Nassau, Bahamas in the context of "New Providence"

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⭐ Core Definition: Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau (/ˈnæsɔː/ NASS-aw) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which has a population of 296,522, which is 74.26% of the country's population. Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. It is the centre of commerce, education, law, administration, and media of the country.

Lynden Pindling International Airport, the major airport for The Bahamas, is located about 16 km (9.9 mi) west of the city centre of Nassau, and has daily flights to and from major cities in Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and the United States. Nassau is the site of the House of Assembly and various judicial departments and was considered historically to be a stronghold of pirates. The city was named in honour of William III of England, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

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👉 Nassau, Bahamas in the context of New Providence

New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital city of Nassau; it had a population of 246,329 at the 2010 Census, and a population of 292,522 at the 2022 census. Nearly three quarters of The Bahamas's population lives in New Providence.

The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus's discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed little interest in developing the island (and The Bahamas as a whole). Nassau, the island's largest city, was formerly known as Charles-town, but it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684. It was laid out and renamed Nassau in 1695 by Nicholas Trott, the most successful Lord Proprietor, in honour of the Prince of Orange-Nassau who became William III of England.

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Nassau, Bahamas in the context of Union blockade

The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.

The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of Atlantic and Gulf coastline, including 12 major ports, notably New Orleans and Mobile. Those blockade runners fast enough to evade the Union Navy could carry only a small fraction of the supplies needed. They were operated largely by British and French citizens, making use of neutral ports such as Havana, Nassau and Bermuda. The Union commissioned around 500 ships, which destroyed or captured about 1,500 blockade runners over the course of the war.

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Nassau, Bahamas in the context of Raid of Nassau

The raid of Nassau (March 3–4, 1776) was a naval operation and amphibious assault by American forces against the British port of Nassau, Bahamas, during the American Revolutionary War. The raid, designed to resolve the issue of gunpowder shortages, resulted in the seizure of two forts and large quantities of military supplies before the raiders drew back to New England, where they fought an unsuccessful engagement with a British frigate.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Patriot forces suffered from a shortage of gunpowder. In response to such shortages, the Second Continental Congress ordered an American fleet under the command of Esek Hopkins to patrol the Virginia and Carolina coastlines; secret orders were possibly given to Hopkins instructing him to raid Nassau, where stocks of gunpowder removed from Virginia had been sent.

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Nassau, Bahamas in the context of Piracy in the Caribbean

Piracy in the Caribbean refers to the historical period of widespread piracy that occurred in the Caribbean Sea. Primarily between the 1650s and 1730s, where pirates frequently attacked and robbed merchant ships sailing through the region, often using bases or islands like Port Royal. The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1500s and phased out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began hunting and prosecuting pirates. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1650s to the 1730s. Piracy flourished in the Caribbean because of the existence of pirate seaports such as Fort Saint Louis in Martinique, Port Royal in Jamaica, Castillo de la Real Fuerza in Cuba, Tortuga in Haiti, and Nassau in the Bahamas. Piracy in the Caribbean was part of a larger historical phenomenon of piracy, as it existed close to major trade and exploration routes in almost all the five oceans.

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Nassau, Bahamas in the context of Eleuthera

Eleuthera (/ɪˈljθərə/) refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the smaller Harbour Island. "Eleuthera" derives from the feminine form of the Greek adjective ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros), meaning "free". Known in the 17th century as Cigateo, it lies 80 km (50 miles) east of Nassau. It is long and thin—180 km (110 miles) long and in places little more than 1.6 km (1.0 mile) wide. At its narrowest point, the Glass Window Bridge, which has been called the narrowest place on earth, Eleuthera stands 30 feet wide. Its eastern side faces the Atlantic Ocean and its western side faces the Great Bahama Bank. The topography of the island varies from wide rolling pink sand beaches to large outcrops of ancient coral reefs and the highest elevation point is 200 feet (61 m). The population is approximately 11,000 and the principal economy of the island is tourism.

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Nassau, Bahamas in the context of Mayaguana

Mayaguana (from Taíno language Mayaguana, meaning "Lesser Midwestern Land") is the easternmost island and district of The Bahamas. Its population was 277 in the 2010 census. It has an area of about 280 km (110 sq mi).

About 100 km (62 mi) north of Great Inagua and 560 km (350 mi) southeast of the capital Nassau, Mayaguana is considered the halfway point between South Florida and Puerto Rico and is about 830 km (520 mi) off Palm Beach, Florida. It is a popular stopover for boaters en-route to the eastern Caribbean.

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Nassau, Bahamas in the context of Central Bank of the Bahamas

The Central Bank of The Bahamas is the reserve bank of The Bahamas based in the capital Nassau.

The bank was established on 1 June 1974 but traces its origins to the currency board established in 1919. The bank carries out the independent monetary policy and supervision of the financial sector of The Bahamas.

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