Rum Cay (formerly known as Mamana and Santa Maria de la Concepción) 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 measures in area, it is located at Lat.: N23 42' 30" - Long.: W 74 50' 00". It has many rolling hills that rise to about 120 feet (37 m).
The main settlement is Port Nelson. Its population was recorded as 90 . Before 1996 the island was part of a combined district of
San Salvador and Rum Cay.
Location
Rum Cay is 20 miles (32 km) southwest of
San Salvador Island.
History
Aboriginals
Rum Cay was called ''Mamana'' (or ''Manigua''), meaning "mid waters land", by the native
Lucayans.
In the north there is a cave containing Lucayan drawings and carvings. Various artifacts from the
Arawak period have been found by farmers in the fertile soil, which the natives enriched with
bat guano.
Spanish
Some writers, such as
Samuel Eliot Morison, identified Rum Cay as the site of one of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
' landfalls during his
1492 voyage, as the island Columbus called ''Santa María de la Concepción''.
However, a variety of other historians, geographers, and other writers identify the island as corresponding to different islands in the Bahamas or
Caicos.
[ Wilcomb E. Washburn, "Landfall Controversy" in ''The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia'', Vol. 1 (ed. Silvio A. Bedin: Simon & Schuster, 1992).]
Transportation
The island is served by
Port Nelson Airport.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Islands of the Bahamas
Districts of the Bahamas