Presentation

The Bahamas  is a country within the Lucayan Archipelago, in the Caribbean. The archipelagic state consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola Island (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the U.S.state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Forcedescribes the Bahamas territory as encompassing 470,000 km² (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.                                                        

Map of the Bahamas

The Bahamas consists of a chain of islandsspread out over some 500 miles in the Atlantic Ocean, located to the east of Florida in the United States, north of Cuba and Hispaniolaand west of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (with which it forms the Lucayan archipelago). It lies between latitudes 20° and 28°N, and longitudes 72° and 80°W and straddles the Tropic of Cancer.^[11]There are some 700 islands and cays in total (of which 30 are inhabited) with a total land area of 10,010 km² (3,860 sq mi).^[11][64]

Nassau, capital city of the Bahamas, lies on the island of New Providence; the other main inhabited islands are Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Rum Cay, Long Island, San Salvador Island, Ragged Island, Acklins, Crooked Island, Exuma, Berry Islands, Mayaguana, the Biminiislands, Great Abaco and Great Inagua. The largest island is Andros.^[64]

All the islands are low and flat, with ridges that usually rise no more than 15 to 20 m (49 to 66 ft). The highest point in the country is Mount Alvernia (formerly Como Hill) on Cat Island at 64m.

Damaged homes in the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma in 2005