In 1492, Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the Western Hemisphere in The Bahamas. Spanish slave traders later captured native Lucayan Indians to work in the gold mines in Hispaniola, and within 25 years, all Lucayans perished. In 1647, a group of English and Bermudan religious refugees, the Eleutheran Adventurers, founded the first permanent European settlement in the Bahamas and gave Eleuthera Island its name. Similar groups of settlers formed governments in the Bahamas until the islands became a British Crown Colony in 1717. The first Royal Governor, a former pirate named Woodes Rogers, brought law and order to the Bahamas in 1718, when he expelled the buccaneers who had used the islands as hideouts. During the American Civil War, the Bahamas prospered as a centre of Confederate blockade-running and during Prohibition in the 1920s, the islands served as a base for the supply of liquor to the US mainland.  During World War II, the Allies centred their flight training and anti-submarine operations for the Caribbean in the Bahamas. Since then, the Bahamas has developed into a major tourist and financial services centre. The Bahamas achieved self-government through a series of constitutional and political steps, attaining internal self-government in 1964 and full independence within the Commonwealth on 10 July 1973.

Eighty-five per cent of the Bahamian population is of African heritage. About two-thirds of the population reside on New Providence (the location of Nassau). Many have ancestors who arrived in the Bahamas islands when they served as a staging area for the slave trade in the early 1800s. Others accompanied thousands of British loyalists who fled the American colonies during the Revolutionary War.

Flag

A competition for the design of the new Flag of The Bahamas was held in November 1971. The next year on November 14th, 1972 The Bahamas Cabinet approved the design of the flag now used.

The design of the Bahamian flag is a black equilateral triangle against the mast superimposed on a horizontal background made up of two colours on three equal stripes, aquamarine, gold and aquamarine.

Black, a strong colour, represents the vigour and force of a united people; the triangle pointing represents the enterprise and determination of the Bahamian people to develop and process the rich resources of land and sea, symbolised by gold and aquamarine, respectively.

Coat of Arms

Adopted in late 1971, this Bahamian coat of arms replaced the original design assigned by Britain as far back as 1728. The preliminary design for the new coat of arms was the brainchild of Hervis Bain, a civil servant and recognized Bahamian artist. With a few alterations to the 18th century design, the coat of arms now represents something truly Bahamian.

The Bahamas’ coat of arms is a composition of things indigenous to these islands, while the motto “Forward Upward Onward Together” heralds to the direction and manner in which the Bahamian nation should move.

The crest of the arms, a light pink conch shell, symbolises the marine life of The Bahamas. The top of the crest is composed of wavy green palm fronds, symbolic of the natural vegetation. The Santa Maria, flagship of Christopher Columbus, appears on the shield of the coat of arms. Wavy barrulets of blue symbolise the waters of The Bahamas.

The shield is charged with a resplendent or radiant sun to signify the world-famous balmy resort climate, and it also connotes the bright future of these islands. A flamingo, the national bird, and a silvery blue marlin support the shield. The national motto is draped across the base of the coat of arms.

There was a national competition to produce the motto for the coat of arms, and the competition was won by two 11-year-old schoolchildren – Vivian F. Moultrie of Inagua Public School and Melvern B. Bowe of the Government High School in Nassau. Bahamian artist Hervis Bain prepared the preliminary design of the coat of arms.

National Anthem

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National Song

God Bless Our Sunny Clime
National Song
music by Timothy Gibson & Clement Bethel
words by Rev. Philip Rahming

God Bless our sunny clime, spur us to height sublime.
To keep men free, let brothers, sisters stand
Firm, trusting hand in hand, throughout Bahamaland
One brotherhood, one brotherhood.

Let gratefulness ascend, courageous deeds extend
From isle to isle. Long let us treasure peace,
So may our lives increase, our prayers never cease.
Let freedom ring! Let freedom ring!

The long, long night has passed, the morning breaks at last,
From shore to shore, sunrise with golden gleam
Sons n' daughters, share the dream, for one working team
One brotherhood, one brotherhood.

Not for this time nor for this chosen few alone
We pledge ourselves. Live loyal to our God.
Love country, friend and foe, oh help us by thy might!
Great God our King! Great God our King!

National Tree

Lignum Vitae (Guaiacum Officinale)

The Lignum vitae, meaning tree of life, is from the genus Guaicum (caltrop family or Zygophyllaceae) and is the National Tree of The Bahamas.

The extremely hard and heavy self-lubricating wood is especially adapted for bearings or bushings of propeller shafts on steamships, and also serves for bearings in steel mills, for bowling balls, and pulleys. For many years, dating back to World War II, shipments of the wood were made from The Bahamas to the United Kingdom and the United States by the old New Providence firm of Duncombe and Butler.

Apart from its industrial uses, the bark of the tree is used for medicinal purposes, and many Bahamians throughout the islands steep the bark and drink it as a tonic for creating energy as an aphrodisiac.

National Fish

Blue Marlin (Makaira Mazara)

The blue marlin is the majestic fish that is found in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with reports of the largest sizes found in the latter. However, many persons first encounter the fish in Ernest Hemingway’s book “Old Man and the Sea.” Mr. Hemingway was a frequent visitor to The Bahamas, especially the island of Bimini, where the blue marlin is highly prized among the strong game-fishing community.

The blue marlin, a relative of the sailfish and swordfish, is easily recognizable for the long “sword” or spike of its upper jaw, its high and pointed dorsal fin, and pointed anal fin. It is said that the fish uses its “sword” to club other fish on which it feeds.

The marlin’s back is cobalt blue and its flanks and underbelly are silvery white. There may be light-blue or lavender vertical stripes on the sides as well.

A powerful and aggressive fighter, the blue marlin can run hard and long, sound or dive deep, and leap high into the air in a display of strength.

National Bird

Flamingo (Phoenicopterus Ruber)

The scarlet, long-legged flamingoes are found in three major nesting groups in the West Indian region, Great Inagua being one of them (the others are in Yucatan, Mexico, and Bonaire Island in the Netherlands Antilles.) The more than 50,000 birds inhabiting 287 square miles of Inagua wilderness are protected by wardens employed by the Society for the Protection of the Flamingo in The Bahamas through the Bahamas National Trust, a statutory body set up in 1959.

The Roseate or West Indian flamingoes (Phoenicopterus ruber) were formerly also bred in Abaco, Andros, Rum Cay, the Exuma Cays, Long Island, Ragged Cays, Acklins, Mayaguana, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. However, several factors, including action by man, led to a reduction in their number. Charles B. Cory, a curator of birds in the Boston Society of Natural History, wrote at the end of the19th century that great numbers of young birds were killed before they were able to fly, and many were carried away alive to be sold to passing vessels, on which they died from want of care. Nowadays, thanks largely to action by the government and the National Trust, the flamingo is making a comeback.

National Flower

Yellow Elder (Tecoma Stans: or Stenolobium)

This flower blooms between October and December on a tree that may grow as high as 20 feet. The evergreen stands out because of its clusters of brilliant yellow, bell-shaped blossoms. They are about an inch across and two inches long, with red stripes lightly etched in the corolla. The little bells are held in a five-point calyx, and there are nine to 13 leaflets composing the odd pinnate leaf. Just before the blooms flare open, bag-like buds pop noisily if squeezed.

Selection of the yellow elder over many other flowers was made through the combined popular vote of members of all four of New Providence’s garden clubs of the 1970s – the Nassau Garden Club, the Carver Garden Club, the International Garden Club, and the YWCA Garden Club. They reasoned that other flowers grown here – such as the bougainvillea, hibiscus, and poinciana – had already been chosen as the national flowers of other countries. The yellow elder, on the other hand, was unclaimed (although it is now also the national flower of the United States Virgin Islands).

National Holidays

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The Bahamas is a 100,000 square mile archipelago southeast of Florida stretching 400 miles south to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The closest island to the US in Bimini which is 50 miles off the coast to Florida. The islands are mostly flat, the highest point being Mount Alvernia on Cat Island, which is 206 feet above sea level. The climate is semitropical and the islands do not experience extremes of temperatures.

HIV/AIDS

National adult HIV prevalence in The Bahamas is among the highest in the Caribbean at 3.3%. Improved management and treatment of AIDS appears to have reduced the number of deaths due to AIDS. But AIDS is still a leading cause of death among Bahamian men and women aged 15-44. As of 31 December 2006, The Bahamas had a cumulative total of 10841 reported cases of HIV/AIDS. Of the 10841living individuals, 1693 are living with an AIDS diagnosis, while 5343 have HIV infection that has not yet progressed to AIDS.

The disease occurs primarily among heterosexuals (approximately 87%), although under-reporting by men who have sex with men remains a challenge. Transmission through intravenous drug use is considered to be insignificant.

The decline in new HIV infections can be attributed to the strategies taken by the Government of The Bahamas beginning early in the epidemic, and that continue to form the backbone of the response to HIV and AIDS. A slight increase in the number of newly reported HIV infections was noted in 2005 and 2006 which was attributed to the increased testing during the “Know Your Status” campaign launched by the HIV/AIDS Centre.

Drugs

The Bahamas experiences cocaine traffic largely along the Colombia-Jamaica-Bahamas corridor. International law enforcement efforts in the Jamaican corridor and elsewhere in the Caribbean region have resulted in a marked drop in traffic through The Bahamas in recent years. But with direct commercial airline links to the UK and a modern container facility in Freeport, The Bahamas remains a potential threat for direct trafficking to Europe. The Bahamians have made important cocaine seizures in sea containers in transit destined for Europe from Colombia.

The Bahamas has a parliamentary system of government in which the Governor-General represents the titular head of state, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. The Honourable Arthur D Hanna has held the office of Governor-General since February 2006.

Elections were held on 2 May 2007, when former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who had been in office from 1992 to 2002, led the opposition Free National Movement (FNM) to victory over the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and their leader Prime Minister Perry Christie. The FNM won 23 seats as against 18 for PLP. In the previous election (2002) the FNM had won just 7 seats compared to the 29 seats for the PLP with 4 seats going to independent candidates. 111 candidates contested the 41 single-member constituency seats and there was a turnout of over 92.1% of the 150,684 registered voters.

In 2003 the then government appointed a bi-partisan Constitutional Commission with the mandate to provide a comprehensive review of the constitution and to consider the method of amending it or adopting a new one. The Commission presented its preliminary report to Prime Minister Christie in March 2006. It proposed that The Bahamas should become a democratic parliamentary republic and that a President be elected or appointed by the 2 houses of Parliament as Head of State of The Bahamas. The final report will be published after a period of public consultation.