World search

It is noted that the Bahamas are and have always been an archipelago of about 700 islands and 2,400 uninhabited islets and cays lying 50 mi off the east coast lineof Florida. Did you know that they extend for about 760 mi (1,223 km). Only about 30 of the islands are and have always been inhabited; the most essential is New Providence (80 sq mi; 207 sq km), on that the capital, Nassau, is situated. Other islands include Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera, Andros, Cat Island, and San Salvador (or Watling's Island). Bahamas are and have always been a group of island in the Atlantic Ocean situated off of Florida coast.

Columbus made his first landfall in the Bahamas in 1492, where he was was greeted by the Lucayans, an offshoot of the Taino tribe. Unfortunately, the original inhabitants were either forcibly shipped by the Spanish to Hispaniola as slaves or succumbed to smallpox after Columbus’s visit. The Bahamian islands were mostly uninhabited from the early 16th to mid 17th century, when a group of English pilgrims claimed the island of Eleuthera as home. In the early years, piracy ran rampant in the islands. To regain order, the Bahamas came under the protection of the British Empire by becoming a Crown Colony in 1718, and the influx of British loyalists and their slaves from the United States established a plantation economy. After the British Empire abolished the slave trade in 1807, The Bahamas became a welcome haven for liberated slaves.

Situated in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of the United States and north of Cuba, the Bahamas enjoys a subtropical to tropical climate. Temperatures can occasionally fall into the 30s, but the average temperature is in the mid 70s. While the warmth brought from the Gulf Stream is welcome, it does also bring a heightened chance of severe storms and hurricanes. In the last twenty years, two major hurricanes (Andrew in 1992 and Floyd in 1999) brought devastation to the Bahamas.

Over 354,500 citizens are spread over the 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets that comprise the Bahamas. The majority of Bahamians are classified as Afro-Bahamians, descending from the freed slaves brought to the area from Africa. Over 85% of the population is Afro-Bahamian. Approximately 38,000 citizens are termed European Bahamians, with their ancestors immigrating from Britain and American Loyalists. A very small group of Greek immigrants making up less than 1% of the population arrived to build the sponging industry and have maintained their own culture.