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The Bahamas

San Salvador Island, Bahamas. It is generally believed that during Christopher Columbus' first expedition to the New World, the island of San Salvador was the first land he saw and visited in October 1492.
Image: GdML

Location map of the Bahamas. Where in the world are the Bahamas?

Location map of Bahamas

Flag of Bahamas

Destination Bahamas, a country profile of the Caribbean archipelago in the northwest of West Indies.

New Providence island with Bahama's capital Nassau lies about 310 km (190 mi) off the southern coast of Florida and north of Cuba. The coral-based archipelago consists of around 700 islands and islets, and more than 2,000 cays (coral reefs). Just about 30 islands are inhabited. The Bahamas share maritime borders with Cuba, Haiti, the United States, and Turks and Caicos Islands (UK).

With a land area of 13,943 km2, the island chain is about the size of Montenegro, or slightly smaller than Connecticut.

The Bahamas has a population of just 389,000 people (in 2019). Political capital and the commercial hub is Nassau. Spoken language is English.

Tourism, international banking (offshore finance), and investment management account for more than 55% of the country's gross domestic product. The Bahamas have become one of the world's foremost vacation resorts; the archipelago attracts more than five times its population in tourists each year. The former British colony and now a member of the Commonwealth has also one of the world's largest open-registry shipping fleets.

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas | The Bahamas

Background:
The Bahamas stretches for 760 miles from the coast of Florida in the northwest to almost Haiti in the southeast. The archipelago consists of about 2,400 Cays (coral reefs) and 700 islands, 30 of which are inhabited.

When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 on the island of San Salvador, the Caribbean islands were inhabited by Lucayans, a subgroup of Arawak Indians. Slavery, disease, and other hardships wiped out the entire tribe within 25 years of Columbus' arrival.

A British settlement in The Bahamas was established in 1647 by a group of English Puritans, known as the Company of Eleutheran Adventurers.
They took over an island the Arawaks called Cigatoo and named it Eleuthera, the Greek word for freedom.
In 1717 and again in 1783, the islands became a British colony.

The real Pirates of the Caribbean. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, piracy flourished in the islands because of their proximity to important shipping lanes. The pirates, based at Nassau, attacked French and Spanish ships, while the French and Spanish forces burned Nassau several more times.

Today The Bahamas has become one of the world's foremost vacation resorts. Nassau is the political capital and the commercial hub of The Bahamas.

Other Caribbean island nations: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico

Country Profile

Official Name:
Commonwealth of the Bahamas
short form: The Bahamas

ISO Country Code: BS, BHS

Time:
Local Time = UTC -4h
Actual Time: Wed-Nov-11 12:22

Country Calling Code: +1 242

Official Sites of The Bahamas

Note: External links will open in a new browser window.

The Bahamian Parliament in Nassau.
Image: Matt Wade

Political System of The Bahamas
The Bahamas is a constitutional parliamentary democracy and a commonwealth realm. Head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, represented by the Bahamian governor-general, who acts on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet.
The head of government is the prime minister, usually the leader of the majority party in parliament. The bicameral parliament consists of an appointed Senate and an elected assembly.

Government
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas
The main website of the Government of the Bahamas.

The Embassy of The Bahamas to China

Weather
The Bahamas Meteorology Department
Offers current weather conditions for all islands.

Maps of The Bahamas

Map of The Bahamas (click map to enlarge)
Image: ? nationsonline.org

Maps

Map of The Bahamas
Political map of The Bahamas.

Google Earth The Bahamas
Searchable map and satellite view of The Bahamas.

Google Earth Nassau
Searchable map and satellite view of the Bahamas' capital.

Map of Central America and the Caribbean
Reference Map of Central America and the Caribbean.

News from The Bahamas

Newsstand

Online News from The Bahamas

BahamasUncensored.com
Most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas.

thebahamasweekly.com
Bahamas News and events

The Freeport News
Grand Bahamas' First Newspaper.

The Nassau Guardian
The leading Bahamas newspaper with local news.

The Tribune
Bahamian daily.

TV
ZNS TV
Government-run TV station.

Arts & Culture of The Bahamas

Urban art Nassau, mural painting Nassau

Urban art :: fenced in bahamas :: Nassau.
Image: Shannon Kringen

Arts & Culture

Art | The Official Site of The Bahamas
A guide to art galleries in the major islands.

Arts & Culture - thebahamasweekly.com
Art, music, books, and events.

Antonius Roberts
A portrait of a Bahamian artist.

Bahamas International Film Festival
A non-profit organization dedicated to providing the local community and international visitors with a diverse presentation of films from around the world.

Musicians & Entertainers of The Bahamas
Music of the Bahamas.

Business & Economy of The Bahamas

Prince George Wharf, Nassau Harbour, Bahamas

Prince George Wharf, the facility serves passenger cruise ships in Nassau Harbour
Image: TampAGS

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the Bahamas is about 5.7 billion dollars, with tourism accounting for 50 percent, financial services for almost 20 percent, and the remainder divided between retail and wholesale, fishing, light industry, and agriculture. ^[1]

The Central Bank of The Bahamas
Official website of Central Bank of The Bahamas.

Bahamas Chamber of Commerce
Official website of Bahamas Chamber Of Commerce - Nassau.

Transportation

Airlines
Bahamasair
The National Airline of The Bahamas.

Bahamas Ferries
Bahamas Ferries
The Bahamas Marine Island Link connects Abaco, Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Long Island, and New Providence.

Tourism in Bahamas

Destination Bahamas - Travel and Tour Guides

Discover Bahamas:
Abaco Islands, Andros Barrier Reef, Berry Islands, Exuma Cays, Garden of Groves, Grand Bahama, Harbour Island, Nassau, New Providence. Links to accommodation, hotels, attractions, festivals, events, tourist boards, sea parks, cruising, diving with dolphins, tours, and much more.

Bahamas
The official tourism site of the Islands of the Bahamas.

Grand Bahama Island Tourism
The Official Web site of the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board.

Bahama Out Islands
Guide to the other islands of The Bahamas.

The Bahamas Guide.com
An extensive travel and tourism guide to the Bahamas Islands.

Bahamas Vacation Guide
Another guide to the Bahamas, but one with the experience of years.

Nassau Harbour Lighthouse with Atlantis Paradise Island resort, Bahamas

Nassau Harbour Lighthouse with Atlantis Paradise Island resort in the background.
Image: Jerry and Pat Donaho

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in The Bahamas

There are two locations for The Bahamas' on UNESCO's Tentative List:

Historic Lighthouses of The Bahamas
Eleven lighthouses constructed by the British Imperial Lighthouse Service (ILS) between 1836 and 1887.

The Inagua National Park
The park is located on Great Inagua Island. It is an important area for breeding, passage, and wintering for numerous species of waterbirds, and it is the world's largest breeding colony of West Indian flamingos.

Education in The Bahamas

Palácio Universitário campus Rio de Janeiro

The College of The Bahamas became the University of The Bahamas in November 2016.
Image: University of The Bahamas

University of The Bahamas
The Bahamas' premier tertiary institution with campuses throughout the archipelago.

Environment & Nature

Flamingos in the Inagua National Park, Bahamas

Flamingos in the Inagua National Park, on the island of Inagua, the southernmost district of the Bahamas.
Image: PARKS242 - Patricia Vazquez

The Bahamas National Trust
A non-profit organization in The Bahamas that manages the country’s national parks.

PARKS242
Parks 242 is a blog related to The Bahamas National Trust’s Parks.

Ecosystems of The Bahamas
Information about the ecosystems and endangered species of The Bahamas.

Bahamas EcoVentures
Education about mangroves and mangrove forests.

Bahamas History

The Bahamas
Columbus makes landfall in the Caribbean and claimed possession of the whole New World for Spain. Columbus' first landing on Watling Island (San Salvador) of The Bahamas.
Painting: John Vanderlyn (1776 – 1852)

Brief History of The Bahamas
Outline of Bahama's history.

History of The Bahamas
Wikipedia entry for the history of The Bahamas.

Republic of Pirates
Wikipedia entry for the confederacy run by privateers-turned-pirates in Nassau on New Providence island in The Bahamas in the early 18th century.

Indigenous People of The Bahamas

The Landing of Columbus; very few of the indigenous people survived the encounter.
Image source: Library of Congress

Arawak Tribe of the Bahamas
Article about the Lucayan people of the Bahamas by Originalpeople.org.

Lucayan people
Wikipedia entry about the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of European colonizers.

Additional Information

Amnesty International: Bahamas

The Commonwealth: Bahamas

BBC Country profile: Bahamas

FAO: Bahamas

GlobalEDGE: The Bahamas

The Heritage Foundation: Bahamas

Human Rights Watch: Bahamas

OEC: Bahamas

Wikipedia: Bahamas

The World Factbook -- Bahamas