The Bahamas

The Bahamas (/bəˈhɑːməz/ (About this soundlisten)), knownofficially as The Commonwealth of The Bahamas,[12] is a sovereign countrywithin the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic. It takes up97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of thearchipelago's population. The archipelagic state consists of more than 700islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cubaand northwest of the island of Hispaniola (split between Haiti and the DominicanRepublic) and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the American state ofFlorida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island ofNew Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes The Bahamas'territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.

The Bahama Islands were inhabited by the Lucayans, a branchof the Arawakan-speaking Taíno, for many centuries.[13] Columbus was the firstEuropean to see the islands, making his first landfall in the "New World"in 1492. Later, the Spanish shipped the native Lucayans to and enslaved them onHispaniola, after which the Bahama islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.

The Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718, when theBritish clamped down on piracy. After the American Revolutionary War, the Crownresettled thousands of American Loyalists to the Bahamas; they took enslavedpeople with them and established plantations on land grants. African enslavedpeople and their descendants constituted the majority of the population fromthis period on. The slave trade was abolished by the British in 1807; slaveryin the Bahamas was abolished in 1834. Subsequently, the Bahamas became a havenfor freed African slaves. Africans liberated from illegal slave ships wereresettled on the islands by the Royal Navy, while some North American slavesand Seminoles escaped to the Bahamas from Florida. Bahamians were even known torecognise the freedom of enslaved people carried by the ships of other nationswhich reached the Bahamas. Today Afro-Bahamians make up 90% of the populationof 332,634.[13]

The country gained governmental independence in 1973 led bySir Lynden O. Pindling, with Elizabeth II as its queen.[13] In terms of grossdomestic product per capita, The Bahamas is one of the richest countries in theAmericas (following the United States and Canada), with an economy based ontourism and offshore finance.[14]

 Etymology

The name Bahamas is derived from the Lucayan name Bahama('large upper middle island'), used by the indigenous Taíno people for theisland of Grand Bahama.[15][16] Tourist guides often state that the name comesfrom the Spanish baja mar ('shallow sea'). Wolfgang Ahrens of York Universityargues that this is a folk etymology.[15] Alternatively, it may originate fromGuanahani, a local name of unclear meaning.[17]

First attested on the c. 1523 Turin Map, Bahama originallyreferred to Grand Bahama alone but was used inclusively in English by 1670.[18]Toponymist Isaac Taylor argues that the name was derived from Bimani (Bimini),which Spaniards in Haiti identified with Palombe, a legendary place where JohnMandeville's Travels said there was a fountain of youth.[19]

 The word The constitutes an integral part of the short formof the name and is, therefore, capitalised. The Constitution of theCommonwealth of The Bahamas, the country's fundamental law, capitalises the"T" in "The Bahamas".[20]

 History

 Pre-colonial era

The first inhabitants of the Bahamas were the Taino people,who moved into the uninhabited southern islands from Hispaniola and Cuba aroundthe 800s–1000s AD, having migrated there from South America; they came to beknown as the Lucayan people.[21] An estimated 30,000 Lucayans inhabited theBahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492.[22]

 Arrival of the Spanish

Columbus's first landfall in what was to Europeans a"New World" was on an island he named San Salvador (known to theLucayans as Guanahani). Whilst there is a general consensus that this islandlay within the Bahamas, precisely which island Columbus landed on is a matterof scholarly debate. Some researchers believe the site to be present-day SanSalvador Island (formerly known as Watling's Island), situated in thesoutheastern Bahamas, whilst an alternative theory holds that Columbus landedto the southeast on Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 byNational Geographic writer and editor Joseph Judge, based on Columbus's log. Onthe landfall island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayans andexchanged goods with them, claiming the islands for the Crown of Castile,before proceeding to explore the larger isles of the Greater Antilles.[21]

 

The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas theoretically divided thenew territories between the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal,placing the Bahamas in the Spanish sphere; however they did little to presstheir claim on the ground. The Spanish did however exploit the native Lucayan peoples,many of whom were enslaved and sent to Hispaniola for use as forced labour.[21]The slaves suffered harsh conditions and most died from contracting diseases towhich they had no immunity; half of the Taino died from smallpox alone.[24] Asa result of these depredations the population of the Bahamas was severelydiminished.[25]

 Arrival of the English

The English had expressed an interest in the Bahamas asearly as 1629. However, it was not until 1648 that the first English settlersarrived on the islands. Known as the Eleutherian Adventurers and led by WilliamSayle, they migrated from Bermuda seeking greater religious freedom. TheseEnglish Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on anisland which they named Eleuthera, Greek for freedom. They later settled NewProvidence, naming it Sayle's Island. Life proved harder than envisagedhowever, and many – including Sayle – chose to return to Bermuda.[21] Tosurvive, the remaining settlers salvaged goods from wrecks.

In 1670, King Charles II granted the islands to the LordsProprietors of the Carolinas in North America. They rented the islands from theking with rights of trading, tax, appointing governors, and administering thecountry from their base on New Providence.[26][21] Piracy and attacks fromhostile foreign powers were a constant threat. In 1684, Spanish corsair Juan deAlcon raided the capital Charles Town (later renamed Nassau),[27] and in 1703,a joint Franco-Spanish expedition briefly occupied Nassau during the War of theSpanish Succession.[28][29]

18th Century

During proprietary rule, the Bahamas became a haven forpirates, including Blackbeard (circa 1680–1718).[30] To put an end to the"Pirates' republic" and restore orderly government, Britain made theBahamas a crown colony in 1718, which they dubbed "the Bahamaislands" under the royal governorship of Woodes Rogers.[21] After adifficult struggle, he succeeded in suppressing piracy.[31] In 1720, theSpanish attacked Nassau during the War of the Quadruple Alliance. In 1729, alocal assembly was established giving a degree of self-governance for Britishsettlers.[21][32] The reforms had been planned by the previous Governor GeorgePhenney and authorised in July 1728.[33]

During the American War of Independence in the late 18thcentury, the islands became a target for US naval forces. Under the command ofCommodore Esek Hopkins, US Marines, the US Navy occupied Nassau in 1776, beforebeing evacuated a few days later. In 1782 a Spanish fleet appeared off thecoast of Nassau, and the city surrendered without a fight. Later, in April1783, on a visit made by Prince William of the United Kingdom (later to becomeKing William IV) to Luis de Unzaga at his residence in the Captaincy General ofHavana, they made prisoner exchange agreements and also dealt with thepreliminaries of the Treaty of Paris (1783), in which the recently conqueredBahamas would be exchanged for East Florida, which would still have to conquerthe city of St. Augustine, Florida in 1784 by order of Luis de Unzaga; afterthat, also in 1784, the Bahamas would be declared a British colony.[34]

After US independence, the British resettled some 7,300Loyalists with their African slaves in the Bahamas, including 2,000 from NewYork[35] and at least 1,033 European, 2,214 African ancestrals and a few NativeAmerican Creeks from East Florida. Most of the refugees resettled from New Yorkhad fled from other colonies, including West Florida, which the Spanishcaptured during the war.[36] The government granted land to the planters tohelp compensate for losses on the continent. These Loyalists, who includedDeveaux and also Lord Dunmore, established plantations on several islands andbecame a political force in the capital.[21] European Americans wereoutnumbered by the African-American slaves they brought with them, and ethnicEuropeans remained a minority in the territory.

19th century

The Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished slave trading to Britishpossessions, including the Bahamas. The United Kingdom pressured otherslave-trading countries to also abolish slave-trading, and gave the Royal Navythe right to intercept ships carrying slaves on the high seas.[37][38]Thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy wereresettled in the Bahamas.

In the 1820s during the period of the Seminole Wars inFlorida, hundreds of North American slaves and African Seminoles escaped fromCape Florida to the Bahamas. They settled mostly on northwest Andros Island,where they developed the village of Red Bays. From eyewitness accounts, 300escaped in a mass flight in 1823, aided by Bahamians in 27 sloops, with othersusing canoes for the journey. This was commemorated in 2004 by a large sign atBill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.[39][40] Some of their descendants in RedBays continue African Seminole traditions in basket making and gravemarking.[41]

In 1818,[42] the Home Office in London had ruled that"any slave brought to the Bahamas from outside the British West Indieswould be manumitted." This led to a total of nearly 300 enslaved peopleowned by US nationals being freed from 1830 to 1835.[43] The American slave shipsComet and Encomium used in the United States domestic coastwise slave trade,were wrecked off Abaco Island in December 1830 and February 1834, respectively.When wreckers took the masters, passengers and slaves into Nassau, customsofficers seized the slaves and British colonial officials freed them, over theprotests of the Americans. There were 165 slaves on the Comet and 48 on theEncomium. The United Kingdom finally paid an indemnity to the United States inthose two cases in 1855, under the Treaty of Claims of 1853, which settledseveral compensation cases between the two countries.[44][45]

The lighthouse in Great Isaac Cay.

Slavery was abolished in the British Empire on 1 August1834.[21] After that British colonial officials freed 78 North American slavesfrom the Enterprise, which went into Bermuda in 1835; and 38 from the Hermosa,which wrecked off Abaco Island in 1840.[46] The most notable case was that ofthe Creole in 1841: as a result of a slave revolt on board, the leaders orderedthe US brig to Nassau. It was carrying 135 slaves from Virginia destined forsale in New Orleans. The Bahamian officials freed the 128 slaves who chose tostay in the islands. The Creole case has been described as the "mostsuccessful slave revolt in U.S. history".[47]

These incidents, in which a total of 447 enslaved peoplebelonging to US nationals were freed from 1830 to 1842, increased tensionbetween the United States and the United Kingdom. They had been co-operating inpatrols to suppress the international slave trade. However, worried about thestability of its large domestic slave trade and its value, the United Statesargued that the United Kingdom should not treat its domestic ships that came toits colonial ports under duress as part of the international trade. The UnitedStates worried that the success of the Creole slaves in gaining freedom wouldencourage more slave revolts on merchant ships.

During the American Civil War of the 1860s, the islandsbriefly prospered as a focus for blockade runners aiding the ConfederateStates.[48][49]

Geography

The Bahamas consists of a chain of islands spread out oversome 800 kilometres (500 mi) in the Atlantic Ocean, located to the east ofFlorida in the United States, north of Cuba and Hispaniola and west of theBritish Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (with which it formsthe Lucayan archipelago). It lies between latitudes 20° and 28°N, andlongitudes 72° and 80°W and straddles the Tropic of Cancer.[13] There are some700 islands and 2,400 cays in total (of which 30 are inhabited) with a totalland area of 10,010 km2 (3,860 sq mi).[13][21]

Nassau, capital city of The Bahamas, lies on the island ofNew Providence; the other main inhabited islands are Grand Bahama, Eleuthera,Cat Island, Rum Cay, Long Island, San Salvador Island, Ragged Island, Acklins,Crooked Island, Exuma, Berry Islands, Mayaguana, the Bimini islands, GreatAbaco and Great Inagua. The largest island is Andros.[21]

 All the islands are low and flat, with ridges that usuallyrise no more than 15 to 20 m (49 to 66 ft). The highest point in the country isMount Alvernia (formerly Como Hill) on Cat Island at 64 m (210 ft).[13]

The country contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Bahamiandry forests, Bahamian pine mosaic, and Bahamian mangroves.[78] It had a 2019Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.35/10, ranking it 44thglobally out of 172 countries.[79]

Geology

The Bahamas is part of the Lucayan Archipelago, whichcontinues into the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Mouchoir Bank, the SilverBank, and the Navidad Bank.[86]

The Bahamas Platform, which includes The Bahamas, SouthernFlorida, Northern Cuba, the Turks and Caicos, and the Blake Plateau, formedabout 150 Ma, not long after the formation of the North Atlantic. The 6.4 km(4.0 mi) thick limestones, which predominate in The Bahamas, date back to theCretaceous. These limestones would have been deposited in shallow seas, assumedto be a stretched and thinned portion of the North American continental crust.Sediments were forming at about the same rate as the crust below was sinkingdue to the added weight. Thus, the entire area consisted of a large marineplain with some islands. Then, at about 80 Ma, the area became flooded by theGulf Stream. This resulted in the drowning of the Blake Plateau, the separationof The Bahamas from Cuba and Florida, the separation of the southeasternBahamas into separate banks, the creation of the Cay Sal Bank, plus the Littleand Great Bahama Banks. Sedimentation from the "carbonate factory" ofeach bank, or atoll, continues today at the rate of about 20 mm (0.79 in) perkyr. Coral reefs form the "retaining walls" of these atolls, withinwhich oolites and pellets form.[87]

Coral growth was greater through the Tertiary, until thestart of the ice ages, and hence those deposits are more abundant below a depthof 36 m (118 ft). In fact, an ancient extinct reef exists half a km seaward ofthe present one, 30 m (98 ft) below sea level. Oolites form when oceanic waterpenetrate the shallow banks, increasing the temperature about 3 °C (5.4 °F) andthe salinity by 0.5 per cent. Cemented ooids are referred to as grapestone.Additionally, giant stromatolites are found off the Exuma Cays.[87]: 22, 29–30 

Sea level changes resulted in a drop in sea level, causingwind blown oolite to form sand dunes with distinct cross-bedding. Overlappingdunes form oolitic ridges, which become rapidly lithified through the action ofrainwater, called eolianite. Most islands have ridges ranging from 30 to 45 m(98 to 148 ft), though Cat Island has a ridge 60 m (200 ft) in height. The landbetween ridges is conducive to the formation of lakes andswamps.[87]: 41–59, 61–64 

Solution weathering of the limestone results in a"Bahamian Karst" topography. This includes potholes, blue holes suchas Dean's Blue Hole, sinkholes, beachrock such as the Bimini Road("pavements of Atlantis"), limestone crust, caves due to the lack ofrivers, and sea caves. Several blue holes are aligned along the South AndrosFault line. Tidal flats and tidal creeks are common, but the more impressivedrainage patterns are formed by troughs and canyons such as Great Bahama Canyonwith the evidence of turbidity currents and turbiditedeposition.[87]: 33–40, 65, 72–84, 86 

The stratigraphy of the islands consists of the MiddlePleistocene Owl's Hole Formation, overlain by the Late Pleistocene Grotto BeachFormation, and then the Holocene Rice Bay Formation. However, these units arenot necessarily stacked on top of each other but can be located laterally. Theoldest formation, Owl's Hole, is capped by a terra rosa paleosoil, as is theGrotto Beach, unless eroded. The Grotto Beach Formation is the mostwidespread.[86]

Government and politics

The Bahamian Parliament, located in Nassau

The Bahamas is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy,with the queen of the Bahamas (Elizabeth II) as head of state representedlocally by a governor-general.[13] Political and legal traditions closelyfollow those of England and the Westminster system.[21] The Bahamas is a memberof the Commonwealth of Nations and shares its head of state with otherCommonwealth realms.[88][89]

 The prime minister is the head of government and is theleader of the party with the most seats in the House of Assembly.[13][21]Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet, selected by the prime minister anddrawn from his supporters in the House of Assembly. The currentgovernor-general is The Honourable Cornelius A. Smith, and the current primeminister is The Hon. Philip Davis MP.[13]

Legislative power is vested in a bicameral parliament,which consists of a 38-member House of Assembly (the lower house), with memberselected from single-member districts, and a 16-member Senate, with membersappointed by the governor-general, including nine on the advice of the PrimeMinister, four on the advice of the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition,and three on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with theLeader of the Opposition. As under the Westminster system, the prime ministermay dissolve Parliament and call a general election at any time within afive-year term.[90]

Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press,worship, movement and association. The Judiciary of the Bahamas is independentof the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on Englishlaw.[13]

Languages

The official language of The Bahamas is English. Manypeople speak an English-based creole language called Bahamian dialect (knownsimply as "dialect") or "Bahamianese".[128] Laurente Gibbs,a Bahamian writer and actor, was the first to coin the latter name in a poemand has since promoted its usage.[129][130] Both are used asautoglossonyms.[131] Haitian Creole, a French-based creole language is spokenby Haitians and their descendants, who make up of about 25% of the totalpopulation. It is known simply as Creole[1] to differentiate it from BahamianEnglish.[132]

 

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