conventional long form: Commonwealth of The Bahamas
conventional short form: The Bahamas
13,940 km²
Nassau
Bahamian dollar (BSD)
1-242
.bs
English, Creole
Baptist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Church of God, Methodist, other Christian, none or unspecified
305,655
constitutional parliamentary democracy
three equal horizontal bands of aquamarine (top), gold, and aquamarine, with a black equilateral triangle based on the hoist side
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 have prospered through tourism and 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.
tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream