Bahamas
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Commonwealth of The Bahamas
conventional short form: The Bahamas |
| Gevernment type | constitutional parliamentary democracy |
| Capital |
name: Nassau
geographic coordinates: 25 05 N, 77 21 W time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins first Sunday in April; ends last Sunday in October |
| Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of aquamarine (top), gold, and aquamarine, with a black equilateral triangle based on the hoist side |
| Currency | Bahamian dollar (BSD) |
| Internet country code | .bs |
| Ports and terminals | Freeport, Nassau, South Riding Point |
| Agriculture products | citrus, vegetables; poultry |
| Industries | tourism, banking, cement, oil transshipment, salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe |
| Geography |
| Location | Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba |
| Coordinates | 24 15 N, 76 00 W |
| Continent | Central America and the Caribbean |
| Area |
total: 13,940 sq km
land: 10,070 sq km water: 3,870 sq km |
| Boundaries | 0 km |
| Coastline | 3,542 km |
| Climate | tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream |
| Terrain | long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills |
| Natural resources | salt, aragonite, timber, arable land |
| Natural hazards | hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind damage |
| People |
| Population | 303,770
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | black 85%, white 12%, Asian and Hispanic 3% |
| Religions | Baptist 35.4%, Anglican 15.1%, Roman Catholic 13.5%, Pentecostal 8.1%, Church of God 4.8%, Methodist 4.2%, other Christian 15.2%, none or unspecified 2.9%, other 0.8% (2000 census) |
| Languages | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
