Bahamas

Country	Bahamas, The
Flag
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 second Sunday in March; ends first Sunday in November
Population	309,156 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, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2009 est.)
GMT	-5
Location	Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba
Area	total: 13,940 sq km land: 10,070 sq km water: 3,870 sq km
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)
Government type	constitutional parliamentary democracy
National holiday	Independence Day, 10 July (1973)
Constitution	10 July 1973
Legal system	based on English common law
Background	Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher COLUMBUS first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US and Europe, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.
Internet country code