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Overview The principal islands include Abaco, Acklins, Andros, Berry Islands, Bimini, Cat Island, Crooked Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Harbour Island, Inagua, Long Island, Mayaguana, New Providence (where the capital, Nassau, is located), Ragged Island, Rum Cay, San Salvador and Spanish Wells. The highest point in The Bahamas is 206-ft. Mount Alvernia on Cat Island. Once known as Como Hill, Mount Alvernia overlooks The Bight. The 1990 census disclosed that 83.5 per cent of the population, which then totaled 254,685, lived in urban areas. The principal islands with respect to population were New Providence, with 171,542, and Grand Bahama, with 41,035. Another census was taken in 2000, and its preliminary findings are expected to be known before year's end. The original inhabitants of The Bahamas were Arawak Indians, who had migrated through the Antilles from South America. Within a few decades after Columbus landed on San Salvador in 1492, the Spanish had depopulated the islands by shipping the peaceful Arawaks to slavery in the mines of Hispaniola and Cuba, where they died by the thousands. The first permanent settlement in The Bahamas was established by a group of English settlers from Bermuda called the Company of Eleutheran Adventurers, who organized a community on what is now the island of Eleuthera in 1647, seeking religious freedom. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, piracy flourished in the islands because of their proximity to important shipping lanes. The power of the buccaneers was crushed by Woodes Rogers, the first Royal Governor, who established orderly conduct in 1718. In 1776, a U.S. naval squadron captured Nassau, but withdrew after only one day. Following the American War of Independence, some 6,000 American loyalists and their slaves settled in The Bahamas. The American Civil War brought prosperity to The Bahamas, which served as a transfer point for munitions and medical supplies to be run through the northern blockade of Confederate ports. Cotton from the south was the main commodity of exchange. During the prohibition era in the United States, from 1917 to 1933, The Bahamas again prospered because of its proximity to the mainland. This time the islands supplied liquor for American rumrunners. Taking advantage of the colony's ideal weather conditions, the Royal Air Force used The Bahamas as a flight training area during World War II. The islands were also used by British and American units hunting German submarines. In the post-war years, The Bahamas has become one of the world's foremost vacation resorts. In 1950 about 40,000 visitors wintered in The Bahamas. In 1999, according to statistics supplied by the Ministry of Tourism, 3,648,291 visitors vacationed, spending $1.5 billion. Tourism now accounts for just over 40 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. Also an important engine of the Bahamian economy, financial services are responsible for 15 per cent of GDP. Four hundred eighteen banking institutions from more than 36 countries are licensed to do business. The vast majority of them are branches, subsidiaries or affiliates of major banking institutions in North and South America and Western Europe. In addition, 580 mutual funds and 60 insurance companies operate in or out of The Bahamas, and the government has registered about 100,000 International Business Companies. Under Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, who died August 26, 2000, The Bahamas was governed by the Progressive Liberal Party for more than a quarter of a century, having won successive general elections in 1967, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1982 and 1987. The Free National Movement ousted the PLP from office in the general election of 1992 and, under the leadership of Prime Minister Hubert A. Ingraham, won the 1997 poll. In accordance with its parliamentary form of government, The Bahamas must have another general election by 2002. |
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