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Bahamas

Continents
Bahamian flag

The Bahamas is located in Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba.

Land in The Bahamas is long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills.

Bahamian land covers an area of 13940 square kilometers which is slightly smaller than Connecticut

As for the Bahamian climate; tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream.

Bahamian(s) speak English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants).

Bahamas country profile

Bahamian Map
Places of note in Bahamas
Nassau
Lucaya
West End
Cooper's Town
Marsh Harbour
High Rock
Andros Town
Clarence Town
Dunmore Town
Rock Sound
Alice Town
Cockburn Town
Sweeting Cay
Matthew Town
Snug Corner
Nicholls Town
Colonel Hill
Pirates Well
Port Nelson
Duncan Town
Albert Town
Regions of Bahamas
Acklins and Crooked Islands
Bahamas, The (general)
Bimini
Cat Island
Exuma
Freeport
Fresh Creek
Governorʼs Harbour
Green Turtle Cay
Harbour Island
High Rock
Inagua
Kemps Bay
Long Island
Marsh Harbour
Mayaguana
New Providence
Nichollstown and Berry Islands
Ragged Island
Rock Sound
Sandy Point
San Salvador and Rum Cay

Arawak Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.


Bahamas Country Profile

The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago's labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth in recent years, but the slowdown in the US economy and the attacks of 11 September 2001 held back growth in these sectors in 2001-03. The current government has presided over a period of economic recovery and an upturn in large-scale private sector investments in tourism. Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy, accounting for about 15% of GDP. However, since December 2000, when the government enacted new regulations on the financial sector, many international businesses have left The Bahamas. Manufacturing and agriculture together contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors. Overall growth prospects in the short run rest heavily on the fortunes of the tourism sector, which depends on growth in the US, the source of more than 80% of the visitors.

Bahamian natural resources include salt, aragonite, timber, arable land

strategic location adjacent to US and Cuba; extensive island chain of which 30 are inhabited

Bahamian religion is Baptist 35.4%, Anglican 15.1%, Roman Catholic 13.5%, Pentecostal 8.1%, Church of God 4.8%, Methodist 4.2%, other Christian 15.2%, none or unspecified 2.9%, other 0.8% (2000 census).

Natural hazards in The Bahamas include hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind damage.





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