Official Name: The Commonwealth of the Bahamas

Area: Caribbean
Size: 13,878 km²
Coastline: 3,542 km

Independence: from the UK July 10 1973
Form of Govt.: Constitutional monarchy
Head of Govt.: Prime Minister

Capital: Nassau
Largest City: Nassau

Demographics (2005): 323,000, 23.27 /km²
Blacks 85%, Whites 12%, Asian and Hispanic 3%

GDP per Capita (2005): $17,843

Languages: Official Language is English

Geography: The Bahamas is a series of long flat coralline limestone islands in the West Atlantic Ocean. There are nearly 700 islands and over 2,000 cays in the archipelago, of which only about 40 islands are inhabited. These islands comprise two oceanic banks, (1.) the Bahama Bank and (2.) the Great Bahama Bank. The island's terrain, for the most part, is low and flat with a few small lakes and mangroves swamps. The shorelines are marked with coral reefs and there are no navigable rivers

Climate: The Bahamas has a semitropical climate with two seasons. (1.) The winter season from December to April and (2.) the summer season from May to November, with relative humidity ranging from 60 to 100%. Average annual precipitation is 1,320 mm and most rainfall occurs between May to June and September to October. The hurricane season which lasts from June to November does experience gale force winds, although normally wind rarely exceeds 24 kmph. Average temperature ranges in Nassau are from 18 to 25 degrees in February to 24 to 32 degrees in August.