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Graced with beautiful beaches of pink sand, evocative windswept panoramas and countless opportunities for diving, snorkelling and fishing, the islands of the Bahamas are well established as one of the world's top draws for both intrepid explorers and casual vacationers. An island chain beginning a mere 55 miles east of Miami, Florida, the Bahamas offer an array of tourist hotels, all-inclusive resorts, and even rustic lodges, making staying there a relatively simple endeavour. Indeed, more than three million travellers each year choose the islands as their prime destination for outdoor sports, sun worship, casino gambling and, on some of the slightly more remote spots, eco-tourism.
In total, the Bahamas include around seven hundred islands, no more than thirty of which are inhabited, as well as smaller cays (pronounced "keys") and rocks - an impressive arc stretching from just beyond the Atlantic coast of Florida to the outlying waters of Cuba, where Great Inagua lies only sixty miles offshore. Although deeper oceanic troughs surround some of the islands, most are encircled by shallow, crystalline water that reflects a light turquoise hue during the day and glows with purple luminescence at night. This combination of shallow and deep water makes diving and snorkelling both challenging and intriguing, with numerous reefs waiting to be explored just beyond the shores of the gorgeous, uncrowded beaches.

The name Bahamas probably comes from the Spanish "Baja Mar", meaning "shallow seas", an apt description of the area attributed to Columbus. After the European discovery of the islands in 1492, they remained a backwater until a few English settlers from Bermuda arrived on Eleuthera in 1647. Soon after, farmers colonized New Providence and established Charles Town, whose name was changed in 1690 to Nassau to honour England's new ruler, William, Prince of Orange and Nassau.

With the islands ruled by a series of incompetent royal governors, Nassau gradually slipped into chaos and piracy, becoming home to such notorious figures as Blackbeard, who preyed on Spanish and French shipping lines. Not until the arrival of Royal Governor Woodes-Rogers in 1717 was piracy finally curtailed.

During the American Revolution, many Loyalists came to the Bahamas from the North American colonies, settling in Abaco, Eleuthera, Exumas and Long Island and creating an economy and society based on plantations run by slave labour. However, their cotton and tobacco crops failed due to crop diseases and lack of demand. After the abolition of slavery here in 1834, island residents turned to salvaging, sponging, fishing and subsistence farming to make a living.

During the American Civil War, Nassau became a boomtown built on blockade running, later turning to rum-running during America's Prohibition of the 1920s and early 1930s. Tourism, popular since the mid-nineteenth century, gained a further foothold after World War II with the advent of modern air travel, air conditioning and telephones.

On July 10, 1973, after 325 years of British rule, the Bahamas became an independent, democratic state supported in large part by tourism, banking and fishing.