Exuma

Exuma is the name of a district of the Bahamas, consisting of over 360 islands. The archipelago is a popular destination for boaters and divers because of their reefs and caves. Many unnamed beaches and caves as well as lying off the coast reefs are part of the protected Exuma National Land and Sea Park of the Bahamas National Trust.

The Exumas were first inhabited by the Lucayan Indians and other Arawaks who were enslaved in the 15th century. The islands were uninhabited in the sequence until the 17th century, but were used by pirates as a hiding place.

Great Exuma

The largest island is 60 km long and covering an area of 72 km ², Great Exuma. There is also the largest city in the archipelago, Georgetown, with a population of 1,436 (as of 2010 census ). Your name bears the city was founded in 1793 in honor of British King George III. By this city of the Tropic of Cancer runs.

Exuma was around 1783 by American loyalists fleeing the Revolutionary War, settled. The cotton plantations date back to these settlers. Lord John role, one of the settlers, is an important figure in the history of the island. At his death in 1835, he transferred all of its land in Exuma to his slaves; Thanks to several villages were named after him (such as role and role Ville Town) ..

Transport

The district has in the city of Georgetown with the Exuma International Airport is an airport which offers flights to Nassau, Miami, Atlanta and Toronto. The town of Staniel Cay also has a small airfield.

Refugee crisis in November 2013

When capsizing of an overloaded sailboat with refugees from Haiti at least ten people died on 25 November 2013, the coast of the southern town of Staniel Cay. The boat ran east of the village on reason. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Coast Guard began after the remote emergency immediately to the rescue and saved more than 100 Haitians.