Bahamas
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Capital: Nassau
History
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 UK in 1973, The Bahamas has prospered through tourism, international banking, and investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US and Europe, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.
Geography
Metric Units
Economy
Budget & Debt
Trade
| Exports |
$790 million |
| Export Items |
crawfish, aragonite, crude salt, polystyrene products |
| Export Partners |
US 78%, UK 4%, Canada 3% (2011) |
| Imports |
$2.88 billion |
| Import Items |
machinery and transport equipment, manufactures, chemicals, mineral fuels |
| Import Partners |
US 89%, Trinidad and Tobago 5% (2011) |
People
| Population |
319,031 |
| Population Growth |
0.89% |
| Ethnic Groups |
black 85%, white 12%, Asian and Hispanic 3% |
| Religion |
Protestant 67.6% (Baptist 35.4%, Anglican 15.1%, Pentecostal 8.1%, Church of God 4.8%, Methodist 4.2%), Roman Catholic 13.5%, other Christian 15.2%, none or unspecified 2.9%, other 0.8% (2000 census) |
| Life Expectancy |
71.69 years |
| Infant Mortality |
0.96 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Maternal Mortality |
1.3 deaths/100,000 live births |
Energy
