Bahamas,The
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The Bahamas, officially the "Commonwealth of The Bahamas", is an independent, English-speaking country consisting of two thousand cays and seven hundred islands that form an archipielago. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of the United States; northeast to east of Cuba and the island of Hipaniola (Dominican Republic& Haiti) and north to east of the Caribbean Sea; and west to northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Its major environmental issues include: no natural fresh water resources; drinking water supplies must be met by rainwater catchments.
Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since attaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management.
Geography
Location: Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba
Geographic Coordinates: 24 15 N, 76 00 W
Area: 13,940 square km (10,070 sq km of land and 3,870 sq km of water)
- arable land: 0.58%
- permanent crops: 0.29%
- other: 99.13% (2005)
Coastline: 3,542 km
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea out to 12 nautical miles and an exclusive economic zone out to 200 nautical miles
Natural Hazards: hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind damage
Terrain: Long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills. The highest point is Mount Alvernia, on Cat Island (63 meters)
Climate: Tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream
Ecology
The Bahamas islands ecoregion consist of over 3000 low-lying islands with a maximum elevation of 60 meters (m), only 29 of which are inhabited, and most of which are no more than rocky islets and cays. The Bahamian mangroves are found in a large area of shallow water that is of high importance for its ecological productivity. These coastal mangroves, together with coral reefs and seagrass beds, form a highly diverse and structurally complex ecosystem in which the reefs act as a barrier that shelters seagrass beds and mangroves from high wave energy and strong coastal currents typical of the Caribbean environment. Mangroves and seagrass beds in turn provide foraging and nursery habitats for many reef species and sea turtles that are found throughout the Bahamas.
There are at least four bird species endemic to the Bahamas islands which may utilize mangrove habitats at times including the Bahama woodstar , white-cheeked pintail, Bahamas swallow and Bahama yellowthroat; although none of them specifically live in mangrove habitat exclusively. Other bird species associated with mangroves include spotted sandpiper, roseate spoonbill, green heron, belted kingfisher, [[Mangrove Cuckoo|mangrove cuckoo]], mangrove warbler, and reddish egret.
Sea turtles found throughout Bahamas islands utilizing mangrove habitats include the green turtle, hawksbill, loggerhead, and leatherback. Important fish species found in Bahamian mangroves are snappers, grunts, parrotfishes, and mojarra, Nassau grouper, Bonefishbonefish, tarpon and barracuda a very important economically as a sport fishery.
See also Coral reef fish feeding behavior in the Caribbean
Protected Areas
The protected areas of the Bahamas include:
- Abaco National Park (20,500 acres)
- Central Andros Parks (286,080 acres)
- Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (112,640 acres)
- Harrold and Wilson Ponds National Park (250 acres)
- Inagua National Park (183,740 acres)
- Lucayan National Park (40 acres)
- Moriah Harbour Cay National Park (13,440 acres)
- BNT Rand Nature Centre (100 acres)
- The Retreat (11 acres)
- Union Creek National Park (4,940)
In 2000, the Bahamas began to establish a Marine Reserve Network. Five sites were proposed for initial inclusion in the network at North Bimini, Berry Islands (Frozen Cay to Whale Cay area), South Eleuthera (Powell Point to Schooner Cays), Exuma Cays (south of the Land and Sea Park in the Lee Stocking Island area), and northern Abaco Cays. In 2002, additional sites were added.
Government
Government Type: Constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm
Capital: Nassau
Independence Date: Independence Day, 10 July (1973)
Legal System: based on English common law
International Environmental Agreements
The Bahamas is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, and Wetlands.
People and Society
Population: 309,156
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 25.9% (male 40,085/female 39,959)
15-64 years: 67.2% (male 102,154/female 105,482)
65 years and over: 6.9% (male 8,772/female 12,704) (2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 0.536% (2009 est.)
Birthrate: 17.06 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 9.22 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -2.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 65.78 years
Total Fertility Rate: 2.1 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants)
Literacy: 95.6%
The Human Development Index for Bahamas is 0.825, which gives Bahamas a rank of 52nd out of 177 countries with data. See: Bahamas's Human Development Index for 2004.
Economy
The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest Caribbean countries with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago's labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth in recent years, but tourist arrivals have been on the decline since 2006 and will likely drop even further in 2009. Tourism, in turn, depends on growth in the US, the source of more than 80% of the visitors. To help offset the effect of the global economic downturn, particularly on employment, the INGRAHAM administration plans to engage in infrastructure projects. Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy and, when combined with business services, account for about 36% of GDP. However, since December 2000, when the government enacted new regulations on the financial sector, many international businesses have left The Bahamas. Manufacturing and agriculture combined contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors. Overall growth prospects in the short run rest heavily on the fortunes of the tourism sector.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity):
$8.779 billion (2008 est.)
$8.649 billion (2007)
$8.413 billion (2006)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $6.935 billion (2008 est.)
GDP-real growth rate:
1.5% (2008 est.)
2.8% (2007 est.)
4.6% (2006 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP):
$28,600 (2008 est.)
$28,300 (2007 est.)
$27,700 (2006 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 3%
industry: 7%
services: 90% (2001 est.)
Industries: tourism, banking, cement, oil transshipment, salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe
Currency: Bahamian dollars (BSD)
Further Reading
Return to Bahamas's country profile
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