Acklins is an island and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

. It is one of a group of islands arranged along a large, shallow

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

called the Bight of Acklins, of which the largest are Crooked Island () in the north and Acklins () in the southeast, and the smaller are

Long Cay Long Cay (formerly known as Fortune Island; ; ; ) is an 8-square-mile (21 km2) island in the Bahamas in an atoll that includes Acklins Island and Crooked Island. Since 1999, it has also been one of the Third Schedule districts of The Bahamas. , i ...

(once known as Fortune Island, ()) in the northwest, and Castle Island in the south.

Etymology

The indigenous

Lucayan people The Lucayan people ( ) were the original residents of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands before the European colonisation of the Americas. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The ...

called the Acklins as ''Yabaque'', meaning "large western land".

History

The islands were settled by American

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

in the late 1780s who set up

cotton plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

s maintained by over 1,000

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. After the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

in the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

the plantations became uneconomical, and the replacement income from

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

diving has now dwindled as well with the rest of the natural sponge industry after the advent of synthetics. The inhabitants now live by fishing and small-scale farming. Bf-map names SE

Although Acklins Island has relatively few historical landmarks, there are some noteworthy places. Acklins is home to numerous

sites. An ancient site, thought to be one of the largest Lucayan settlements in The Bahamas, sits along Pompey Bay Beach, just south of Spring Point. Ten ancient Lucayan sites have been unearthed by

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

archeologists on

Samana Cay Samana Cay is a now uninhabited island in the Bahamas believed by some researchers to have been the location of Christopher Columbus's first landfall in the Americas on October 12, 1492. It is an islet in the eastern Bahamas, northeast of Ackli ...

alone, which is northeast of Spring Point in Acklins.

Plana Cays The Plana Cays are a group of two small uninhabited islands in the southern Bahama Islands, located east of Acklins Island and west of Mayaguana Island. The indigenous Lucayan people called the islands ''Amaguaya'', meaning "toward the middle l ...

, also northeast of Spring Point, is a protected reserve for endangered great

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

s and the very rare

Bahamian hutia The Bahamian hutia or Ingraham's hutia (''Geocapromys ingrahami'') is a small, furry, rat-like mammal found only in the Bahamas. About the size of a rabbit, it lives in burrows in forests or shrubland, emerging at night to feed on leaves, fruit, ...

(a guinea pig-like rodent), the only native mammal of The Bahamas. The population of Acklins was 565 at the 2010 census, with the largest populations at

Lovely Bay Lovely may refer to: Film and television * ''Lovely'' (1979 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''Lovely'' (2001 film), an Indian Tamil film * ''Lovely'' (2012 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''Lovely'' (2024 film), a Canadian drama film direc ...

in the northwestern tip of the island and in

Salina Point Salina may refer to: Places United States *Salina, Arizona * Salina, Colorado * Salina, Iowa *Salina, Kansas *Salina, Michigan, a former village now part of Saginaw, Michigan *Salina, New York *Salina, Oklahoma * Salina, Pennsylvania * Salina, Ut ...

in the southernmost area of the island.

Transportation

The island is served by

Spring Point Airport Spring Point Airport is an airport serving Spring Point on Acklins Island in The Bahamas. Bahamasair flies to Spring Point Airport, and it is the only airline that flies here. Facilities The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea le ...

Politics

The island is part of the MICAL constituency for elections to the

House of Assembly of the Bahamas The Parliament of The Bahamas is the bicameral national parliament of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The parliament is formally made up of the sovereign (represented by the governor-general), an appointed Senate, and an elected House of Asse ...

References

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