Bahamas

Nassau
Climate diagram
	Temperature in ° C , precipitation in mm
	Source: wetterkontor.de

	The Commonwealth of The Bahamas
	Commonwealth of the Bahamas
flag	coat of arms
	Motto : Forward, Upward, Onward, Together; ( English for "Forward, Upward, Next, Together")
Official language	English
Capital	Nassau
Form of government	parliamentary monarchy
Head of state	Queen Elizabeth II; represented by Governor General Cornelius A. Smith
Head of government	Prime Minister Hubert Minnis
surface	13,939 km²
population	353,658 (2010, source: Bahamas Department of Statistics)
Population density	25 inhabitants per km²
gross domestic product Nominal; Adjusted for purchasing power;	2017 $ 9,172 million ( 131st ) ; $ 9,374 million ( 156. ) ;
Gross domestic product per inhabitant	2017 $ 24,631 ( 34th ) (Nominal); $ 25.174 ( 58th ) (KKB);
Human Development Index	0.807 (54.)
currency	Bahamian Dollar ( BSD )
independence	July 10, 1973 ; (from the UK )
National anthem	March On, Bahamaland
National holiday	10th of July
Time zone	UTC − 5
License Plate	BS
ISO 3166	BS , BHS, 044
Internet TLD	.bs
Telephone code	+1 (242) see NANP

Nassau

Freeport

Coopers
Town

Mount Alvernia

United States

CUBA

Turks and Caicos Islands

ATLANTIC

Andros

Abaco

Inagua

Grand Bahama

Long
Island

Acklins

Eleuthera

Cat Island

The Bahamas ( English The Bahamas ) are an island nation in the Atlantic Ocean and part of the West Indies . They are located southeast of the United States and northeast of Cuba and are geographically part of Central America . Only 30 of the more than 700 Bahama islands are inhabited.

The archipelago got its name from the Spanish conquistadors . They named the waters around the islands Baja Mar ( Spanish for 'shallow sea'), which later became the Bahamas. The Bahamas have been independent from the United Kingdom since 1973 , but the former crown colony remained a constitutional monarchy in which the English royal family provides the head of state.

geography

The Bahamas extend from the southeast coast of the USA along the northeast coast of Cuba to the northwest coast of the Turks and Caicos Islands with a north-south extension of about 650 km and a west-east width of up to 750 km. Although the Bahamas is in the open Atlantic, they are counted as part of the Caribbean .

The Bahamas are made up of the islands and more than 2,400 coral reefs , the so-called cays . In many cases, only an arm of the sea a few centimeters deep separates two islands or cays. Therefore, the numbers vary depending on whether two islands are counted in this case or an island with a land bridge slightly submerged.

The islands are divided into the two most heavily inhabited islands, New Providence and Grand Bahama, and the so-called Out Islands and Family Islands. The island with the largest area is Andros with 5957 km². The highest point in the Bahamas is Mount Alvernia at 63 m on Cat Island .

Main islands


Surname	Area in km²	Population (2000)	Population (2010)
Abaco	1,681	13,170	16,692
Acklins	497	428	560
Andros	5,957	7,686	7,386
Berry Islands	31	709	798
Bimini	23	1,717	2.008
Cat Island	388	1,647	1,503
Crooked Island and Long Cay	241	350	323
Eleuthera	484	7,999	7,826
Exuma	290	3,571	7,314
Grand Bahama	1,373	46,994	51,756
Harbor Island	8th	1,639	1,702
Inagua	1,544	969	911
long Island	596	2,992	3,024
Mayaguana	285	259	271
New Providence	207	210.832	248,948
Ragged Island	36	72	70
Rum Cay	78	80	99
San Salvador	163	970	930

Most important cities

Satellite image from April 2000

The two most important cities in the Bahamas by far are the capital Nassau and Freeport . More than three quarters of the Bahamas' population live in the two together. With more than 200,000 inhabitants, Nassau is by far the largest city in the island state.

climate

The Bahamas have an east side climate typical of some regions of the subtropics , as they are cooled by the air systems of the North American continent. In summer the average temperature is around 28 ° C, in winter the warm Gulf Stream (water temperatures between 24 and 29 ° C) rarely lets the temperature drop below 20 ° C. The annual mean temperature is 26 ° C.

Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Nassau

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C )	25.2	25.3	26.5	27.7	29.2	30.7	31.7	31.8	31.3	29.7	27.7	25.9	O	28.6
Min. Temperature (° C)	16.7	16.9	17.7	19.0	21.0	22.9	23.7	23.8	23.6	22.2	20.0	17.7	O	20.4

Precipitation ( mm )	47	40	40	54	116	233	158	216	171	176	57	52	Σ	1,360

Hours of sunshine ( h / d )	7.1	7.6	8.3	9.2	8.7	7.7	8.8	8.6	7.1	7.2	7.4	6.9	O	7.9

Water temperature (° C)	24	24	24	25th	26th	28	29	29	29	28	26th	25th	O	26.4

Humidity ( % )	78	78	76	74	77	79	77	79	81	80	78	78	O	77.9

Source: wetterkontor.de

Even in January, the sea around the Bahamas is still 24 degrees.

population

Demographic Development in the Bahamas (1960-2017)

The population of the Bahamas was 353,658 people as of the last census in 2010. The population is relatively young, with around 26% under 15 years old and only 6% of Bahamians 65 years or older. In 2010 the natural population growth was 0.77%. Forecasts assume that this value will have dropped to 0% in about 30 years. Average life expectancy is 72 years for men and 79 years for women.

People of African origin make up the largest proportion of the island's population with 85%. The remaining 15% are divided into 12% of European origin and 3% of Asian and Latin American origin.

In addition to the official language English, Haitian Creole is still spoken, but mainly by the numerous immigrants from Haiti. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake , immigration from Haiti skyrocketed. In 2017, 15.6% of the population were migrants.

AIDS has become a major issue in the Bahamas. In 2009, around 3.1% of the 15–49 year old population lived with the HI virus . This puts them in 23rd place among the countries most severely affected in percentage terms.

The Bahamas are Christian dominated: the main faiths are the Protestants 67.6% ( Baptists 35.4%, Anglican 15.1%, Pentecostal (Pentecostalism) 8.1%, Church of God (Church of God) 4.8% , Methodists 4.2%) and the Roman Catholic Church with 13.5% and other Christians with 15.2% of the population.

history

→ Main article: History of the Bahamas

The earliest traces of settlement go back to the 4th century, but some of the islands were not permanently settled until the 9th and 10th centuries by the Lucayan , a tribe belonging to the Arawak people .

After Christopher Columbus discovered the Bahama Islands on October 12, 1492, the approximately 40,000 islanders were abducted and enslaved to Hispaniola until 1520 , where they perished in the mines due to illness and emaciation.

English settlers established the first colonies in the mid-17th century after King Charles I of England claimed the islands in 1629. Buccaneers , like the famous Blackbeard , used the islands as refuge at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, as they were of little importance for the colonial powers due to their lack of raw materials and the unsuitable soil for agriculture.

In 1717, the Bahamas became a British Crown Colony and Woodes Rogers became the islands' first Crown Governor . He solved the pirate problem that had developed on the archipelago and in 1729 gave the Bahamas its own parliament , the House of Assembly. In the course of the American War of Independence , a large number of British loyalists fled to the Bahamas, especially to Abaco . During the American War of Independence (1775–1783), the American Civil War (1861–1865) and Prohibition in the USA (1919–1932), the islands were the starting point for a marked trade in contraband due to their convenient proximity to the USA. During World War II, the Governor of the Bahamas was the Duke of Windsor . Britain granted internal self-government to the Bahamas in 1964, which eventually led to their gaining independence in 1973 .

In 1959, male suffrage was introduced under British administration. Those who met certain property requirements received a second vote. Women were given the right to vote in February 1961 , and in 1964 all property restrictions were removed. With independence in 1973 the right to vote was confirmed.

The island state , which belongs to the Commonwealth of Nations, has been a tourist destination and tax haven since the middle of the 20th century . Around 300,000 people live in the Bahamas today, more than 70% of them in the capital Nassau . Since the country has no raw materials worth mentioning, the economy is heavily dependent on tourism and banking. While most tourist information offices make the Bahamas a paradise, high unemployment , drug trafficking and corruption in political circles are serious, unsolved problems for the government .

On November 13, 1965, 60 miles from Nassau, the American passenger liner Yarmouth Castle went up in flames, burned out and sank, killing 90 passengers and crew. The accident leads to new regulations for safety at sea within the framework of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea .

In the summer of the 2019 hurricane season, Dorian hit the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama in the northern Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane .

politics

The Bahamian Parliament Building in Nassau

The Bahamas has been a sovereign state since 1973. The head of state is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , Elizabeth II. She is represented in the Bahamas by the Governor General she has personally appointed . This is Cornelius A. Smith as of June 28, 2019.

The head of government is the prime minister, who is appointed by the ruling party. This is Hubert Minnis since 2017 . He is the successor to Perry Christie from the Progressive Liberal Party , who in turn followed Hubert Ingraham from the Free National Movement in 2012 . The Bahamas use the Westminster system . The ruling party is determined every five years by parliamentary elections. Following the British model, Parliament consists of two chambers, the Senate with 16 members and the House of Assembly with 39 members. The 16 members of the Senate are appointed by the Governor General, nine in consultation with the Prime Minister, four in consultation with the leader of the opposition and three by the Governor General himself. The members of the House of Assembly are elected by the people themselves every five years according to majority voting. In the country report Freedom in the World 2017 by the US non-governmental organization Freedom House , the country's political system is rated as “free”.

The Bahamas are a member of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

society

education and Science

The only university that is exclusively based in the Bahamas is the University of The Bahamas , which emerged in 2016 from the College of The Bahamas, which was founded in 1974 . Over 5000 students are enrolled at it.

The University of the West Indies also has an open campus in the Bahamas.

media

There are three daily newspapers, The Nassau Guardian , The Tribune and The Freeport News . The only television station is ZNS TV .

economy

Nassau Harbor

The Agriculture in the Bahamas is underdeveloped, as there is no proper irrigation are business opportunities. Transport between the numerous and widely spaced islands is difficult and there are no suitable soils. It is mainly produced for own use, but this is not covered. In a few more modern farms, mainly cucumbers , tomatoes , onions , citrus fruits and pineapples are grown for export.

Pine , hardwood and colored woods on Andros , Great Abaco and Grand Bahama are sold as construction timber or are felled for shipbuilding and the US paper industry .

There are consistently favorable conditions for fishing ; it is done for personal use.

The industry consists mainly of small businesses, but shipbuilding, the extraction of sea salt and the production of consumer goods are also expanding. In 1954, a duty -free and tax-free zone was set up on Grand Bahama , which should lead to the settlement of foreign companies. The Bahama Monetary Authority has been responsible for issuing banknotes since 1968 . Thanks to the favorable tax legislation, the Bahamas achieved the status of an international financial center with the headquarters of many banks, investment and trust companies.

On January 28, 2016, the EU Commission presented a package of measures to combat tax evasion , including the Bahamas on the black list of tax havens .

The Bahamas are relatively wealthy compared to the rest of the Caribbean. The GDP per capita in 2016 was around 24,000 US dollars, roughly the same as that of Malta .

In 2017, the country ranks 90th out of 180 countries in the index for economic freedom .

Key figures

All GDP values are given in US dollars ( purchasing power parity ).

year	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
GDP (purchasing power parity)	2.51 billion	3.81 billion	4.99 billion	5.61 billion	7.79 billion	9.50 billion	10.03 billion	10.45 billion	10.41 billion	10.05 billion	10.33 billion	10.61 billion	11.14 billion	11.25 billion	11.31 billion	11.09 billion	11.25 billion	11.60 billion
GDP per capita (purchasing power parity)	11,877	16,296	19,575	20,103	25,722	29,231	30,512	31,398	30,906	29,501	29,986	30,452	31,618	31,593	31,410	30,435	30,534	31,139
GDP growth (real)	7.1%	4.1%	1.1%	4.4%	5.0%	3.4%	2.5%	1.4%	−2.3%	−4.2%	1.5%	0.6%	3.1%	−0.6%	−1.2%	−3.1%	0.2%	1.3%
Inflation (in percent)	12.2%	4.6%	4.6%	2.0%	1.7%	1.8%	2.0%	2.4%	4.4%	1.7%	1.6%	3.1%	1.9%	0.4%	1.2%	1.9%	−0.3%	1.4%
Unemployment (in percent)	...	...	12.0%	10.9%	7.0%	10.2%	7.6%	7.9%	8.7%	14.2%	15.1%	15.9%	14.4%	15.8%	14.6%	13.4%	12.2%	10.1%
Public debt (as a percentage of GDP)	...	...	13%	21.%	19%	23%	23%	23%	25%	30%	34%	35%	38%	44%	48%	51%	53%	57%

traffic

The main airport is Nassau Lynden Pindling Airport, located near Nassau . The state airline is Bahamasair with fewer than ten aircraft. The infrastructure for air and sea traffic is well developed, but due to the topographical conditions there is no railway. Useful land transportation routes are on New Providence , Grand Bahama, and a few other islands. Left-hand traffic applies in the Bahamas .

tourism

Cruise ships in the port of Nassau

The main industry in the Bahamas is tourism , which as of 2019 contributed around 50% of GDP. Cruises by US passengers from Miami are particularly important .

The shooting of several James Bond films in the Bahamas also had a positive effect on tourism . The Bahamas and Nassau were used as filming locations for Casino Royale , Fireball and its 1983 remake Never Never Never Say .

Banks

Loose laws have resulted in up to 400 financial firms in the Bahamas . Most of these banks, it is believed, are primarily concerned with money laundering . In 2001 the laws were tightened under pressure from the USA, since then almost 15% of the financial institutions have been closed.

The largest bank in the Bahamas is the Commonwealth Bank, founded in 1960 .

environmental Protection

There are a total of 22 national parks in the Bahamas , which are managed by the Bahamas National Trust . This protects over 260,000 hectares of land and sea. The Central Andros National Park is the largest national park in terms of area with 117,000 hectares. It also includes mangrove and wetlands as well as parts of the Andros Barrier Reef , the third largest reef in the world. The northernmost sanctuary in the Bahamas is Walker's Cay Marine Park with its corals and extremely diverse marine fauna. The southernmost national park is Little Inagua Island. The island is uninhabited and reserved for nature and its visitors. The endangered sea turtles lay their eggs on Little Inagua Beach . Over 60,000 West Indian flamingos live on Great Inagua Island.

On the other hand, American investors are planning a huge tourist complex on Bimini with over 1000 apartments, 450 villas, a luxury hotel, restaurants, casino, wellness center and a golf course as well as a marina with around 400 berths. Under pressure from the population, these devastating plans for nature could be trimmed. So far, however, the project has not been completely prevented. With the support of tour operators and diving guests from all over the world, the residents of Bimini are fighting against the mega-project on their tiny island, which would lead to the destruction of their natural resources.

State budget

The state budget included in the fiscal year 2016 spending by the equivalent of 2.3 billion US dollars , which were income equivalent to 1.9 billion US dollar against. This corresponds to a budget deficit of 4.4% of GDP.

In 2016, the national debt was 64.4% of GDP.

In 2006, the share of government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) was as follows:

Health : 7.4%
Education : 3.6% (2000)
Military : 0.5%

military

Established in 1980, the Bahamas armed forces are known as the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF). The Bahamas has no army or air force, the existing units are assigned to the navy and have a police character.

Districts

Emerald Bay

→ Main article: Districts of the Bahamas

As of 1999, the Local Government Act of 1996 divided the Bahamas into 31 local government districts and New Providence , which is administered by the national government.

Districts of the Bahamas

public holidays

date	Surname	German name	Remarks
January 1st	New Year's Day	New Year	Junkanoo Parade is held
Friday before Easter	Good Friday	Good Friday
Monday after Easter Sunday	Easter Monday	Easter Monday
first Friday in June	Labor Day	Labor Day
seven weeks after Easter	White Monday	Whit Monday
10th of July	Independence Day	Independence day	Independence from Great Britain on July 10, 1973
first Monday in August	Emancipation Day	Day of the Liberation of Slaves	on August 1, 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect
October 12th	Discovery Day	Discovery Day	Discovery of the Bahamas by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492
25 December	Christmas Day	Christmas
December 26th	Boxing Day	2nd Christmas Day	Junkanoo Parade is held
Note: Holidays are made up on the following Monday if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday.

literature

Wolfgang Gieler : Bahamas. In: Wolfgang Gieler, Markus Porsche-Ludwig (Hrsg.): State dictionary America: Geography, history, culture, politics and economy. Peter Lang, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-631-77017-7 , pp. 43-48.
Michael Craton: A History of the Bahamas . Collins, London, 2nd ed. 1968.