The Bahamas is known by an official name.
The Bahamas -LRB- -LSB- bəˈhɑːməz -RSB- -RRB- , known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas , is an archipelagic state within the Lucayan Archipelago .. archipelagic state. archipelagic state. Lucayan Archipelago. Lucayan Archipelago. Lucayan. Lucayan people. It consists of more than 700 islands , cays , and islets in the Atlantic Ocean and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola -LRB- Haiti and the Dominican Republic -RRB- ; northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands ; southeast of the US state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys .. Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Ocean. Cuba. Cuba. Hispaniola. Hispaniola. Haiti. Haiti. Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic. Turks and Caicos Islands. Turks and Caicos Islands. Florida. Florida. Florida Keys. Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence .. Nassau. Nassau, Bahamas. island. island. New Providence. New Providence. The designation of `` the Bahamas '' can refer either to the country or to the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands .. island. island. Turks and Caicos Islands. Turks and Caicos Islands. As stated in the mandate / manifesto of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force , the Bahamas territory encompasses 180000 sqmi of ocean space .. Royal Bahamas Defence Force. Royal Bahamas Defence Force. The Bahamas is the site of Columbus ' first landfall in the New World in 1492 .. Columbus. Christopher Columbus. New World. New World. At that time , the islands were inhabited by the Lucayan , a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people .. Lucayan. Lucayan people. Arawakan. Arawakan. Taino. Taino people. Although the Spanish never colonised the Bahamas , they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola .. Hispaniola. Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648 , when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera .. English. Kingdom of England. island. island. Bermuda. Bermuda. Eleuthera. Eleuthera. The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718 , when the British clamped down on piracy .. British. Kingdom of Great Britain. Crown colony. Crown colony. piracy. piracy. After the American War of Independence , the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas ; they brought their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants .. Independence. Independence. American War of Independence. American Revolutionary War. American Loyalists. American Loyalists. Africans constituted the majority of the population from this period .. The Bahamas became a haven for freed African slaves  : the Royal Navy resettled Africans here liberated from illegal slave ships ; American slaves and Seminoles escaped here from Florida ; and the government freed American slaves carried on United States domestic ships that had reached the Bahamas due to weather .. Florida. Florida. Royal Navy. Royal Navy. American slaves. Slavery in the United States. Slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834 .. Today the descendants of slaves and free Africans make up nearly 90 % of the population ; issues related to the slavery years are part of society .. the descendants of slaves and free Africans. Afro-Bahamians. The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973 , retaining Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch .. Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II. Commonwealth realm. Commonwealth realm. Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II. In terms of gross domestic product per capita , the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas -LRB- following the United States and Canada -RRB- , with an economy based on tourism and finance .. gross domestic product. gross domestic product. Americas. Americas