The bahamas

Brief overview of the Bahamas

The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and 88% of its population. The archipelagic state consists of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the U.S. state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defense Force describes The Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km² of ocean space.

The name Bahamas is derived from the Lucayan name Bahama ('large upper middle island'), used by the indigenous Taíno people for the island of Grand Bahama. Tourist guides often state that the name comes from the Spanish baja mar ('shallow sea')

Did you know?

Only 30 of the total 700 islands in the Bahamas are inhabited. It is home to the deepest blue hole, and you can swim with pigs there. While the country drives on the left, you can surprisingly find some cars with steering on the left side while some with steering on the right side. The Bahamas is one of the two countries whose official name begins with the word “the”. Wondering which is the other? It is “the Gambia”. The Bahamas is right on the edge of the infamous Bermuda Triangle. The Bahamas have a magnificent underwater cave system. The sea was 250 feet low than its present level during the glacial period. Acid rain eroded the limestone in the island and lead to the formation of vertical and horizontal caves.

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CULTURE/RELIGION/TRADITIONS

The Bahamas national flag

The Bahamas has a rich tradition of oral histories, featuring folktales and legends, heroic tales, and fairy tales that have been passed down through the generations by word of mouth. Written literary works include poetry, historical accounts, and novels. Bahamian storytelling is a much-revered art and these tales told often carry witty messages. The Bahamian cuisine includes seafood like fish, crab, and shellfish which are an integral part of Bahamian cuisine. Other foods widely consumed throughout the country include rice, tropical fruits, potatoes, pork, and peas, while onions, garlic, coconut, cinnamon, chili peppers, are lime are common seasonings in Bahamian dishes. A large part of the food consumed in the Bahamas is also imported from other countries.

Bahamians are Protestant Christians, and Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations account for 12% and 13% of the population, respectively. Relatively speaking Bahamians take religion seriously. Most are devout Christians About 80 percent are Protestant, and 20 percent are Roman Catholic. The largest Protestant denominations are Baptist and Anglican. Obeah is an African system of belief in spirits that often is superimposed on Christianity. It is not uncommon for everyday speech to the peppered with verses from the Bible and government programs or events and opened with short prayers. Sunday is a day for church going and prayer.

Cricket is the national sport of The Bahamas. The sport has been played on the islands since 1846, and the Bahamas Cricket Association was formed in 1936. Other popular spectator sports played in The Bahamas include baseball, basketball, American football, rugby, and netball. Boxing, swimming, and tennis are also common. Music and dance are an integral part of the life in The Bahamas. Various celebrations held throughout the year include song and dance shows, spectacular parades, and concerts. Calypso, reggae and soca, which are styles of Afro-Caribbean music, are popular in The Bahamas. Junkanoo, which is a street parade that includes music, dance, and costumes of Akan origin, is a celebration held annually on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Goatskin drums and cowbells are used to create much of the music that is part of Junkanoo. Rake-and-scrape is another popular style of music in The Bahamas, which uses Goombay drums, concertinas (a free-reed musical instrument), and handsaws.

FACTS ABOUT BAHAMAS

The Bahamas at a glance

POPULATION SIZE & PEOPLE:

The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. It has a total area of 13,880 square km. Nassau is its capital and largest city.

The country has an estimated population of (2024 est.) 409,000 which includes the following ethnic groups: Black (90.6%); White (4.7%); and mixed (Black and White, 2.1%). English is the official language of The Bahamas, and Christianity is the predominant religion. More specifically, 69.9% of

LANGUAGE: Bahamas’ official language is English. The English spoken is known as Bahamian English, which is a product of British English coupled with rich linguistic influences, rooted in the African languages of the slave trade. The language has also been shaped by diverse settlers and British colonialism. Creole is used among Haitian immigrants.

ECONOMY:

Its official currency is Bahamian dollar (BSD). In terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas. Most consumer goods are imported. Farming is unimportant except for a small amount of subsistence gardening in out-island settlements. Tourism accounts for about half the gross domestic product and nearly half of all jobs. The annual per capita income is approximately $10,000, there is little taxation, inflation ranges between 5 and 10 percent, and the unemployment rate is 15 to 20 percent. Commercial farming of cotton, pineapples, and sisal has had little success.

Commercial fishing is moderately important, with most of the catch frozen and exported. Sponge fishing is nearly defunct. Cottage industries that produce straw, shells, and wooden items cater to local residents and tourists. Hotels, casinos, restaurants, and sport fishing businesses are common. The Bahamas has a few oil refineries and small factories. Offshore banking and finance are important because favorable tax and corporate laws have been established and widely promoted. Most consumer goods are imported. Goods such as pharmaceuticals, rum, crawfish and cement are exported. The major trading partners are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

HISTORY

The Bahamas throughout history

As early as 300 to 400 AD, people who came from what is now Cuba (there was no country named Cuba at that time) lived on The Islands of the Bahamas and relied on the ocean for food. From around 900-1500 AD the Lucayan people settled here. They enjoyed a peaceful way of life and had developed viable political, social and religious systems.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World on the island of San Salvador. Inspired by the surrounding shallow sea, he described them as islands of the "baja mar" (shallow sea), which has become The Islands of the Bahamas. When he arrived, there were about 40,000 Lucayans. These first residents, the Lukku-Cairis, or Lucayans, were a subdivision of The Bahamas Taino Arawak Indians. Christopher Columbus claimed them for Spain. Many Lucayans were taken to Hispaniola and Cuba as slaves, and the rest died of newly imported diseases. Their peaceful nature made the Lucayans easy targets for enslavement, however. Within 25 years, all of the Lucayans were wiped out due to the diseases. They were replaced by black slaves from Africa.

The Spanish never settled the Bahamas, and the region became a haven for pirates. The British claimed the islands in 1629 and started a community of Eleuthera in 1648. These English Puritans known as "Eleutheran Adventurers" mostly arrived in 1649 in search of religious freedom. During the late 1600s to early 1700s, many privateers and pirates came here, the most famous one being Blackbeard and Calico Jack. There were also female pirates like Anne Bonny and Mary Read disguised as men.

More than a century later,The British residents were augmented by loyalists fleeing North America during and after the American Revolution and an influx of enslaved Africans. American colonists loyal to Britain arrived in Eleuthera. Many brought their slaves as well as their building skills and agriculture and shipbuilding expertise. These greatly influenced Eleutheran life. In 1783, they solidified their independence and forced the retreat of the Spanish forces from the region without firing a shot. Blacks have outnumbered whites since the eighteenth century. When the cotton plantations failed, many slaves were freed and given land to farm. During the 1830s emancipation was legally mandated.