Cat Island (Bahamas)

Cat Island
Astronaut photo from Cat Island
Waters	Atlantic Ocean
Archipelago	Bahamas
Geographical location	24 ° 27 ′  N , 75 ° 30 ′  W Coordinates: 24 ° 27 ′  N , 75 ° 30 ′  W
length	76.8 km
width	21.9 km
surface	389 km²
Highest elevation	Mount Alvernia 63  m
Residents	1503 (2010) 3.9 inhabitants / km²
main place	Arthur's Town
View from Mount Alvernia

Cat Island is an island and a district of the Bahamas . Here is the highest point of the island state, the 63  m high Mount Alvernia , on whose summit the Hermitage monastery stands. The builder of this hermitage was John Hawes , better known as Fr. Jerome, an English Franciscan . Before he retired to Cat Island, he worked in Western Australia as a religious.

The first European settlers were loyalists who fled the American War of Independence and arrived on the island in 1783. The island may be named after Arthur Catt , a pirate, or it may be named after the uniquely large population of feral cats.

In the past, the cotton plantations made up the island's prosperity, but today slash and burn is the main way of life for the islanders. Economically viable is also the harvest of Kaskarilla -Rinde. It is collected and then shipped to Italy , where it is a key ingredient in medicines, fragrances and Campari .

The population is around 1500 and the main settlements are Arthur's Town ( Sidney Poitier grew up here), Orange Creek and Port Howe .

For a long time it was believed that Cat Island was the island of Guanahani , where Christopher Columbus set foot in the New World for the first time , until rebuttal documents were found.

See also

• List of islands in the Bahamas

Web links

Wikivoyage: Cat Island  Travel Guide

• Official website

Footnotes