on
August 1 1834.
Modern political development began after the
Second World War. The first political parties were formed in the 1950s and the British made the islands internally self-governing in 1964, with Roland Symonette of the United Bahamian Party as the first premier.
In 1967,
Lynden Pindling of the Progressive Liberal Party became the first black premier of the colony, and in 1968 the title was changed to prime minister. In 1973, the Bahamas became fully independent, but retained membership in the
Commonwealth of Nations. Sir Milo Butler was appointed the first black governor-general (the representative of Queen Elizabeth II) shortly after independence.
Based on the twin pillars of tourism and offshore finance, the Bahamian economy has prospered since the 1950s. However, there remain significant challenges in areas such as education, health care, international narcotics trafficking and illegal immigration from Haiti.
The origin of the name "Bahamas" is unclear. It may derive from the Spanish
baja mar, meaning "shallow seas"; or the Lucayan word for Grand Bahama Island,
ba-ha-ma "large upper middle land".
Geography and climate
thumb|250px|The Bahamas from space. Aqua satellite image, 2009/" class="wiki">NASA
Aqua satellite image, 2009
Map of the Bahamas
The closest island to the United States is
Bimini, which is also known as the gateway to the Bahamas. The island of
Abaco is to the east of
Grand Bahama, also known as the "Big Island". The southeasternmost island is
Great Inagua. Other notable islands include the Bahamas' largest island,
Andros Island, and
Eleuthera,
Cat Island,
Long Island,
San Salvador Island,
Acklins,
Crooked Island,
Exuma and
Mayaguana.
Nassau, the Bahamas capital city, lies on the island of
New Providence.
All the islands are low and flat, with ridges that usually rise no more than . The highest point in the country is Mount Alvernia, formerly called Como Hill, which has an altitude of on Cat Island.
To the southeast, the
Turks and Caicos Islands, and three more extensive submarine features called
Mouchoir Bank,
Silver Bank, and
Navidad Bank, are geographically a continuation of the Bahamas, but not part of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
The climate of the Bahamas is subtropical to tropical, and is moderated significantly by the waters of the
Gulf Stream, particularly in winter. Conversely, this often proves very dangerous in the summer and autumn, when hurricanes pass near or through the islands.
Hurricane Andrew hit the northern islands during the
1992 Atlantic hurricane season, and
Hurricane Floyd hit most of the islands during the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season.
Hurricane Frances hit in 2004; the Atlantic hurricane season of 2004 was expected to be the worst ever for the islands. Also in 2004, the northern Bahamas were hit by a less potent
Hurricane Jeanne. In 2005 the northern islands were once again struck, this time by
Hurricane Wilma. In Grand Bahama, storm surges and high winds destroyed homes and schools, floated graves and made roughly 1,000 people homeless, most of whom lived on the west coast of the island.
While there has never been a freeze reported in the Bahamas, the temperature can fall as low as 2–3 °C during Arctic outbreaks that affect nearby Florida. Snow has been reported to have mixed with rain in Freeport in January, 1977, the same time that it snowed in the Miami area. The temperature was about 5 °C at the time.
Districts
The districts of the Bahamas provide a system of local government everywhere in The Bahamas except
New Providence, whose affairs are handled directly by the central government. The districts other than New Providence are:
Government and politics
thumb|[[Parliament of the Bahamas|Bahamian Parliament, located in downtown
Nassau]]
thumb|Prime Minister Hubert IngrahamThe Bahamas is a sovereign
independent nation. Political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom and the
Westminster system.
The Bahamas is a member of the
Commonwealth of Nations, with
Queen Elizabeth II as
head of state (represented by a
Governor-General).
Legislative power is vested in a
bicameral parliament, which consists of a 41-member
House of Assembly (the
lower house), with members elected from
single-member districts, and a 16-member
Senate, with members appointed by the governor-general, including nine on the advice of the prime minister, four on the advice of the leader of the opposition, and three on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition. The House of Assembly carries out all major legislative functions. As under the Westminster system, the prime minister may dissolve parliament and call a general election at any time within a five-year term.
The
Prime Minister is the
head of government and is the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Assembly.
Executive power is exercised by the cabinet, selected by the Prime Minister and drawn from his supporters in the House of Assembly. The current Governor-General is
Arthur Dion Hanna and the current
Prime Minister is
Hubert Ingraham.
The Bahamas has a largely
two-party system dominated by the
centre-left Progressive Liberal Party and the
centre-right Free National Movement. A handful of splinter parties have been unable to win election to parliament. These parties have included the
Bahamas Democratic Movement, the
Coalition for Democratic Reform and the Bahamian Nationalist Party.
Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. Although the Bahamas is not geographically located in the Caribbean, it is a member of the
Caribbean Community. The
judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on
English law.
Demographics
Population: 309,156 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure: 0–14 years: 25.9% (male 40,085; female 38,959)
15–64 years: 67.2% (male 102,154; female 105,482)
65 years and over: 6.9% (male 8,772; female 12,704) (2009 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.536% (2009 est.)
Birth rate: 16.81 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate: 9.32 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
Net migration rate: -2.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 23.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 69.87 years.
Female: 73.49 years (2002 est.)
Male: 66.32 years
Total fertility rate: 2.28 children born/woman (2002 est.)
Nationality: noun: Bahamian(s)
Adjective: Bahamian ()
Ethnic groups: 85% Black, 12% White, 3% Asian
Religions: Baptist 32%, Anglican 20%, Roman Catholic 19%, Methodist 6%, Church of God 6%, other Protestant 12%, none or unknown 3%, other 2% The 'other' category includes Jews, Muslims, Baha'is, Hindus, Rastafarians, and practitioners of
Obeah.
[ – accessed 8 August 2008]Languages: English (official), Bahamian Dialect,
Literacy (age 15+): total population: 98.2%
male: 98.5%
female: 98% (1995 est.)
Culture
In the less developed outer islands, handicrafts include basketry made from palm fronds. This material, commonly called "straw", is plaited into hats and bags that are popular tourist items. Another use is for so-called "Voodoo dolls," even though such dolls are the result of the American imagination and not based on historic fact.
Obeah, a religion of folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices derived from Central and West African origins, is practiced in some of the Family Islands (out-islands) of the Bahamas.
Junkanoo is a street parade of music, dance, and art held in many cities of the Bahamas every
Boxing Day,
New Year's Day and also held for other holidays such as Fox Hill Day.
Regattas are important social events in many family island settlements. They usually feature one or more days of sailing by old-fashioned
work boats, as well as an onshore festival.
Some settlements have festivals associated with the traditional crop or food of that area, such as the "Pineapple Fest" in Gregory Town,
Eleuthera or the "Crab Fest" on Andros. Other significant traditions include
story telling.
See also
Member of:
