On July 10, 1973, the Bahamas gained independence from the United Kingdom. Although the Bahamas is an independent state today, they have retained the British Queen as their ruler (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and a dozen other countries around the world have a similar system).
The Bahamas is where Columbus first disembarked during the famous 1492 voyage. There he met the natives of the Lucayo people, a subgroup of the Arawak people. The Spaniards never colonized the Bahamas, but took much of the natives into captivity on the island of Hispaniola (a large island east of Cuba). The islands were then uninhabited for some time, but in the late 17th century they became the seat of notorious pirates, including the famous Blackbeard.
They received the official status of a British colony only in 1718. Probably the most famous of all the British governors of the Bahamas was the Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII, who abdicated so he could marry the American Wallis Simpson).
The Bahamas consists of over 700 islands, with a total area of 13,878 square kilometers (more than Montenegro). Only about 30 islands are inhabited, and the largest of the Bahamas – Andros – has 3439 square kilometers, which means that it is almost 9 times larger than the Croatian island of Brac.
The Bahamas is located near the United States and is a relatively rich country, much richer than the Caribbean and Central American averages. The main source of income for the Bahamas is tourism, which employs more than half of the population. The capital of the Bahamas is called Nassau, and is also the largest city in the state. About 70% of the total population of the country lives in it.
Interestingly, the British have retained a portion of the Bahamas as their colony to this day. These are the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are located on the far eastern edge of the Bahamas.
