The Bahamas

Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Forward, Upward, Onward, Together"
Anthem: "March On, Bahamaland" Royal anthem: "God Save the King"
Capital and largest city	Nassau 25°4′N 77°20′W / 25.067°N 77.333°W / 25.067; -77.333
Official languages	English
Ethnic groups (2010)	90.6% Afro-Bahamian 4.7% European 2.1% Mulatto 1.9% Other 0.7% Unspecified[1]
Religion (2010)[2]	95.8% Christianity —80.0% Protestantism —15.8% Other Christian 3.1% None 1.1% Others
Demonym(s)	Bahamian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy[3][4]
• Monarch	Charles III
• Governor-General	Dame Cynthia A. Pratt
• Prime Minister	Philip Davis
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Assembly
Independence
• from the United Kingdom	10 July 1973[5]
Area
• Total	13,878 km2 (5,358 sq mi) (155th)
• Water (%)	28%
Population
• 2021 estimate	407,906[6][7] (177th)
• 2010 census	351,461
• Density	25.21/km2 (65.3/sq mi) (181st)
GDP (PPP)	2018 estimate
• Total	$12.612 billion[8] (148th)
• Per capita	$33,494[8] (40th)
GDP (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	$12.803 billion[8] (130th)
• Per capita	$34,102[8] (26th)
HDI (2019)	0.814[9] very high · 58th
Currency	Bahamian dollar (BSD) (US dollars widely accepted)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+1 242
ISO 3166 code	BS
Internet TLD	.bs
^ Also referred to as Bahamian dialect or Bahamianese[10]

The Bahamas (officially called Commonwealth of The Bahamas) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. The country's capital, Nassau, is on New Providence Island.

The Taino were the first people living there. In 1492, Christopher Columbus found the Americas by landing on another of the islands, San Salvador. The Eleutheran Adventurers soon came along, making a home in Eleuthera.

The islands' mostly black population speaks English, the country's main language.

The Bahamas are a popular place for people to visit for holidays, the 700 islands and cays attract many visitors from nearby America, as well as Europe and other countries.

1. ↑ Bahamas Department of Statistics Archived 2015-12-09 at the Wayback Machine, PDF document retrieved 20 April 2014.
2. ↑ "Religions in Bahamas - PEW-GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
3. ↑ "•GENERAL SITUATION AND TRENDS". Pan American Health Organization. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
4. ↑ "Mission to Long Island in the Bahamas". Evangelical Association of the Caribbean. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
5. ↑ "1973: Bahamas' sun sets on British Empire". BBC News. 9 July 1973. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
6. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
7. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX). population.un.org ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
9. ↑ Human Development Report 2020 The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. pp. 343–346. ISBN 978-92-1-126442-5. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
10. ↑ "Bahamas".