The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is an English-speaking nation. It is an archipelago of 700 islands and cays. The Bahamas is located in the Atlantic Ocean, east of Florida and the United States, north of Cuba and the Caribbean, and northwest of the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

History

Paleo-Indians may have populated the area previously, Taino Indians from Hispaniola and Cuba moved into the southern Bahamas around the seventh century AD and became the Lucayans. There were an estimated 40,000 Lucayans at the time of Columbus' arrival.

Christopher Columbus' first landfall in the New World was on the island of San Salvador, also called Watling's Island, in the south part of Bahamas. Here, Columbus made contact with the Lucayans and exchanged goods with them.

The Bahamian Lucayans were taken to Hispaniola as slaves; in two decades, many Lucayan societies ceased to exist, as the population endured considerable forced labour, warfare, disease, emigration and outmarriage. After the Lucayan population was decimated, the Bahamian islands were virtually unoccupied until the English settlers came from Bermuda in 1647. The so-called Eleutherian Adventurers established settlements on the island of Eleuthera.

The Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718. Some 8,000 loyalists and their slaves moved to the Bahamas in the late 1700s from New York, Florida and the Carolinas.The United Kingdom Emancipation Act took force on August 1, 1834, thereby ending slavery in the Bahamas. This led to many fugitive slaves from the US braving the perils of the Atlantic for the promise of a free life in the Bahamas.

The British made the islands internally self-governing in 1964 and, in 1973, Bahamians got full independence while staying a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The country's black majority was economically oppressed and socially excluded, in a situation comparable to that of the southern United States, until the late 1960s when the party of the black majority was elected into power under the leadership of Sir Lynden Pindling. Since the 1950s, the Bahamian economy has prospered based on the twin pillars of tourism and financial services. Today, the country enjoys the third highest per capita income in the western hemisphere, and the highest in the Caribbean (excluding the dependent territories of Bermuda and the Cayman Islands). Despite this, the country still faces significant challenges in areas such as education, healthcare, international narcotics traffiking, correctional facilities and illegal immigration. The urban renewal project has been launched in recent years to help build up delapidated urban areas and social decline in the main islands.

Some say the name 'Bahamas' derives from the Spanish for baja mar, meaning "shallow seas." Others trace it to the Lucayan word for Grand Bahama Island, ba-ha-ma ("large upper middle land").

Geography

The closest island to the United States is Bimini also known as the gateway to the Bahamas. The island of Abaco is to the east of Grand Bahama. The most southeastern island is Inagua. Other notable islands include Andros Island, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, San Salvador, Acklins, Crooked Island, Exuma and Mayaguana. Nassau is the capital and largest city, located on New Providence. The islands have a subtropical climate, moderated by the Gulf Stream.



In the southeast, the Caicos Islands and the Turks 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 in 1992, and Hurricane Floyd hit most of the islands in 1999. Hurricane Frances 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 tidal surges and high winds destroyed homes and schools, floated graves and made roughly 1,000 people homeless, most of which lived on the west coast of the island. The homeless people were stuck without food, water and resources.

Government and Politics

The Bahamas is an independent country and member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom.

The non-resident Queen of the Bahamas is the ceremonial head of state, represented by a Bahamian governor-general. Prime Minister is the head of government and is the leader of the party with the most seats in the elected House of Assembly. The current Governor is Arthur Dion Hanna and the current Prime Minister is Perry Christie. The upper house - or Senate - is appointed. Executive power is exercised by the cabinet. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament.

The party system is 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 include 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. The Bahamas is a member of the Caribbean Community. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on English common law.

Demographics

Eighty-five percent of the Bahamian population is of African heritage. About two-thirds of the population lives on New Providence Island (the location of Nassau). And about half of the remaining one-third lives on Grand Bahama (the location of Freeport).

The islands were sparsely settled and a haven for pirates until the late 1700s when thousands of British loyalists and their slaves were given compensatory land grants following the American Revolution. At the turn of the 20th century the total population was only 53,000.

School attendance is compulsory between the ages of five and 16. There are 158 public schools and 52 private schools in The Bahamas catering to more than 66,000 students. The College of The Bahamas, established in Nassau in 1974, provides programmes leading to bachelors and associate degrees. The college is now converting from a 2-year to a 4-year institution.

Culture and sports

Junkanoo celebration in the BahamasBahamian culture is a hybrid of African and European influences. Perhaps its most famous expression is a rhythmic form of music called junkanoo. Aside from Junkanoo, other indigenous forms of music include rake and scrape, calypso, and a unique form of hymnal, known internationally through the music of the late Joseph Spence. Marching bands are also an important part of life, playing at funerals, weddings and other ceremonial events.

In the less developed outer islands - islands outside the capital Nassau, known as the Out Islands or Family Islands - crafts include basketry made from palm fronds. This material, commonly called "straw", is also plaited into hats and bags that are popular tourist items today.

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.

A strongly religious country, there are more places of worship per person in the Bahamas than many other nations in the world. The islands are overwhelmingly Protestant Christian (over 80%). Baptists form the largest denomination (about one third), followed by the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. As of 2006, one out of 191 in the population was a Jehovah's Witness[citation needed].

A few people, especially in the southern and eastern islands, practice Obeah, a spiritistic religion similar to Voodoo. Voodoo is also practiced by the large number of immigrants from Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and Dominican Republic. While well-known throughout the Bahamas, Obeah and Voodoo are shunned by many Bahamians.

Officially, the national sport of the Bahamas is cricket. However, this fact is not widely known nor is cricket widely played in the Bahamas. Although British sports like cricket, soccer and rugby have some following, American sports such as basketball, softball, baseball and American football are more popular. In addition, track and field is very popular in the Bahamas.

Bahamians have won Olympic gold medals in sailing (Sir Durwood Knowles and Cecile Cooke - 1964), and track and field (Tonique Williams-Darling - 400m (2004) and women's relay team - 4 x 100 (2000)).

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  Coat of Arms
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  Paradise Island
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  Nassau