Bahamas

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is a sovereign state, and also an English-speaking nation in the West Indies. 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
History of the Bahamas
Although Paleo-Indians may have populated the area previously, Taino Indians from Hispaniola and Cuba moved into the southern Bahamas around the 7th 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 U.S.A 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. Since the 1950s, the Bahamian economy has prospered based on the twin pillars of tourism and financial services. Despite this, the country still faces significant challenges in areas such as education, healthcare, correctional facilities and violent crime and illegal immigration. The urban renewal project has been launched in recent years to help impoverished urban areas in social decline in the main islands. Today, the country enjoys the third highest per capita income in the western hemisphere.

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 of 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. The homeless people were stuck without food, water and resources.

Government and politics
More information on politics and government of the Bahamas can be found at Politics of the Bahamas, the main article in the Politics and government of the Bahamas series.

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, Elizabeth II, 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 Sr. 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.

Economy
Main article: Economy of the Bahamas

Atlantis, a resort hotel in the BahamasThe Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. The Bahamas is generally reckoned to be one of the leading offshore financial centres.

Tourism alone accounts for more than 75% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs almost half of the labour force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences have led to solid GDP growth in recent years.

Manufacturing and agriculture together contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors. Overall growth prospects in the short run rest heavily on the fortunes of the tourism sector, which depends on growth in the United States, the source of the majority of tourist visitors.

The unemployment rate has fallen to 7.6% in 2006, from 10.2% in 2005 primarily due to the construction of several large resort developments throughout the country. In the two most populated islands in The Bahamas, unemployement fell from 10.9 percent to 6.6 percent in New Providence, and from 11 percent to 8.4 percent in Grand Bahama. The estimated poverty rate in 2004 was 9.3%.

In addition, the average household income has increased to $43,420 from $38,894 in 2005.

The Bahamian and United States dollars are both distributed on a 1:1 exchange.

Demographics of the Bahamas
Main article: Demographics of the Bahamas
The country's population has a mixed ancestry, officially 85% black, 12% white and 3% mixed. The origin of African-descended Bahamians has been traced from Yoruba, Congo, and Angola among other areas. There is a significant proportion of the black population that descends from Haitians, and an ongoing flux of immigration from that country. Caucasian Bahamians descend largely from loyalists who migrated from the southern United States, but Irish, British and a significant Greek ancestry is also present. Some Amerindian heritage has also been incorporated into the demographic pool. The islands are also home of a significant expatriate population of Americans, Canadians and British.

The official language of the country is English. The majority of the population speak a creolised version known as Bahamian Dialect; the other principle language is Haitian Creole among people of Haitian origin.

At independence the Bahamas had one of the fastest growing populations in the world; however family planning initiatives among other factors have caused rates to stabilise and decline. The current population is estimated at 300,000. Half the country's population are under the age of 30.

Culture and sports
See also: Culture of the Bahamas

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.

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

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, football 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)). (Credit: Wikipedia)

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