Bahamas

The Bahamas are an island country in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic, southeast of Florida and north of Cuba. Nassau on New Providence is the capital and largest city, English is the official language, and the country spans about 700 islands and more than 2,500 cays.

The Lucayans, a branch of the Taíno, lived on the islands for centuries, and Columbus made his first landfall in the Americas there in 1492, on the island the Lucayans called Guanahaní. The islands then stayed nearly empty from 1513 to 1648. In 1649 English settlers from Bermuda, the Eleutheran Adventurers, settled on Eleuthera. The name most likely comes from the Lucayan word Bahama for Grand Bahama, not from the Spanish for shallow sea as tourist guides often claim.

Under proprietary rule the islands became a haven for pirates, among them Blackbeard, until Britain made them a crown colony in 1718 and cracked down on piracy. After the American Revolution, the Crown resettled thousands of Loyalists on the islands, where they set up plantations on land grants. Independence came on 10 July 1973 under Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, with the British monarch remaining head of state.

Tourism and offshore finance drive the economy, and about 90% of Bahamians are of African descent. Andros is the largest island. The limestone has worn into caves, sinkholes and blue holes such as Dean's Blue Hole, and the Bimini Road, a line of beachrock, is known as the pavements of Atlantis. Junkanoo, a street parade of music, dance and costumes, fills Nassau every Boxing Day. Lynden Pindling, the first prime minister, won a string of elections after independence, and the country has sent athletes to almost every Summer Olympic Games since 1952.