Located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola, The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a nation made up of 29 islands. The site of Christopher Columbus' first landfall in 1492, the Bahamas have had a rich multicultural heratige. Although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, the original inhabitants, the Lucayans, were forced into relocation and slavery on the nearby Hispaniola. The Bahamas became a British colony in 1718, and when the slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807, many Africans settled in the Bahamas; the descendants form the majority of the Bahamian population today.

 The Bahamas is one of the richest countries in America, relying mostly on tourism for its economy. It has a subtropical to tropical climate and a parliamentary democracy.