Population: 355,608
Lucayan Indians already inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. The uninhabited island of Big Major Cay in The Bahamas’ Exuma district is home to a small colony of non-native ‘swimming pigs’. It’s thought that they were left by sailors who planned to return and cook them, or that they swam over from a nearby shipwreck. The “wreck” of the Flying Dutchman is “marooned” at the resort island of Castaway Cay. According to folklore, the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship doomed to sail the oceans forever.
The official national anthem is March On, Bahamaland:
Lift up your head to the rising sun, Bahamaland;
March on to glory, your bright banners waving high.
See how the world marks the manner of your bearing!
Pledge to excel through love and unity.
Pressing onward, march together
to a common loftier goal;
Steady sunward, tho’ the weather
hide the wide and treacherous shoal.
Lift up your head to the rising sun, Bahamaland,
‘Til the road you’ve trod lead unto your God,
March on, Bahamaland!
Listen to the national anthem.