Although the Bahamas participates in the political aspects of the Caribbean Community ( CARICOM ), it has not entered into joint economic initiatives with other Caribbean states.

The Government of The Bahamas welcomes foreign investment in tourism and banking and has declared an interest in agricultural and industrial investments to generate local employment, particularly in white-collar or skilled jobs.

The Bahamas has no income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, value-added tax ( VAT ), or wealth tax.

The Bahamas has the 47th freest economy in the world according to The Heritage Foundation 2010 Index of Economic Freedom.

The more familiar triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Miami ; San Juan, Puerto Rico ; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

In this regard, the government has tried to develop the island into an offshore financial center, imitating the success of the Bahamas and other island nations around the world that have emerged as major offshore banking centers.

The UNCCD has 194 country Parties: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d ' Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, European Union, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

With no functioning government in the Bahamas, Nassau became a base of operations for English privateers, in what has been called a " privateers ' republic ," which lasted for eleven years.

The land on the Bahamas has a foundation of fossil coral, but much of the rock is oolitic limestone ; the stone is derived from the disintegration of coral reefs and seashells.

While there has never been a freeze reported in the Bahamas, the temperature can fall to during Arctic outbreaks that affect nearby Florida.

It fitted the all-important musical sequences into a contrived fantasy adventure in which the group is pursued through a series of locales ( including Switzerland and The Bahamas ) by a band of Indian thuggee assassins bent on recovering a sacred ring which has come into Ringo's possession.

Jensen Beach has been the sister city of Gregory Town in the Bahamas since July 1989.

The Morgan State University Choir has performed for audiences throughout the United States and all over the world — including the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Canada, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Since 2007 Speight's has been distributed to Samoa, Panama, the Bahamas, New York and London.

This name initially has been given to the deep underwater sinkholes of Bahamas but often is used for any deep water-filled pits formed in carbonate rocks.

An enigmatic form based on a coracoid found in Pliocene deposits of New Providence, Bahamas, has been described as Bathoceleus hyphalus and probably also is a woodpecker.

This form of music has spread through many parts of the Caribbean, including the Bahamas.

Soca music has evolved in the last 20 years primarily by musicians from various Anglophone Caribbean countries including Trinidad, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, United States Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica and Belize.

Outside of the United States, ELCA also has congregations in the Caribbean region ( Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands ) and one congregation in the border city of Windsor, Ontario, a member of the Slovak Zion Synod.

The Westchester County Airport currently has twelve commercial airlines flying to fifteen destinations around the United States and the Bahamas.

The dollar ( sign: $; code: BSD ) has been the currency of The Bahamas since 1966.

The $ ½ shows an older Queen Elizabeth II and the back shows a picture of Sister Sarah in the Nassau Straw Market ; the $ 1 shows Sir Lynden Pindling and on the back the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band ; the $ 3 has a young Queen Elizabeth II and on the back shows a Family Island Regatta with native sloops ; the $ 5 – Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield and the back shows a Junkanoo group ' rushing ' in the Junkanoo parade ; the $ 10 – an older Queen Elizabeth II ( replacing Sir Stafford Sands ) and the back shows the Hope Town Lighthouse and settlement in Abaco, the $ 20 – Sir Milo Butler ; the $ 50 – Sir Roland Symonette ; the $ 100 – an older Queen Elizabeth II and the back shows a jumping blue marlin, the national fish of The Bahamas.

With few domestic resources and little industry, The Bahamas imports nearly all its food and manufactured goods from the United States.

However, due to concerns over the previous Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista the company had started foreign branches a few years prior to the revolution ; the Company moved the ownership of the Company's trademarks, assets and proprietary formulas out of the country to the Bahamas prior to the revolution as well as constructing plants in Puerto Rico and Mexico after the prohibition era to save in import taxes for rum being imported to the US.

After the American Revolution, the British issued land grants to American Loyalists, and the sparse population of the Bahamas tripled within a few years.

During the first voyage of the explorer Christopher Columbus ( mandated by the Spanish crown to conquer ) contact was made with the Lucayans in the Bahamas and the Taíno in Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola, and a few of the native people were taken back to Spain.

Only a few freshwater lakes and just one river, located on Andros Island, are found in the Bahamas.

The Spanish started seizing Lucayans as slaves within a few years of Columbus's arrival, and they had all been removed from the Bahamas by 1520.

There were few land animals available in the Bahamas for hunting: hutias ( Taino utia ), rock iquanas, small lizards, land crabs and birds.

In recent years, Queen's College has set its sights on the BAISS ( Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools ) Track and Field Championship, significantly reducing the lead of its sporting rivals and managed to place 2nd for the past few years.

The Nassau Grouper lives in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Bermuda, Florida and the Bahamas in the north to southern Brazil, but it is only found in a few places in the Gulf of Mexico, most notably along the coast of Belize.

* Hurricane Dennis ( 1999 )-grazed the Bahamas and stalled off North Carolina for a few days before making landfall there, causing $ 157 million damage in the United States and four deaths in Florida.

Half of the school's student body are boarders and nearly 50 % of the boarding community is international, coming from such countries as the Korea, Bahamas, Mexico, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Germany, Indonesia, Spain, China, Nepal and the United States to name a few.

The sport entered the ' modern ' era in the 1960s, with notable names like Jim Wynn, Don Aronow, and Dick Bertram competing in mammoth events such as the Bahamas race.

Polygenetic coastal cave systems with underwater speleothem are globally common, with notable examples being on the Balearic Islands ( Mallorca, Menorca ) of Spain, the islands of the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, and many more.

As a result of the success of the Sun City resort with its Gary Player designed championship golf course, he got involved in international hotel, leisure and gambling resorts ; most notable is his role as the innovative developer behind the well-known Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

The essence of what makes a particular dish " Floribbean " is similar to many other aspects of Floridian culture: that it is heavily influenced by visitors and immigrants from all over the world, but especially from the Caribbean ( with notable influence from Haiti, The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago ).

South Andros is also the origins of many notable Bahamians like Lady Pindling ( the wife of Sir Lynden Pindling ), Picewell Forbes ( longtime radio personality and current Member of Parliament for South Andros ), Dr Leon Higgs ( former President of the College of the Bahamas ) and well known Businessman Tiger Finlaysson.

The Hawksbill Creek Agreement established a duty-free zone in Freeport, The Bahamas ' second-largest city, with a nearby industrial park to encourage foreign industrial investment.

* Freeport, Bahamas

On 19 May 2001, Shehri and Satam al-Suqami flew from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, Bahamas, where they had reservations at the Bahamas Princess Resort where Shehri and Suqami rented two cars, a black Buick Regal and a gray Ford Taurus.

The Luis de Torres Synagogue in Freeport, Bahamas is named after Luis de Torres, and there is a great amount of traditions on his life.

Image: Valley Boy at Rush for Peace Freeport Bahamas 2011. jpg | Rush for Peace Freeport Bahamas 2011

By this time the airline was flying out of airports in the East Coast of the USA to Freeport in the Bahamas.

Sir Jack took over his father's interests in the Bahamas, and continues to play an active role in Freeport, where the Sir Jack Hayward High School is named after him.

Bach was born in Freeport, Bahamas and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

* Freeport, Bahamas ( 2006 )

Freeport, The Bahamas

On May 19, Suqami and Waleed al-Shehri took a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, Bahamas where they had reservations at the Princess Resort.

When she was still a child her family moved to Freeport, Bahamas, where her grandfather, David Fitzgerald, practised law.

Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of Grand Bahama of the North-west Bahamas.

Freeport has grown to become the second most populous city in the Bahamas. The main airport serving the city is the Grand Bahama International Airport.

Freeport is a free trade zone on Grand Bahama Island, established in 1955 by the Government of The Bahamas.

While a freeze has never been reported in the Bahamas, snow was reported to have mixed with rain in Freeport in January 1977, the same time that it snowed in the Miami area.

de: Freeport ( Bahamas )