Time in Bahamas (North America)

Time in Bahamas, Carribean (North America)

The analog clock above is running live the current local time in Bahamas which is Bahamas Standard Time. At this time the time zone of Bahamas is UTC-5:00 hours. However, between March and November every year the clock time gets one hour added to it because usually in these months Daylight Saving Time or DST comes into force. Irrespective of this fact, the clock seen above will continue to run the correct time in Bahamas which follows EST or Eastern Standard Time and during DST period follows EDT or Eastern Daylight Saving Time in its clocks.
 

About Bahamas at this Time

At this time the country of Bahamas is located in 25^o04'N Latitude and 77^o20'W Longitude where its Capital Nassau is situated. The Bahamas is officially in Commonwelath and is an archipelagic state of the Lucayan Archipelago which consists of over 00 islands, cays and Islets in the Atlantic Ocean lying north west of the Turks and Caicos Islands, South East of the US state of Florida but to the east of Florida Keys and Cuba is in its North. The Capital of Bahamas at this time Nassau located on the island of the New Providence.
 

Time and History of Bahamas

The Bahamas is also supposed to be the first landfall in the New World in 1492 by Columbus during which time the Lucayan which was inhabited by a branch of the Arawakan speaking Taino people at that time. The Spanish never wanted to settle in Bahamas. But they took the native Lucayans to Hispaniola as slaves and the island became deserted between 1513 till 1648. After that time the English colonists from Bermuda came and settled on the island of Eleuthera and finally Bahamas became a British Crown Colony by 1718.
 

Slavery Abolished at that time in Bahamas

Once the American War of Independence got over, thousands of American Loyalists are known to have come and settled in Bahamas bringing along with them their own slaves and estabilished plantations on the land grants. At this time Bahamas became the heaven for the African Slaves who were freed. Even slaves who were rescued from illegal slave ships by the Royal Navy are known to have been settled in Bahamas. Americal slaves and Seminoles from Florida escaped and came to settle in Bahamas at that time. Due to bad weather an American Domestic ship carrying American freed slaves came here. Finally in 1834 Slavery was Abolished in Bahamas. Hence 90% of people in Bahamas happens to be the descendants of slaves and Free Africans.

Area, Population and GDP at this time in Bahamas

At this time in Bahamas the total area is about 13,878 square kilometer which is at the 160th position in the world areawise. Out of this area 28% or more than one fourth is covered by water. The population estimate at this time (2016) is 392,718 people which makes The Bahamas the 177 the most populated country in the world with a population density of 25 people per square kilometer. At this time in Bahamas the GDP(PPP) is estimated at USD 13,000 billion with a per capita of 32,400 USD. The GDP(Nominal) of Bahamas at this time is estimated at US Dollar 8,000 billion with a per capita of 22,832 US Dollars. At this time in The Bahamas, the currency in use is actually the Bahamian Dollar (BDS). However US dollars are widely accepted due to tourists inflow to Bahamas.
 

Languages at this Time in Bahamas

At this time in The Bahamas, the official language is English. But many residents are known to speak Bahamina Dialect. However, the 1995 estimates shows that over 98 % Bahamian adult population is literate.

Climate at this time in Bahamas

At this time in Bahamas, there is Tropical Savannah Climate or Aw according tothe Koppen Classification. The low elevation and the presence of warm tropical Gulf Stream ensures that Bahamas is usually warm climate with no winter climate at all. The warmest and coldest months shows only about 08^o C difference in Bahamas at this time. Howev er there has been a history in between a few decades when the temperature did fall nto the 3 to 5 deg C or 37 to 41 deg F for a few hours when a seer cold wave engulfed Bahamas which probably came from the North Americal Landmass. At this time in Bahamas rainfall always is followed by Sun shine and the wettest season is the Summer. Bahamas gets at this time gets about 340 days of sunshine amounting to 3000 hours or more per year. The highest recorded temperature average for the year is 28.8 deg C or 83.9 deg Fand lowest is just about 20.8 deg C or 69.5 deg F (just 8 deg C difference) and the mean temperature throughout the year hoves around 24.8 deg C or 76.7 deg F. The average amount of precipitation at this time Bahama receives is about139 cm which is over a period of 140 days in a year.
 

Hurricanes at this Time in Bahamas

Hurricanes do hit Bahamas like the 1992 Hurricane Andrew which passed the northers islands and Hurricane Floyd which passed over the Eastern parts of the Islands in 1999. A considerable amount of damage was done by these two hurricanes at that time in Bahamas. But since then there has not been a major hurricane passing over Bahamas.

 Tourism at this time in Bahamas

At this time in the country of The Bahamas, Tourism is flourishing. In fact The Bahamas relies heavily on the Tourism industry to generate most of its economic activity. The tourism actually accounts for over 60% of the Bahamian economy at this time and is providing jobs for more than half the country. It is estimated in 2012 that close to six million people visited the Bahamas in 2012 out of which more than 70% came in Cruize ships. The next important economic sector of Bahamas at this time is International Financial Services because it accounts for over 15% of the Bahamas economy. This is followed by the Agricultural industry which represents about 7% of the Bahamas total GDP. But in contrast, 80% of the food consumed in The Bahamas is being imported at this time.

Government at this time in Bahamas.

At this time the Bahamas has a Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy where there is a Monarch, a Governor General and a Priminister running the government fairly similar to the UK. At this time The Bahamas is a member of Commonwealth of Nations retaining the Queen as the head of State who is represented by the Governor General. All the legislative powers are vested in a Bicameral Parliment with a 38 member House of Assembly or the Lower House, whose members get elected from single member districts and a 16 member Senate. All the members are elected by the Governor General which includes the 09 seats on the advice of the Prime Minister, three on the advice of the Prime Minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition and four on the advice of the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.
 

The Powers of Prime Minister at this Time in Bahamas

The Prime Minister is the Head of the Government who has the power to dissolve Parliament and call for a General Election any time during the five year term. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the Party with the most seats in the House of Assembly. All the Executive Powers are exercised by the Cabinet who were selected by the Prime Minister and drawn from his supporters in the House of Assembly. The judiciary is completely free from the executive as well as the legislature and the Jurisprudence is actually based on the English Law. At this time The Bahamas constitution safeguards its citizen's freedom of speech, the press, the right to worship, movement and association.
 

Local Government at this Time in Bahamas

Except New Providence every other districts of Bahamas has a local government directly administered by the central government as per the Local Government Act passed sometime in 1996. The districts have councillors and Local Town Comitties who oversee all the affairs of their respective district and expenditure of Public Funds, without the Central Government needing to interfere in their affairs. There are a total of 32 districs where elections are held once every five years for 110 Councillors and 281 Town Commitee members. The districts existing at this time in Bahamas are Auklins, Berry Islands, Black Point Exua, Bimini, Central Abaco, Cat Island, Central Eleuthera, Central Andros, Crooked Island, City of Freeport Grand Bahama, Exuma, Grand Cay Abaco, Harbour Island Eleuthera, Hope Town Abaco, Inagua, Long Island, Mayaguana, Mangrove Cay Andros, Moore's Island Abaco, North Andros, North Eleuthera, North Abaco, Rum Cay, Ragged Island, San Salvador, South Abaco, South Eleuthera, South Andros, Spanish Wells Eleuthera and West Grand Bahama.

Why Named Bahamas?

Bahamas is known to have been named based on the Spanish word Baja Mar or Shallow Water/Sea or Low Tide reflecting the shallow waters around these islands. Some theory says Taino ba ha ma or Big Upper Middle Land gave it the name Bahamas at that time. Some linguistics are of the opinion that Bahamas name originated from Guanahani which is local name of unclear meaning. However, there are only countries in the world which has their names starting with the word the which are The Bahamas and The Gambia.