Related Research Articles
The earliest arrival of people in the islands now known as The Bahamas was in the first millennium AD. The first inhabitants of the islands were the Lucayans, an Arawakan language-speaking Taino people, who arrived between about 500 and 800 AD from other islands of the Caribbean.
"March On, Bahamaland" is the national anthem of the Bahamas. Timothy Gibson composed the music and authored the lyrics. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1973, when the country gained independence from the United Kingdom.
The music of the Bahamas is associated primarily with Junkanoo, a celebration which occurs on Boxing Day and again on New Year's Day. Parades and other celebrations mark the ceremony. Groups like The Baha Men, Ronnie Butler,Kirkland Bodie and Twindem have gained massive popularity in Japan, the United States and other places. Other popular Bahamian artists include Stileet and Stevie S.
Eleuthera refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the smaller Harbour Island. "Eleuthera" derives from the feminine form of the Greek adjective ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros), meaning "free". Known in the 17th century as Cigateo, it lies 80 km east of Nassau. It is long and thin—180 km long and in places little more than 1.6 km wide. At its narrowest point, The Glass Window Bridge which is considered by some the narrowest place on earth, Eleuthera stands 30 feet wide. Its eastern side faces the Atlantic Ocean, and its western side faces the Great Bahama Bank. The topography of the island varies from wide rolling pink sand beaches to large outcrops of ancient coral reefs, and its population is approximately 11,000. The principal economy of the island is tourism.
Blake Alphonso Higgs, better known as "Blind Blake", was the best-known performer of goombay and calypso in the Bahamas from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Antonius Roberts is a Bahamian artist, teacher, and curator. He is known for his installations and sculptures. Roberts was one of the founders of the art group "B-CAUSE" in 1991.
Goombay is a form of Bahamian music and a drum used to create it. The drum is a membranophone made with goat skin and played with the hands. The term Goombay has also symbolized an event in the Bahamas, for a summer festival with short parades known as ‘Junkanoo’.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to The Bahamas:
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Marion Bethel is an attorney, poet, essayist, filmmaker, human and gender rights activist, and writer from Nassau, The Bahamas.
Dame Doris Sands Johnson was a Bahamian teacher, suffragette, and politician. She was the first Bahamian woman to contest an election in the Bahamas, the first female Senate appointee, and the first woman granted a leadership role in the Senate. Once in the legislature, she was the first woman to be made a government minister and then was elected as the first woman President of the Senate. She was the first woman to serve as Acting Governor General of the Bahamas, and was honored as Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Dame Albertha Magdelina Isaacs DBE was a Bahamian teacher, tennis player, women's rights activist and politician. After a career as an elementary school teacher, she played on the international tennis circuit, winning both singles and doubles titles in the 1930s.
Hilda Bowen, MBE was a Bahamian nurse. Graduating with a degree in ophthalmic nursing and midwifery, she became the first Bahamian trained nurse. In 1962, she was the first Bahamian to become matron of the public hospital and in 1965, was installed as principal matron of the Public Health Department. She worked as the Chief Nursing Officer of the Ministry of Health between 1970 and 1980 and thereafter served as the country's Director of Nursing. She drove for the establishment of the Bahamas Nursing Council, a governing body for the country's nursing industry and was influential in developing a degree based nursing certification. She was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1969 for her contributions to the medical development of the country.
Allerdyce Cooper Strachan is a Bahamian law enforcement officer. Strachan was a Superintendent of Police within the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the first woman to rise to that rank.
Georgianna Kathleen Symonette a Bahamian suffragist, was the founding chairwoman of the Women's Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party and founding member of the Women's Suffrage Movement. In 2012, The Bahamian government issued a series of postage stamps to honor the women who campaigned to gain universal adult suffrage. Symonette appeared on the 25 cent stamp.
Keva Marie Bethel, CMG was a Bahamian educator and the first president of the College of the Bahamas.
Arinthia Santina Komolafe is a Bahamian politician who was elected the Leader of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), one of the three main political parties in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, on 24 October 2017. She succeeded Christopher Mortimer, who was appointed as Interim Leader of the DNA on 24 October 2017. Mortimer was appointed Interim Leader following the DNA's defeat in The Bahamas' General Elections on 10 May 2017, when the Party failed to win a parliamentary seat out of the 39 possible parliamentary seats in the House of Assembly. Founder and inaugural leader of the DNA, Branville McCartney announced his intention to resign from the Party and front-line politics following the defeat. Komolafe is the first female leader of the DNA political party and other females such as Cynthia Pratt, former Deputy Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and Loretta Butler-Turner, former Deputy Leader of the Free National Movement.
Meta Davis Cumberbatch MBE was a Trinidad-born pianist, composer, poet, playwright and cultural activist, who spent the majority of her life in The Bahamas, where she used her talents to enhance the country's cultural development, becoming known as the "Mother of the Arts". At the 2014 Independence anniversary celebrations in Nassau she was honoured as a Bahamian "Cultural Warrior".
Bahamian nationality law is regulated by the 1973 Constitution of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, as amended; The Bahamas Nationality Act; The Bahamas Immigration Act; and various British Nationality laws. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of The Bahamas. Bahamian nationality is typically obtained either on the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in The Bahamas; or under the rules of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth abroad to a father with Bahamian nationality. It can also be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalisation. There is currently no program in The Bahamas for citizenship by investment. Nationality establishes one's international identity as a member of a sovereign nation. Though it is not synonymous with citizenship, rights granted under domestic law for domestic purposes, the United Kingdom, and thus the commonwealth, has traditionally used the words interchangeably.
Hon. Eugene Aubrey Pyfrom Dupuch was a Bahamian journalist, lawyer, Member of Parliament, and Cabinet Minister.
References
- ↑ The Government of the Bahamas
- ↑ "Birth record - Pandora Iona Bethel, Bahamas Civil Registration Records 1850-1959" . Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ↑ "Death record - Prince Leopold Bethel, Bahamas Civil Registration Records 1850-1959" . Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ↑ The Nassau Guardian Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Pandora Gibson discography
