The Bahamas. People and history. Government and economy

In 1492, Christopher Columbus first landed in America at what is now San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. Today, this independent nation consists of nearly 700 islands and about 2,300 rocky islets and reefs near the coasts of Florida and Cuba.

The Bahamas consists of a chain of about 3,000 coral islands and reefs that stretches for more than 500 miles (800 kilometers). Only about 20 of the islands are inhabited. About 75 per cent of the Bahamians live on either New Providence or Grand Bahama. Most of the islands are long, narrow strips of limestone. At one time a haven for pirates, they are now a subtropical paradise for tourists.

Most of the islands are limestone with only a thin layer of infertile, stony soil. Many of them are partly covered with pine forests. People live on only about 20 of the islands, but their beauty and mild climate bring about 1-1/4 million tourists to the Bahamas every year.

A cruise ship, right, approaches the palm-fringed beaches of Nassau, capital and largest city of the Bahamas. The Bahamas welcome about 1-1/4 million tourists each year.

People and history. People of African descent make up about 80 per cent of the population of the Bahamas. The other 20 per cent are mainly whites or mulattoes (people of mixed African and European ancestry).

Many black Bahamians are descendants of Africans brought to the islands by British settlers to work as slaves. Many of these British settlers came from the United States after the Revolutionary War ended in 1783.

The British began settlements in the Bahamas as far back as the 1600's. The islands had been claimed for Spain in 1492, but the Spaniards never settled the islands. Instead, they enslaved the Lucayo Indians who lived there and took many of them to work in gold mines on nearby islands.

Spain began to attack the British settlements in the late 1600's. Pirates, who used the coves and islets as bases for their raids, also attacked the settlements. The Bahamas became a British colony in 1717, and Spain gave up its claim to the islands in 1783.

In the mid-1800's, the Bahamas prospered from shipping and trade. During the U.S. Civil War, the Bahamas were used as a base for ships breaking the Union blockade of Southern ports. After the war, the Bahamian economy declined, but prosperity returned about 100 years later, when large numbers of tourists began visiting the islands.

In 1964, the United Kingdom granted the Bahamas internal self-government, and in 1967 the Progressive Liberal Party, made up largely of Bahamians of African descent, won control of the government. For the first time, the black majority was in power. The government then worked for full independence, which was achieved on July 10, 1973.

Government and economy. The monarch of the United Kingdom, represented by a governor general, is the official head of state of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Voters elect the members of the House of Assembly, one house of the legislature. The head of the party that wins the most Assembly seats becomes prime minister. Members of the second house of the legislature, the Senate, are appointed.

Tourism is the leading economic activity of the Bahamas. Many Bahamians work in hotels or other tourist-related businesses. Less than 2 per cent of the people farm the land. Farmers grow bananas, citrus fruits, cucumbers, pineapples, and tomatoes. Fishermen catch crawfish and other seafood for domestic consumption and for export.

Food processing ranks as a major industry. Foreign corporations run businesses in the Bahamas, and the country has branches of many foreign banks.