Atlantis

Atlantis: officially opened in 1998, Atlantis Paradise Island is a resort and waterpark located on Paradise Isalnd, just off the shore of Nassau. The resort was created by South African hotel magnate Sol Kerzner as well as Kerzner international limited. Atlantis is a popular place for tourist. About 80 percent of the people vacationing in Bahamas is from the United states.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Coherence

 

Music: Bahamian culture is a mixture of African, European, and other cultures. Junkanoo Carnival is a large contributor to the music of the Bahamas. This type of music happens on December 26 and New Year’s Day. This tradition was first celebrated by an African named John Canoe. These celebrations consist of costumes made of crepe paper and powerful rhythms beaten on goatskin drums accompanied by rich brass bands and shaking cow bells. Bahamian music also includes other Caribbean forms such as Calypso, Trinidadian Soca and Jamaican Reggae. However, over the last thirty years, Bahamian culture has been highly influenced by United States music cultures, such as hip hop music.

Language: The dominant language in the Bahamas is English. However, a vast majority of the population speaks Bahamian Dialect, which is a dialect of English intermediate between standard English and Bahamian Creole. From island to island, there may be some differences in the way some words are pronounced, but in general, all is the same. The next most spoken language is Haitian Creole, spoken by the 30,000 to 60,000 Haitian migrants residing in the Bahamas.

Religion: The population of the Bahamas is 95 percent Christian of different varieties, primarily Baptist, Anglican, and catholic. Smaller groups consist of Jews, Baha’is, Muslims, Hindus, and Rastafarians. There are more churches per capita than there is in any other country.

Education: As of 2003, the literacy rate was 95.5 percent. Of the 210 primary and secondary schools, the government operates 158 of them. The college of the Bahamas was established in Nassau in 1974. It provides programs leading to bachelors and associates degrees.

 

 

Nassau, Bahamas for Day Trippers video

Population and Settlement

 

The First Settlement: Coming from the Caribbean, the first inhabitants of the Bahamas are known as the Lucayans, an Arawakan-speaking Taino people who arrived to the islands between the years 500 to 800. With an estimated population of 40,000 by the late 15^th century, the Lucayans were plentiful and prosperous. Most historians believe that they had an advanced political and social structure and lived in well-organized cities, but with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, they were quickly dominated by the Spanish. As a result, little is known about them. Following those events, the island remained abandoned for another 130 years until a group from Barmuda known as The Company of Adventurers for the Plantation of the islands of Eleutheria, sailed to the Bahamas to found a colony.

Population: In the 1960’s, the population of the Bahamas was about 65,388. As the population of Nassau grew, so did its populated areas. Today the city leads the entire island. Nassau has a population of about 250,000 natives, which is about 70 percent of the entire population of the Bahamas. The population of the Bahamas is predominantly of African descent with an 87 percent of the total population. European descents make up 12 percent of the population, with the remaining 3 percent of Asian or Hispanic origin. The population is relatively young with 30 percent under the age of 15 and 6 percent over the age of 65.

Most people reside in Urban Areas, with two-thirds of the population living on the New Providence Island where Nassau is located. Many others live in or near Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. There are small settlements throughout the outer island called the Family Islands. In July 2000, the estimated population of the Bahamas was 294,982. With a high birth rate of 19.54 births per 1,000 people and a death rate of 6.81 per 1,000 people, it is estimated that by 2015 the Bahamas is expected to have a population of about 330,000.

 

Environmental Geography

Location:  Nassau, located in the Bahamas, is in the region of North America. Nearby places consist of major cities such as Miami, Hialeah, Santa Clara and Camaguey. Nassau is the capital and largest city on New Providence. Located in the Western Atlantic, there are about 700 islands in The Bahamas which of only about 30-40 islands are inhabited. There are also 661 cays, and about 2,387 exposed reefs. The total land area is about 5,380 square miles. The Little Bahama Bank, The Great Bahama Bank, and The Cay Sal Bank are three of the oceanic Bahama Banks. Nassau reaches a maximum elevation of thirty-seven meters above sea level, while the highest point, on Cat Island, reaches a maximum of 63 meters above sea level.

 

Climate: Nassau’s weather climate is one of the reasons why it attracts many tourists. It is tropical, and moderated by warm waters of the Gulf Stream. The average high temperatures stay at a height of around 79 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average lows at around 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Record highs have reached up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, while record lows have been at 45 degrees Fahrenheit. On Average, July is the warmest month of the year, while February is both the coldest and driest. Finally, the wettest time of the year happens in July. Compared to Los Angeles’ weather, The Bahamas is warmer by 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and wetter by 38.6 inches of rainfall.

 

Natural Resources: Some natural resources of the Bahamas include salt, aragonite, timber, arable land, wetlands, and freshwater. Some agricultural resources are mangrove forests, fruit crops (mainly citrus), and vegetables to export. Also, there are over 50 varieties of trees that can be found in Nassau, some include the African Tulip, the Casuarina, the Cork Tree, several varieties of palm trees, and about 40 varieties of fruit trees.