According to ehistorylib, in 2005, The Bahamas had a population of approximately 300,000 people. The majority of the population was of African descent, with significant minorities from other ethnic backgrounds. The economy was largely driven by tourism and financial services, followed by manufacturing and agriculture. In terms of foreign relations, The Bahamas maintained diplomatic ties with most countries in the region as well as major powers such as the United States and European Union.
The politics of The Bahamas in 2005 were relatively stable due to a successful transition to a democratic government after decades of British colonial rule. Nevertheless, corruption remained a significant problem which hampered economic growth and development efforts. In addition, organized crime was still prevalent throughout the country and posed a threat to public safety and security. In response to these issues, the government sought assistance from international organizations such as the United Nations and World Bank in order to help strengthen its institutions and reduce levels of crime and corruption.
According to countryaah, Nassau is the capital and one of the major cities within the country of Bahamas. In broad terms, the situation of the Bahamas does not differ significantly from that of the other Caribbean islands, but while the other communities have made great efforts to initiate an integration process, the Bahamas has chosen to turn its back on these initiatives and is not a member of any regional organization.
- Also see abbreviationfinder.org for how the acronym BS stands for the country of Bahamas and other meanings of this two-letter abbreviation.
The largest political party – the Progressive Liberal Party – was formed in 1953 and in 1958 the Bahamas Unity Party was founded. In the 1954 election, the Liberal Party obtained 6 of Parliament’s 29 seats. In 1956, Parliament passed an anti-racial resolution that sought to introduce ethnic equality. For the first time, African-born residents were given access to facilities where they had previously been denied access.
In the 1962 elections, the Liberals obtained eight of Parliament’s 29 seats. Two years later, a new constitution came into force and a government system of ministries was introduced. At the same time, the number of seats in Parliament was increased to 38. Sir Roland Symonette became the first prime minister, while Lynden Pindling was the opposition leader. In the January 10, 1967 election, the two parties each gained 18 seats in parliament and the remaining two went to a coalition with the Liberal Party, which formed government with Lynden Pindling as prime minister.
In 1977, when the economic and social crisis began to break through, the government offered enhanced foreign capital investment opportunities. It was the start of a “convenience flagship industry”, in order to compete with Panama and Liberia, in an effort to lower unemployment that had led to social tensions in the archipelago. In Gran Bahama, the government erected in the immediate vicinity of the island’s deep-water port, an 1,200-hectare industrial complex intended to house warehouses for goods to be processed and exported with a minimum of local effort.
During the 1977 election campaign, the opposition parties accused the National Freedom Movement, the Bahamas Democratic Party and the Avant-garde Party, the government of corruption and misuse of public funds.
Pindling promised to “Bahamize” the economy, ie. to give greater influence to the local capital, but at the same time without destroying the image of the island as a tax haven. Both the right and the left criticized the government’s policy regarding the multinational corporations; some to be too accommodating, others to chase them on the run with «tax traps». In spite of this, Pindling still managed to conquer a solid majority, and he promised to fight unemployment and opened the country’s borders to “the 7 sisters”, the oil companies, which in 1979 resumed the oil exploration.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Island state of Central America, located in the Atlantic Ocean south-east of Florida and north of Cuba and Haiti. The residents of the archipelago (303,611 at the 2000 census and 323,000 according to 2005 estimates) maintained a very modest growth rate (1.3 % per year in the period 2000-2005), while the urbanization process continued, so the percentage of city population had exceeded 90 % of the total. The country continued to prosper thanks above all to its links with the United States, a source of visitors and large investments in the tourism sector, the main economic activity, which however recorded in 2003a lack of dynamism. The other main source of income remained linked to offshore financial and insurance activities , discouraged however, in the early 21st century, by the introduction of stricter controls and anti-money laundering regulations. A well-known international naval registration center, Bahamas continued to have one of the largest merchant navies in the world: in 2003 1,297 ships were registered under the Bahamian flag, for a total of 34.8 million gross tonnage.
