The Bluff | |
|---|---|
  The Bluff | |
| Coordinates: 25°28′N76°46′W / 25.467°N 76.767°W | |
| Country |  Bahamas |
| Island | North Eleuthera |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern Time Zone) |
The Bluff very often refers to a settlement on North Eleuthera, Bahamas. But there are three Bahamian communities having 'Bluff' in their name.
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There are three settlements in the Bahamas called "The Bluff". The first is on South Andros Island. It is the most densely populated settlement on the island. It hosts a Homecoming every year, the first weekend in June on its Regatta site. Also, the Bluff is home to the 'Government' buildings like the police station, the Post Office and BaTelCo.
| | This section needs additional citations for verification .(July 2023) |
Another settlement called "The Bluff" (or simply "Bluff") is on the west coast of North Eleuthera Island.
In 1783, after he had served with the Pennsylvania Loyalists and the Carolina Rangers, James Kelly (1754-1808), cited as entering the Bahamas via East Florida and accompanied by Hugh Kelly was awarded 500 acres in the vicinity of Bluff, Eleuthera. James Kelly married first Susan Turner then Elizabeth Kemp and had a plantation at Bluff. A plantation house may have been built but the location of its remains is unknown.
It seems likely that the Kellys left Bluff. Indeed historic records of Kelly descendants are found at Current, Harbour Island, Nassau all in the Bahamas and Key West, Florida. Records for Kellys of African ancestry, presumably former slaves are also found in the vicinity.
History says the settlement was established by emancipated slaves somewhere around 1807/8. By 1849 it exported pineapples and citrus fruit. [1] Louis Diston Powles visited Eleuthera, and in his book The Land of the Pearl (1888) referred to the Bluff settlement and its black residents, most notably John Neely, the tacitly accepted leader of the settlement.
At the National Archives in Nassau, Bahamas, there exists a will from one Christopher Neely, a white slaveholder (a British loyalist originally from South Carolina in the colonies). In his 1807 will he makes specific references to his slaves on Abaco and New Providence Islands. In this will he states that it is his desire that his 24 slaves on Abaco Island be freed upon his death, which came within several months of his will. Possibly this settlement was established by these freed slaves from Abaco Island.
The (Eleuthera) Bluff settlement sponsors an annual homecoming event the second weekend of July which generally coincides with the Independence Day celebrations taking place throughout the entire Bahamas.
The third settlement called Bluff is on Cat Island.
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The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archipelago's population. The archipelagic state consists of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola and 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 Force describes The Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.
Nassau is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. With a population of 246,329 as of 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. It is the centre of commerce, education, law, administration, and media of the country.
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-speaking Taino people, who arrived between about 500 and 800 AD from other islands of the Caribbean.
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246,329 at the 2010 Census; the latest estimate (2016) is 274,400.
Andros Island is an archipelago within the Bahamas, the largest of the Bahamian Islands. Politically considered a single island, Andros in total has an area greater than all the other 700 Bahamian islands combined. The land area of Andros consists of hundreds of small islets and cays connected by mangrove estuaries and tidal swamplands, together with three major islands: North Andros, Mangrove Cay, and South Andros. The three main islands are separated by bights, estuaries that trifurcate the island from east to west. It is 167 kilometres (104 mi) long by 64 km (40 mi) wide at the widest point.
The Abaco Islands lie in the northern Bahamas, located about 193 miles east of Miami, Florida. The main islands are Great Abaco and Little Abaco. There are several smaller barrier cays, of which the northernmost are Walker's Cay and its sister island Grand Cay. To the south, the next inhabited islands are Spanish Cay and Green Turtle Cay, with its settlement of New Plymouth, Great Guana Cay, private Scotland Cay, Man-O-War Cay, and Elbow Cay, with its settlement of Hope Town. Southernmost are Tilloo Cay and Lubbers Quarters. Another of note off Abaco's western shore is Gorda Cay, now a Disney-owned island and a cruise ship stop renamed Castaway Cay. Also in the vicinity is Moore's Island. On the Big Island of Abaco is Marsh Harbour, the Abacos' commercial hub and the Bahamas' third largest city, plus the resort area of Treasure Cay. Both have airports. A few mainland settlements of significance are Coopers Town and Fox Town in the north and Cherokee and Sandy Point in the south. Administratively, the Abaco Islands constitute seven of the 31 Local Government Districts of the Bahamas: Grand Cay, North Abaco, Green Turtle Cay, Central Abaco, South Abaco, Moore's Island, and Hope Town.
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. 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.
The Out Islands are the islands that make up the Bahamas with the exception of New Providence Island, where the capital and largest city, Nassau, is located and Grand Bahama Island, where Freeport is located. The Abaco Islands and Eleuthera islands are among the Out Islands.
The Eleutheran Adventurers were a group of English Puritans and religious independents who left Bermuda to settle on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas in the late 1640s. The small group of Puritan settlers, led by William Sayle, were expelled from Bermuda for their failure to swear allegiance to the Crown and left in search of a place in which they could freely practice their faith. This group represented the first concerted European effort to colonize the Bahamas.
Green Turtle Cay is one of the barrier islands off mainland Great Abaco, The Bahamas. It can only be reached via ferry from the mainland or boat. There is not an airport on the island. It is considered part of the "Abaco Out Islands" and is 3 miles (4.8 km) long and ½ mile wide. It was named after the once abundant green turtles that inhabited the area. In 1977, Key West, Florida became a sister city to New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay's village.
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.
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.
The Bahamas is a net importer of food, importing almost 90% of its food supply. Of food imports, 80% are from the United States.
Afro-Bahamians are an ethnicity originating in The Bahamas of predominantly or partial African descent. They are descendants of various African ethnic groups, many associated with the Bight of Biafra, Ghana, Songhai and Mali, the various Fula kingdoms, the Oyo Empire, and the Kingdom of Kongo. According to the 2010 Census, 92.7% of The Bahamas' population identifies as Black African descent.
White Bahamians are Bahamian citizens of European ancestry, most of whom trace their ancestry back to England, Scotland and Ireland. Bahamians of European descent are sometimes called "Conchs", a term that is also applied to people of White Bahamian descent in Florida. White Bahamians were a majority in the 18th century, but now constitute less than 5% of the Bahamian population. White Bahamians are largely concentrated in Eleuthera, the Abaco Islands, Long Island, and New Providence.
Daniel Stillwell was a minor pirate in the Caribbean, best known for his association with Benjamin Hornigold.
James Richard Mastin (1935–2016) was an American sculptor and painter, best known for his public monuments of life-sized bronze figures commemorating significant historical events and individuals. The hallmark of his work was meticulous craftsmanship and emotional content.
The Bahama Archipelago, also known as the Lucayan Archipelago, is an island group comprising the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The archipelago is in the western North Atlantic Ocean, north of Cuba along with the other Antilles, and east and southeast of Florida. The archipelago has experienced the effects of at least 22 Atlantic hurricanes, or storms that were once tropical or subtropical cyclones, including 17 since 2000. The storms collectively killed 101 people.
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.