THE BAHAMAS
Did you know that Columbus never set foot on the North American mainland? He landed in what is not the Bahamas. At that time the Arawak Native Americans lived there. The Spanish did not set up a colony. But they sold the native people as slaves. This left the islands deserted.
In 1650 the British set up a colony there. They used the islands as a base when they went after pirate ships. The pirates kept goods from reaching Great Britain. In 1781 the British lost the American Revolution. American colonists who had sided with them moved to the Bahamas. They set up plantations and brought in African slaves to work on them. Today, 85% of the people living there are descendants of these slaves.
The Bahamas has 700 islands. They lie south of Florida's tip. The capital city is Nassau. The nation's temperatures are mild. Winter highs are in the 70s. Summer highs are in the 80s. Each year, there are just 25 days when the sun doesn't shine. Astronauts looking down from space say that the Bahamas have the clearest water in the Caribbean. Add to that its white sand beaches and you have paradise. That's why more than half the citizens work in tourism. Four million people visit the Bahamas each year, most coming on cruise ships.
