Long Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

The Bahamas 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 a ...

that is split by the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towa ...

. It is one of the

Districts of the Bahamas Local government in the Bahamas exists in two forms, namely second-schedule and third-schedule district councils. There are a total of 32 local government districts: 13 second-schedule districts, which are further sub-divided into town areas, an ...

and is known as the most scenic island in the Bahamas. Its capital is

Clarence Town Clarence Town is a town in the Bahamas. It is located on Long Island. Clarence Town is the capital of Long Island and has a population of 86 people as of 2010.LONG ISLAND POPULATION BY SETTLEMENT AND TOTAL NUMBER OF OCCUPIED DWELLINGS: 2010 CENSUS
- Bahamas Department of Statistics

Geography

Long Island is about 130 kilometers (80 mi) long and wide at its widest point. The land area is . Long Island is situated about southeast of the Bahamian capital of

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

, which is located on the island of

New Providence 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 ...

. The

runs through the northern quarter of the island. The northeast side of Long Island is noted for its steep rocky headlands, while the southwest coast is noted for its broad white beaches with soft sand. The terrain ranges widely throughout the island, including white flat expanses from which salt is extracted, swamplands, beaches, and sloping (in the north) and low (in the south) hills. Long Island is particularly noted for its

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s, which have played a major role in the island's history.

Dean's Blue Hole __NOTOC__ Dean's Blue Hole is a blue hole located in The Bahamas in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island and is the world's second deepest, after the Dragon Hole in the South China Sea, with a depth of . Formation A blue hole is a wate ...

, located west of Clarence Town, is the world's second deepest underwater sinkhole, dropping to a depth of about 200 meters, making it more than double the depth of most other large holes. Long Island is surrounded by small bays and inlets, including the large New Found Harbour west of Deadman's Cay, at approximately the midsection of the island. There are also smaller islands off-shore, including Sandy Cay.

History

Some writers identify Long Island as the site of one of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

' landfalls during his 1492 voyage. For example,

Joseph Judge Joseph Judge (February 4, 1928—April 20, 1996) was a writer and editor for '' National Geographic'' magazine, retiring as Senior Associate Editor in 1990 after 25 years of service. Early life Judge was born in Washington, D.C. His parents we ...

and

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...

identify Long Island as corresponding to the third island visited by Columbus, which he called ''Fernandina'' and which the indigenous

Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greate ...

people called ''Yuma''. However, a variety of other historians, geographers, and other writers identify ''Fernandina'' as corresponding to different islands in the Bahamas, including Little Inagua,

Great Exuma Exuma is a district of The Bahamas, consisting of over 365 islands, also called cays. The largest of the cays is Great Exuma, which is 37 mi (60 km) in length and joined to another island, Little Exuma, by a small bridge. The capita ...

, and

Andros Island 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 consis ...

. Archaeological evidence, including ceremonial stools called , shows that the Lucayan

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

tribe settled on Long Island, probably in the island's cave system. After the demise of the Lucayans, who were taken as slaves to

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

, there was no large settlement until the arrival of the Simms family in 1720 who originally arrived in The Bahamas in the 1640s. The original Loyalists were mainly from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

and arrived on Long Island after fleeing the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. These families started the first farms, primarily raising cattle and sheep. By the 1790s, settlers began to arrive from the

Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nor ...

and proceeded to set up cotton

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

. The plantations flourished for only a few years and, by the time of the abolition of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in 1834, most had collapsed and been abandoned. There are many ruins from this era today, the majority of which are overgrown by bush. There are also remains of some of the houses built after slavery, which are usually small and built of stone. Originally, they had thatched roofs; today, most are shingled. The descendants of these families continue to be widespread on the island.

Settlements

Clarence Town, located in the south-central portion of the island, has a population 86 people. Nearby Deadman's Cay (pop. 328) is the major settlement at the centre of the island and is home to Deadman's Cay Airport, which offers flights daily to Nassau and is the island's largest and busiest airport. Mangrove Bush (pop. 142) is the home of the island's boat-building trade, while Hamilton's (pop. 196) is noted for its extensive cave system that is partially open for tours. Salt Pond (pop. 98) is home of the Long Island

Regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wat ...

, an annual event that draws tourists from around the world. Stella Maris (pop. 80), at the northern part of the island, is the centre of the island's tourism industry and features several

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

s. It is served by Stella Maris Airport. Seymour's, the northernmost settlement, has a monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus. Buckley's (pop. 54) is home to Nelson Glandville McFarlane Major High School, which frequently has the highest Bahamian GCSE scores among the nation's public schools, as well as the Long Island Library and Museum. Other settlements include Roses (or Roses Settlement), Scrub Hill, Simms, and Burnt Ground. Most of the island's

settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

s are named after the families that first settled them. As a result, many (but not all) are named in the possessive form. The settlement of the Gray family, for example, is known as Gray's. One main

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...

, originally designed for

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

s, runs from Cape Santa Maria, at the northern tip of Long Island, to the southern tip at Gordon's. Transport on Long Island is road-based, with limited

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

service available, particularly from Stella Maris to Deadman's Cay and Clarence Town.

Economy and tourism

Part of the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

is based on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

, but

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

dominates. The inhabitants grow

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", disting ...

s, and they raise small

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...

such as pigs,

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s, and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

. Some

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

are raised for

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

. Due to the generally inhospitable soil of the Bahamas, much of the farming done on Long Island is in the pot-hole style, which involves planting in fertile holes in the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

where good top soil collects. This method of farming contributes to the success of Long Island farmers, who are usually able to generate enough excess produce to

sell Sell can refer to: People * Brenda Sell (born 1955), American martial arts instructor and highest ranking non-Korean female practitioner of taekwondo * Brian Sell (born 1978), American retired long-distance runner * Edward Sell (priest) (1839� ...

their fruits and vegetables throughout the Bahamas. Tourist opportunities include

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' ( land yacht) over a chose ...

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

freediving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath- ...

, snorkelling and

relax Relax may refer to: Aviation * Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class Music Albums * ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003 * ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011 Songs * "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...

ing on

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc s ...

es. Cape Santa Maria Beach, located at Seymour's, is frequently ranked as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. In recent years, competitive freedivers have sought out Dean's Blue Hole as a unique dive site, hosting both world records (most notably by New Zealander William Trubridge) and one world championship (in 2009). Most tourists charter an airplane or take a commercial flight from

Exuma International Airport Exuma International Airport is a public airport serving the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas. It is located near Moss Town, northwest of George Town. The airport services mainly light aircraft and regional jets from the United States and T ...

at George Town, Exuma or Nassau. International flights offered by

Locair Locair was an American FAR Part 135 charter airline with its headquarters in unincorporated Broward County, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. Formed in 1993, the airline specialized in cargo and passenger charters around Florida and to the Bahamas ...

were planned which would have marked the return of regular international flights in over ten years; however, Locair is no longer in business.

Airports

The island has two airports, Deadman's Cay Airport which is served by

Bahamasair Bahamasair Holdings Limited is an airline headquartered in Nassau. It is the national airline I888-393-I394 of The Bahamas and operates scheduled services to 32 domestic and regional destinations in the Caribbean and the United States from its ba ...

and other local air carriers and Stella Maris Airport which also has local air carrier service. Stella Maris airport was designed and built by Jack Henry Cordery who was engaged by Stella Maris Estate Company in 1967 when he emigrated from England to take the job of Estate Development Manager. He also developed the Marina and built roads. He died on Long Island in 1968 and is buried at Burnt Ground. File:WindwardShoreLongIsland.JPG, Windward shore of Long Island, The Bahamas. File:LongIslandRoadBahamas.JPG, Road on Long Island, The Bahamas. File:LeeShoreBeachLongIsland.JPG, Lee shore beach on Long Island, The Bahamas. File:EolianiteLongIsland.JPG, Holocene

eolianite Eolianite or aeolianite is any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by aeolian processes; that is, the wind. In common use, however, the term refers specifically to the most common form of eolianite: coastal limestone consisting ...

on Long Island, The Bahamas. File:ColumbusMonumentLongIslandBahamas.JPG, Columbus Monument on Long Island, The Bahamas. File:Dean_Blue_Hole_Long_Island_Bahamas_20110210.JPG, The

References

External links

Long Island, Bahamas
{{Authority control Islands of the Bahamas Districts of the Bahamas