Ahh, the Bahamas! It's like the Hawaii of the Atlantic, except it has more of a pirate history,
there's a lot more black people and it's actually a country, it's not a state of U.S..
Actually, don't call it the Hawaii of the Atlantic.
It's time to learn geography...NOW!!!
Hey everybody, I'm your host Paul Barbato.
Today we're gonna cover the richest country in the Caribbean, the Bahamas.
But first, you know the drill, let's dissect the flag.
The flag of the Bahamas has a black triangle on the hoist side and aquamarine blue and yellow bands.
The yellow represents the golden sand on the beaches and natural resources,
the blue represents the sea surrounding the country,
and the black represents the strength, vigor and the force of the Bahamian people.
The direction of the triangle evokes the enterprising and determined nature for cultivation of the land.
Alright, that was the flag, now let's talk about the location.
As mentioned before, the Bahamas is the richest country in the Caribbean,
and part of the reason for that is because of its strategic location in conjunction to the U.S..
The Bahamas is located in the Atlantic Ocean just about Cuba and southeast of the U.S. state of Florida.
The Bahamas are comprised of 29 official islands, 661 islets and cays and 2,387 rocks,
most of which are uninhabited, however, you can kind of classify these islands in 16 different regions.
The island clusters are: Bimini, Grand Bahama, the Berry Islands, New Providence, the Abacos, Eleuthera,
Andros, the Exumas, Cat Island, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Long Island, Ragged Island, Inagua,
the Acklins & Crooked Islands and Mayaguana.
The Bahamas are kind of like the link between the Atlantic and the Caribbean.
This is the reason why the Bahamas is the most popular tourist destination
for people on the east coast of the United States:
it's easily accessible, it's beautiful and the exchange rate is typically favorable.
New Providence Island is the most heavily populated of all the islands,
and contains about 250,000 people or about 80% of the entire population of the Bahamas.
Also, it is home to the capital and largest city - Nassau.
Many of the major island chains in the Bahamas are very unique and distinguishable from the others
both culturally, physically and historically.
But we're gonna discuss that a little bit later, that's demographics, but first let's cover the...
When it comes to landscape, the Bahamas have a lot of strange and exclusive regions
that it's kind of hard to cover them all, but in a nutshell...
For one, the islands are generally low-lying and flat,
the highest point is only a small 207 foot tall hill called Mount Alvernia on Cat Island.
Otherwise, everywhere else pretty much only remains a few meters above sea level.
The only issue with the region is that the island chain is kind of subject to hurricanes often every year,
and with the limited space that they have, they don't really have anywhere to evacuate,
so they kinda have to sit through the storm.
Luckily, they're kinda used to this and they can afford to build buildings on sturdy foundation
that can withstand cataclysmic forces.
Now as mentioned before, the Bahamas are made up of many different islands and islets and cays,
they're all different from each other, so let's kind of talk about some of them.
For example, Harbour Bay on Eleuthera Island is one of the only few rare places in the world
that has pink sand on its beaches caused by sea shells from the form of the farrow species,
crushed by the waves and mixed in with the sand.
Andros Island is the largest of all the islands, and is known for being the mangrove swampy island
with the country's largest nature preserves;
the further west you go on the island,
the land just kind of sinks into a flat, low, marshy terrain
that eventually melts into the ocean with sandy, splashy islets and ponds.
Now if there are any islands competing with New Providence and Nassau for popularity,
it would have to be the twins - Grand Bahama and the Abacos Islands.
Strategically located in the north, with some of the finest natural bays and harbors,
these two islands are really investing in giving NASA a run for its money.
Grand Bahama is strange in that it's already in the process of a mass construction project
for a widely dispersed new residential area, including a complex water cul-de-sac region
along the newly constructed canal, and numerous interior roadways that intertwine
in a maze of patterns all over the area.
The only issue is these areas aren't really inhabited yet, but they hope that they will be soon.
Abaco Island is known for being the sailing capital of the world with its amazing wind currents.
The Exuma Island chain has more sandbars than you can imagine.
In fact, some of them are so shallow that you can kind of technically walk from one island
to the other without the need of a boat.
Also, this is the only spot where you can witness the swimming pigs that typically go up to boats docking,
expecting to be fed.
Inagua Island is known as the Flamingo Island; it's a bird-watchers paradise.
Mayaguana is home to the only native mammal species of the Bahamas,
the Bahamian Hutia - a plump rabbit-size rodent that was thought to be extinct in the 1960's,
but was rediscovered and has since been repopulating.
We could go on and on, but seriously, we don't have that much time.
Let's talk about the people of this country.
Alright, ya land lubbers, this here be the land of historical pirate activity.
No, seriously.
Back in the 17th and 18th century, this place was a hot spot for pirates.
And technically, since Johnny Depp does have a home in the Bahamas,
you could kind of say that Jack Sparrow actually does live in the Caribbean.
Lots of rich people here, but first...
For an island country, the Bahamas actually has a pretty comfortably sized population of about 380,000 people
or a little more than the population of Iceland.
It's a pretty mixed population, however, the majority of people, about 83%, identify as black or Afro Bahamian,
whereas about 15% identify as white; a portion of these people may also have partial black ancestry,
and the rest of the 2% coming from a wide range of nationalities, such as Asians and Latinos.
Centuries ago, the Bahamas was kind of like a place of refuge for American loyalists
or people who had an allegiance to the British crown during [the] American Revolution.
They flocked to the Bahamas and brought over slaves, and over time,
a lot more freed slaves came to the Bahamas, and that's kind of how things happened.
I mean it's a lot more complex than that, but I'm just trying to summarize it within, like, 3 seconds.
Originally, the islands were inhabited by native Lucayan people,
a branch of the Arawak tribe as documented by Christopher Columbus.
Unfortunately, most of these people were taken into slavery or killed off by diseases from European settlers.
Now, let's talk about the people who live in each region.
Grand Bahama Island is kind of seen as, like, "the Beverly Hills of the Bahamas."
Generally, the rich and wealthy people flourish and thrive here,
with a large portion of their vitals being imported daily.
Abaco Island is known as the whitest of all the islands, in which over 50% of the population is white.
And these people are obsessed with sail boating.
Andros Island, although the largest of all the islands, is kind of seen as like the "slums of the Bahamas."
If there was such a thing on such a tropical paradise.
With its less developed infrastructure and civil project developments, this island is not as wealthy as the others.
Yet the people here love to party, in fact every year they hold a crab festival.
Acklins & Crooked and Long Island[s] are kind of seen as the retirement islands that have a lot of old people
that go to relax and enjoy their lives, their old, old lives.
Inagua islanders have a very distinct African infused culture,
and the architecture kind of resembles that of Cape Town, South Africa.
In fact, many of the people living there are modern-day immigrants from Africa.
Cat Island is kind of considered like "the hippie island."
A lot of people here are earth-conscious and overtly concerned with the ecosystem that the area provides.
Ragged Island is kind of known as the quiet island, as it is the least inhabited of all the islands,
with less than a hundred inhabitants.
Then, we reach Mayaguana, known as the "conch people island",
specifically because these people are known for fishing conchs.
Most people, even Bahamians, don't really know too much about this area,
except the fact that it's a very tightly knit community of about 300 people that love to fish and farm.
Only one boat stops by once a week to drop off and pick up supplies and people,
and check up on the people living there.
The government is kind of like: "Hey Mayaguana, you doing fine?
Are you alright? I got rice crispies treats for you."
"Oh my gosh, mom, you're embarrassing me, I'm fine, just leave me alone."
Yeah, Mayaguana is kind of like the angsty teenager of all the islands.
And finally, we reach New Providence.
New Providence is like a mini metropolitan dream
with its many endless shops, streets, and businesses and resorts,
such as the world-famous Atlantis Resort, located on the aptly named Paradise Island.
New Providence is the mack daddy of the Bahamas, everything starts and ends here.
This country is so enticing that it has drawn in numerous celebrities like Shakira, Johnny Depp, Michael Jordan,
Bill Gates, Mariah Carey and Sean Connery, to purchase private homes and islands all to themselves.
But is there trouble in paradise? Let's find out in...
Now, of course as a relatively smaller nation, with a relatively smaller population
the Bahamas doesn't have that much of a widespread global outreach,
however, they do have their friends and peeps.
First of all, the Bahamas is a member of many international organisations,
such as the UN, CARICOM, the Carribean Development Bank (CDB), Interpol and many others.
This puts them in a relatively high standing in terms of international cooperation and diplomacy.
Nonetheless, the Bahamas only has 6 embassies located in Canada, Cuba, Haiti,
the U.S. with with 3 extra consulate generals, the UK, and interestingly enough, China
and technically, a 7th non-resident embassy for Japan.
Now when it comes to Cuba, it's kind of like a playground rivalry story,
they used to hate Cuba over territorial fishing rights.
Finally, in 1980, Cuba took it a little too far and a military aircraft sank a Bahamian patrol vessel,
the Bahamas demanded an apology and compensation which, surprisingly, the Cubans did.
And since then, Cuba and the Bahamas have been kind of relatively close.
Sometimes, you just gotta punch somebody in the face to develop a good friendship with them.
Interestingly enough, though, although they don't have an embassy,
the Gambia has a consulate with the Bahamas,
making it the only African country with an institutionalized consular relation with the Bahamas.
Haiti is kind of like "the Mexico of the Bahamas."
Floods of refugees and immigrants flock to the Bahamas from Haiti year after year,
to the point where the government has instituted mass deportations for illegals.
Nonetheless, the two countries still have favorable relations and trade agreements.
The two best friends of the Bahamas though, would have to be the U.S. and the UK.
The Bahamas was a former colony of the UK and was kind of softly and gently let go of back in 1973:
Queen Elizabeth is still technically the head of state, however, in every aspect,
they are completely seceded and fully operational in an independent manner.
Now when it comes to the U.S., we kind of have like two getaways - Hawaii on the west coast,
and the Bahamas on the east coast.
Over 85% of tourists every year are American, which makes up the majority of the Bahamian economy,
and over 100 U.S. related businesses are found in the Bahamas,
and the Bahamas are home to over 30,000 Americans.
The Bahamas has worked alongside with the U.S. in terms of kind of acting
like a filter on cracking down on the transportation of illegal drugs and illegal aliens [foreigners].
The Bahamas is kind of like the U.S.'s cool, slick deputy sheriff who knows how to shoot a gun
without dropping his rum colada.
In conclusion, the Bahamas is kind of like a little world in its own,
in which each region kind of offers something virtually unheard of in the other region.
And hey, you know what, do some digging, you might find some of that pirate treasure.
Stay tuned, Bahrain is coming up next!