Districts of Bahamas

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Updates: 

I reported in August 2002 that the official Web site of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas  has inconsistent information about the subdivisions of the Bahamas. I wrote to the Bahamas Information Services asking for a clarification. The Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Local Government has kindly replied to my inquiry. I think the information reported below is as definite as possible, given the situation.

Background information: the Bahamas consist of twenty-some inhabited islands, 700 smaller islands, and over a thousand cays. Sources disagree on the exact numbers. The nature of the islands makes them hard to count. On a good map, Bimini resolves itself into at least two inhabited islands named North Bimini and South Bimini. Andros Island is crisscrossed with waterways and wetlands, dividing it into sub-islands. How many? That depends on how wet you have to get your feet before you've crossed from one island to the next. On my map, Mangrove Cay, Yellow Cay, Red Shank Cay, Big Wood Cay, and others all appear to be part of Andros Island. Paradise Island is generally considered part of New Providence, to which it's connected by a causeway.

The Out Islands, or Family Islands (a synonymous phrase that the tourist industry finds more appealing), are all the Bahamas except New Providence and Grand Bahama. Originally, New Providence was the only exception, and all the rest of the country was Out Islands; more recently, Grand Bahama has grown in importance, and is usually not considered an Out Island.

The Local Government Act, 1996 created 23 districts in the Family Islands. New Providence was not part of the district structure. A government document explains, "This historic development of Local Government has radically changed the system of government put in place for the Family Islands 90 years ago.... Local Government is an acknowledgement by the present government that a central government distant from many communities particularly in the Family Islands, cannot adequately respond to the daily needs of Family Island communities in a timely fashion.... Because of the geographical separation of the island from New Providence, the capital, it was felt that the Family Island situation was more urgent.... Local government for New Providence was therefore not considered at that time." In short, the national government is still able to govern New Providence, but the remainder of the country needs local government. To deal with this situation, I have treated New Providence as if it were also a district.

In 1999, the Minister for Family Island Affairs, under authority of the Local Government Act, 1996, created eight new districts. The Districts by Island  page lists the resulting 31 districts, as shown below. The Local Government Act classifies districts as "Second Schedule Districts", which are subdivided into Town Areas, and "Third Schedule Districts", which are not.

Country overview: 

The Bahama Islands were a British possession until 1973-07-10, when they gained independence.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Bahama-øerne
2. Dutch: Bahama eilanden, Bahama's, Gemenebest der Bahama's (formal)
3. English: Commonwealth of the Bahamas (formal), Lucayas (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Bahama
5. French: Bahamas fp
6. German: Bahama-Inseln fp, Bahamas f
7. Icelandic: Bahamaeyjar
8. Italian: Bahamas p
9. Norwegian: Bahamaøyene, Bahamas, Bahamassambandet (formal)
10. Portuguese: Baamas, Bahamas, Comunidade f das Bahamas fp (formal)
11. Spanish: Bahamas, Commonwealth de las Bahamas fp (formal)
12. Swedish: Bahamas

Origin of name: 

Spanish baja mar: low sea

Primary subdivisions: 

The Bahamas are divided into 32 districts.

Territorial extent: 

The Bahamas are separated from Cuba by the Nicholas Channel and Old Bahama Channel. Cay Sal Bank, Guinchos Cay, Cay Lobos, Cay Santo Domingo, and Great Inagua Island are among the closest points to Cuba in the Bahamas. They are separated from the United States by the Straits of Florida. Cay Sal Bank, Ocean Cay, Bimini Islands, and Grand Bahama Island are among the closest to the United States. The Caicos Passage separates the Bahamas from the Turks and Caicos Islands on the east. Mayaguana and Little Inagua Islands are among the easternmost of the Bahamas.

Abaco includes Moore's Island (Mores Island).

Bimini includes Cay Sal Bank.

Origins of names: 

Eleuthera: Greek for place of freedom; named by Puritans from Bermuda

Change history: 

1973-07-10: At independence, the Bahamas was divided into 21 electoral districts which corresponded to islands or island groups.

In February, 1993, a new release of FIPS PUB 10-3 showed changes to many of the districts of the Bahamas. When ISO DIS 3166-2 was released in 1996, it used the same districts. Areas and populations are not available for the new districts. This table shows how they probably relate to the old ones.

1. 1996: The Local Government Act, 1996  (PDF, long download) divided the Bahamas into 23 local government districts and New Providence, which was administered by the national government.
2. 1999: Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay district split into Acklins and Crooked Island districts. Hope Town district split from Central Abaco. Exuma and Exuma Cays district split into Black Point and Exuma. Grand Cay district split from North Abaco. Harbour Island and Spanish Wells districts split from North Eleuthera. Moore's Island district split from South Abaco. Mangrove Cay district split from South Andros. Name of Bimini and Cat Cay changed to Bimini.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Biminis: Bimini (new)
2. Cat Island: Ilha do Gato (Portuguese); Isla del Gato (Spanish)
3. Cay Lobos: Caio Lobos (Portuguese); Cayo Lobos (Spanish)
4. Eleuthera: Eleutéria (Portuguese); Eleutère (French)
5. Inagua: Inague (French)
6. Long Cay: Caio Longo (Portuguese); Cayo Largo (Spanish); Fortune Island (variant)
7. Long Island: Ilha Longa (Portuguese); Isla Larga (Spanish)
8. New Providence: Nova Providência (Portuguese); Nueva Providencia (Spanish)
9. San Salvador: São Salvador (Portuguese); Watling Island (variant)

Population history:

The 1990 and 2000 censuses are reported by "Island" (or island group), and then by "Supervisory District". There are 19 islands and 51 supervisory districts. There is not necessarily a direct correspondence between these entities and the local government districts.