New Durham Baptist Church

Ministries

"Brethren pray for us."

THE LOWES

Jason, Heather, Audrey, Ian, Aiden & Ethan

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.
Location:

Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba.
Natural Resources:

salt, aragonite, timber, arable land
Natural Hazards:

hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind damage
Area - comparative:

Slightly smaller than Connecticut.
Government Type & Capital:

constitutional parliamentary democracy — Nassau
Independence:

10 July 1973 (from UK)
Population:

307,451 — 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 2008 est.)

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)
Disputes - International:

Disagrees with the US on the alignment the northern axis of a potential maritime boundary; continues to monitor and interdict drug dealers and Haitian and Cuban refugees in Bahamian waters.

* Based on CIA-The World Factbook