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Bahamas

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a sovereign state and also an English-speaking nation in the West Indies. With 700 islands and cays, the Bahamas is located in the Atlantic Ocean, east of Florida and the U.S. north of Cuba and the Caribbean, and northwest of the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

History

Taino Indians from Hispaniola and Cuba moved into the southern Bahamas around the 7th century AD and became the Lucayans. The natives were taken to Hispaniola as slaves, in two decades many Lucayan societies ceased to exist, as the population endured considerable forced labor, warfare, disease, emigration and out-marriage. Aft ... (more)

Bahamas

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a sovereign state and also an English-speaking nation in the West Indies. With 700 islands and cays, the Bahamas is located in the Atlantic Ocean, east of Florida and the U.S. north of Cuba and the Caribbean, and northwest of the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

History

Taino Indians from Hispaniola and Cuba moved into the southern Bahamas around the 7th century AD and became the Lucayans. The natives were taken to Hispaniola as slaves, in two decades many Lucayan societies ceased to exist, as the population endured considerable forced labor, warfare, disease, emigration and out-marriage. 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.

Colony

The Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718. Some 8000 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 in 1834, ending slavery in the Bahamas. This led to many fugitive slaves from the U.S. braving the perils of the Atlantic for the promise of a free life in the Bahamas.

Independence

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 50s the Bahamian economy has prospered based on the twin pillars of tourism and financial services. The country still faces 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 capital income in the western hemisphere.

Culture

Bahamian culture is a mix of African and European influences. 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 form of hymnal.


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