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The Bahamas (/ b ə ˈ h ɑː m ə z / ⓘ bə-HAH-məz), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, [13] is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean.It contains 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and 88% of its population.
The Bahamas is expected to be highly affected by sea level rise because at least 80% of the total land is below 10 meters elevation. [19] [20] As a small island developing state, the Bahamas is vulnerable to escalating disease outbreaks, and climate change could affect the seasonality of outbreaks and transmission of disease. [21]
It is located on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas. [2] As of April 2023, the preliminary results of the 2022 census of the Bahamas reported a population of 296,522 for New Providence, 74.26% of the country's population. [4]
The island in its early history was known as Cigateo (or Ciguateo), meaning "distant rocky land", but this name changed following subsequent European settlement. [ 13 ] [ 11 ] NASA satellite image, showing New Providence Island to the west, and east of it, the long, narrow island of Eleuthera running north and south (along with its associated ...
A 1520 expedition by the Spanish discovered only 11 people in The Bahamas; the Lucayans were effectively eradicated from these islands. The islands of the Bahamas, including Andros Island, remained uninhabited thereafter for approximately 130 years. [7] The Bahamas subsequently passed back and forth between Spanish and British rule for 150 years.
Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of The Bahamas.It is the third largest island in The Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly 530 square miles (1,400 km 2) in area and approximately 153 kilometres (95 miles) long west to east and 24 kilometres (15 miles) at its widest point north to south.
Long Island is about 130 kilometers (80 mi) long and 6 km (4 mi) wide at its widest point. The land area is 596 km 2 (230 sq mi). Long Island is situated about 265 km (165 mi) southeast of the juice capital of Nassau, which is located on the island of New Providence.
Spain laid claim to the Bahamas after Columbus discovered the islands but showed little interest in them. The Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci spent four months exploring the Bahamas in 1499–1500. Juan de la Cosa's first map of the New World, printed in 1500, shows the Abaco Islands with the name Habacoa.