Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher COLUMBUS first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas has prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US and Europe, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.
(Source: The World Factbook 2009. Washington, DC: Central
Intelligence Agency, 2009)
For more information
about Bahamas:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
