The Bahamas: 
This group of islands is of great importance to researchers, historians and students of history, since the first 'discovery' that Christopher Columbus made in the New World on October 12th, 1492, was an island in The Bahamas Archipelago that he named San Salvador. After observing the shallow sea around the islands, he said "Baja mar" (meaning shallow water or sea), and named the area The Bahamas, or The Islands of the Shallow Sea. The Bahamas consisted of several thousand cays and 700 islands that form the archipelago. It is believed that the Islands may have been populated by the Arawaks/Tainos (also known as the Lucayans) who had migrated to The Bahamas around the 7th century from the Guianas region in South America. There is also another belief that the original inhabitants may have been kin of the native Seminole Indians who inhabited the adjoining mainland of Florida. The Spanish never made a permanent settlement on the islands however they forcefully took the native Indians to work in the mines of Hispaniola and after a few years their population was totally decimated.
British settlement of the islands began in 1647 when a group of English religious dissidents (Eleutheran Adventurers) left Bermuda and founded the first permanent European plantations in The Bahamas giving Eleuthera Island its name. Similar groups of settlers formed governments in The Bahamas until the islands became a British Crown Colony in 1717.  In 1670 King Charles II granted the islands to the Lord Proprietors of the Carolinas. It was during this period of proprietary rule that The Bahamas became a haven for pirates, including the infamous Blackbeard. The first Royal Governor, a former pirate named Woodes Rogers, implemented some form of law and order in The Bahamas. In 1718 his first order was the expulsion of the buccaneers who were using the islands as their hideouts to attack unsuspecting ships.
During the American Revolutionary War, The Bahamas experienced an economic boom since it was used as a center for the Confederates blockade-running. After the war around 8,000 British Loyalists moved to The Bahamas from New York, Florida and the Carolinas bringing with them their black slaves. The British abolished the slave trade in 1807, which led to the forced settlement on the islands of thousands of Africans who were liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy, and on August 1st 1838 slavery was finally abolished in all the British colonies in the Caribbean. During both World Wars the islands served as a base for American rumrunners and Britain and her Allies used it as a base for their flight training and anti-submarine operations - including hunting for German submarines. From 1917 to 1933, during the United States prohibition era, The Bahamas' economy once again flourished largely due to its close proximity to the mainland when the islands again supplied liquor for American rumrunners.
For decades, the white majority the United Bahamian Party (UBP) ruled The Bahamas, while a group of influential white merchants, known as the "Bay Street Boys," dominated the local economy. In 1953, Bahamians dissatisfied with the UBP, formed the opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) under the leadership of the late Lyden Pindling. In 1967 the PLP finally won elections and led The Bahamas to full independence in 1973.
The Bahamas' economy is heavily dependent on tourism and financial services. Manufacturing, tourism and tourism-related construction of new hotels, holiday resorts and residences account for approximately 60% of its GDP. Together these three sectors account for about 50% of the archipelago's work force. Financial services, more importantly offshore banking, constitute the second-most important sector of Bahamas' economy and, when combined with business services, account for about 36% of GDP. Additionally, the Government sold offshore exploration licenses to the Kerr-McGee Group to search for oil. The Government is also trying to adopt a proactive approach to attract foreign investors since foreign investment is restricted in many sectors.
The Bahamas is the wealthiest country in the Caribbean with a GDP per capita of US$17,497 placing it in the category of high income countries. However, there is a great disparity in income levels this is reflected by the percentage of people living below the poverty line, which was at 9.3% in 2004 coupled with a high unemployment rate of 7.6%. Based on the latest information published in the 2007/2008 Human Development Report, despite the country being in the category of high income country it is lagging behind Barbados in terms of Human Development, with a rank of 49 and an index of 0.845 for 2005. Barbados rank on the other hand was 31 with an index of 0.892 in the same year. The socio-economic conditions are further weakened with the high incidence of the HIV/AIDs virus for such a small population.
For basic facts and figures (CLICK THE ABOVE IMAGE)
According to the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, Bahamas' economy is 71.1 percent free, which makes it the world's 24th freest economy. Its overall score is 0.9 percentage point lower than last year, primarily because of worsening trade freedom. The Bahamas is ranked 5th out of 29 countries in the Americas, and its overall score is higher than the regional average.
Due to its geographical location The Bahamas is used for the smuggling of illegal immigrants from Cuba and Haiti into the US. It is also a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US and Europe. The Government of The Bahamas cooperates closely with the US to stem the flow of illegal drugs passing through its territory, to target Bahamian drug trafficking organizations and to reduce the Bahamian domestic demand for drugs. In 2007, the Bahamian Parliament passed into law precursor chemical control legislation. The government also increased funding to strengthen its interdiction capabilities in vulnerable regions of the country. The Bahamas is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.
Related links:
History of
Bahamas
The
Government of The Bahamas
Index
of Economic Freedom The Bahamas
The World Bank
Human
Development Report, 2007/2008
US
Department of State note on The Bahamas
CIA
World Fact Book
The Bahamas Guide |
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