T COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS HE Commonwealth of The Bahama Islands comprise an archipelago of about 700 islands and more than 2,000 rocks and cays, lying between latitudes 20° 55- and 27° 25- N. and longitudes 72° 35- and 50° 5- W.; the total land surface area of the islands is 5,380 square miles. The group is separated from Florida on the west by the Straits of Florida and on the south from Cuba by the Old Bahama and Nicholas Channels. About 30 of the islands are inhabited and the more important of these include Abaco, Acklins and Crooked Island, Andros, the Berry and Bimini Islands, Cat, Cay Sal and Cay Lobos, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Long Island, Mayaguana, New Providence, Ragged Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador. Andros is the largest in size, but New Providence upon which the capital, Nassau, is situated, is the most important. The Bahamas lie on a submarine shelf which rises steeply in the east from depths of over 2,000 fathoms, and in the west forms the shallow seas of the Great Bahama Bank. Most of the islands are located on the eastern edge of this shelf and since the seas are coral-bearing the coasts tend to be complex. The islands are composed of corraline limestone and are usually long and narrow, each rising from the shore to a low ridge, beyond which lie lagoons and swamps. The highest point, in Cat Island, is 206 feet above sea level, but Grand Bahama barely reaches 40 feet. Since the rock is permeable there are no streams and the water supply has to be derived either from shallow wells or from rainwater collected in catchments and cisterns. The shallow soils found in small pockets in the limestone rock afford limited cultivation and suit a variety of sub-tropical vegetables and fruit. The warm waters of the Gulf Stream render the winter climate of the Bahamas agreeably mild and frosts are never experienced. Temperatures during this season average 21°C (70°F), and summer temperatures, although modified by the sea, vary between 27° and 32°C (80° and 90°F). Most of the rain falls in May, June, September and October and thunderstorms are frequent during the summer months. The total rainfall is comparatively slight, averaging 44 inches per annum, but it varies between the islands from 30 to 60 inches. Censuses are taken every ten years and the population at the last census (April 1970) was 168,838. The population is very unevenly distributed and more than half the people live on New Providence; the average population density of the islands is only 11 persons per square mile. Abaco, Andros, the Biminis, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Great Inagua, Harbour Island, Long Cay, Long Island and Acklins all have more than 1,000 inhabitants. On 31st December 1968 the population of New Providence was estimated to be 110,000 and that of Grand Bahama 23,000. The birth-rate in 1967 was 29.2 per 1,000 and the death-rate 8.3 per 1,000. Religion is predominantly Christian, the main denominations being Baptist, Anglican and Roman Catholic. English is the official and spoken language in the Bahamas. The climate of the islands is healthy and tropical diseases are absent. Preventive needs are met by child welfare and ante-natal clinics. Immunisation against smallpox, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and poliomyelitis is given at these clinics, and is a requirement for primary school entry. The public health department also has health inspectors to advise on hygiene and sanitation. Curative needs are met by Princess Margaret Hospital on New Providence Island which has 457 beds, full supporting services and full-time consultant specialists in medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, paediatrics, chest diseases, pathology, radiology, obstetrics, gynaecology and ophthalmology. Serious cases from the Out- Islands are brought into this hospital by air. A mental hospital and rehabilitation unit of 230 beds, and a geriatric hospital of 140 beds are also situated on New Providence. Altogether there are 8 medical officers on the Out-Islands and 49 clinics where there is not a resident doctor; doctors from New Providence visit the clinics regularly on a Flying Doctor Service. On five Out-Islands there are government run cottage hospitals, and on Grand Bahama there is a privately run hospital. Under the Bahamas Education Act of 1968, education is compulsory and free between the ages of 5 and 14. There are 141 secondary schools or secondary sections of all-age rural schools, a teacher-training college and technical school. There is a Department of Extra-mural Studies of the University of the West Indies in Nassau. A substantial number of Government scholarships for higher education overseas is awarded annually. There is one reformatory school for boys under the Industrial School Act and one for girls. Literacy is estimated to be 90 per cent. There are 5 public libraries in Nassau and 34 village libraries on the Out-Islands. The main seaports are Freeport (Grand Bahama Island), Matthew Town (Inagua Island) and Nassau (New Providence Island); the net tonnage figure for ships entering the Bahamas in 1967 was 6,800,549 and 1968 6,229,171; the tonnage of vessels cleared was, 1967 6,383,338 and 1968 6,260,813. The country is served by Saguenay Shipping Ltd, the Royal Mail Line, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the Royal Netherlands Line and the United Fruit Steamship Company. The principal airports in the Bahamas are situated at Nassau, 12 miles from the town (runway 11,000 feet) from which international air services are operated; Freeport, Grand Bahama (runway 8,300 feet); and at West End, Grand Bahama (runway 8,000 feet). There are 52 smaller airports and landing strips designed to facilitate services between the Out-Islands. This service is operated by Bahamas Airways Ltd. and Out-Island Airways. There are 204 miles of roads on New Providence maintained by the Ministry of Works, 120 miles of asphalt roads on Eleuthera, and 102 on Grand Bahama. Roads are under construction on Andros Island and on most of the smaller islands where previously only rough tracks existed. At present there is a total of 534 miles of paved roads in other Out-Islands. There is a considerable mileage of privately owned and maintained roads, mainly on New Providence. There are no railways in the territory. The Government-owned broadcasting station, operated by the Bahamas Broadcasting and Television Commission, is located in Nassau. The power of its transmitter is 10 kW, frequency 1,540 kc/s and call sign ZNS. Commercial operation began in 1950, although a broadcasting station has existed since 1936. The Commission took over in January 1957. In August 1962 a second channel opened transmission on a frequency of 1,240 kc/s with a power of 1,000 watts, serving the island of New Providence only. However, it can be heard in some of the nearer Out-Islands. There is no direct television in the Bahamas but a re-diffusion service from Florida is operated by Greater Freeport Services Ltd on Grand Bahama. New Providence viewers are able to receive television direct from Florida. The principal crops of the Bahamas include fresh vegetables, tomatoes, pineapples, bananas, citrus fruits, avocados, mangos, egg-plant, squash and sisal. The quality of local stocks of pigs and sheep is being improved by the importation of pure-bred animals, and the Government is encouraging the establishment of beef and dairy herds. The estimated livestock population in 1966 was: sheep 22,900; goats 14,100; pigs 10,700; cattle 3,400; horses 3,600; poultry 650,000. Crawfish, turtle and edible conch are exported, mainly to the United States, while other marine products include sponges, turtle shell, beach shells and marine curios. Sponge to the value of B$32,414 was exported in 1968. Salt is extracted by solar radiation on Inagua and Long Island, and substantial quantities are exported. Cement is a principal manufacture and B$7,719,107 worth was exported in 1968. Other exports in 1968 included crawfish to the value of B$703,369. Salt to the value of B$2,647,582; pulpwood valued at B$3,629,076 and rum valued at B$4,644,530, were exported in 1968. There are four canning plants in the Bahamas, mainly engaged in canning tomatoes and pineapple. Most of the output is consumed locally. The exploitation of forest products is confined to the yellow pine* forests on Andros and Abaco. Straw products are manufactured as cottage industries and the raw material for this work is chiefly obtained from palm fronds and sisal fibre. Electricity production in recent years was (million kWh): 1963, 113; 1964, 123; 1965, 137; 1966, 155; 1967, 175; 1968, 215. Nearly all the territory's requirements are imported and include provisions, hardware, fresh beef, furniture, lumber, clothing, motor vehicles and fuel oil. The c.i.f. value of imports in 1968 was B$179,987,851. Sterling figures for previous years were: 1962, £24-4m.; 1963, £28-3m.; 1964, £35.9m.; 1965, £38m. Apart from a tax on real property of 12.5 per cent of assessed rental value, there is no direct taxation in the Bahamas. Government revenue is derived chiefly from import duties and other fees. In 1969 Government revenue was B$85,000,000 and expenditure was estimated at B$81,000,000. Tourism continues to be the main industry of the Bahamas and has expanded greatly in recent years, as the following figures show: There are Tomato Growers' Associations on Eleuthera and Cat Islands and active Farmers' Associations are situated throughout the Bahamas; these are assisted by the Ministry of Agriculture, which advances seed and fertilizer for the crops and after marketing them deducts advances from the proceeds of each ⚫ pinus caribaea. consignor. The Bahamas Produce Exchange in Nassau assists the farmers in the disposal of their produce in order to avoid glutting the market and depressing prices unnecessarily. HISTORY San Salvador, so called by Columbus, or Watling's Island, the Amerindian name being Guanahani, one of the islands composing the Bahama chain, was the first land discovered by him on his voyage in 1492. A few years later all the Carib inhabitants were transported to work in the Cuba mines. It does not appear that the Spaniards had any settlements on any of the islands of this group at any time. Early in the 17th century the islands were well known to the settlers of Bermuda and the Carolinas. They were included in the Royal Grant of Sir Robert Heath, the Attorney-General of England, of the 30th of October 1629. By 1640 the islands had become a well-known place of resort by the inhabitants of Bermuda, and on the 9th July 1647 the Company of Eleutherian Adventurers was formed in London for the purpose of making an organised attempt at a systematic colonisation and development of the islands. William Sayle, a former Governor of Bermuda, was the moving spirit of this venture, and associated with him were a number of influential city merchants and Members of Parliament. On the 31st August 1649, on the petition of Sayle and others, Parliament passed 'An Act for the Adventurers for the Eleutherian Islands' which constituted Sayle and his associates the 'Proprietors of the Islands'. Notwithstanding the Royal Grant to Heath in 1629 and the Cromwellian Act of 1649, Charles II, on 1st November 1670, granted the islands to six of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, namely, the Duke of Albermarle, the Earl of Craven, Lord Berkley, Lord Ashley, Sir George Carteret and Sir Peter Colleton. Before the Royal Grant of 1670 the inhabitants of the islands had organised the settlement, instituted a form of government which included an elective House of Assembly, and chosen Captain John Wentworth as their Governor. Wentworth applied to and received commissions from the Governors of Jamaica. The Lords Proprietors appointed Hugh Wentworth as their first Governor on 24th April 1671, but he did not take up the appointment. They then confirmed in office John Wentworth, the popularly elected Governor, on the 26th December 1671. A regular system of government was established including a parliament, the lower house of which was elective, and this was continued with several breaks until the civil and military government of the islands was resumed by the Crown on the surrender of their rights by the Lords Proprietors on the 28th October 1717. Thirteen Proprietary Governors were appointed between 1671 and 1715. The settlement on New Providence was sacked by the Spaniards on several occasions between 1680 and 1684. In 1684 nearly all the inhabitants were driven away, and it was not until 1688 that the settlement was re-formed by their return, principally from Jamaica, under the leadership of Thomas Bridges. Bridges was recognised as Governor by the Lords Proprietors on the 12th July 1688, and the settlement had reached some importance when it was practically annihilated by the French and Spaniards in 1703. However, a year or so after this the dispersed inhabitants returned to New Providence and another Proprietary Governor was appointed in 1707. But the islands became a regular rendezvous for pirates, and this finally determined the Crown to resume the civil and military government of the place, thus acceding to the numerous petitions which the inhabitants had been making for several years and also carrying out |