Bahamas 🇧🇸

Bahamas is a country in North America with a population of 409,984. Its capital is Nassau. The official currency is BSD, and the main languages are English.

Quick facts

Capital: Nassau
Continent: North America
Population: 409,984
Area: 13,943 km²
Density: 29.4 people per km²
Currency: BSD
Languages: English
ISO code: BS

Where Bahamas sits

Bahamas 🇧🇸 is one of 23 countries in North America, with its capital at Nassau. It covers 13,943 square kilometres — 156th in the world — and is home to about 409,984 people, 172nd globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include United States, Mexico, Canada, Guatemala and Haiti. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Bahamas compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Bahamas sits closest to Belize and Iceland. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Montenegro and Timor-Leste.

At 29.4 people per square kilometre it is about 2.0 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

English is an official language in 58 countries here, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados and Belize, and 53 others. The BSD is used by Bahamas and no one else.

To see Bahamas next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Bahamas

Nassau is on the island of New Providence and was named after William III of England, Prince of Orange-Nassau. For the flag, picture a golden beach between two strips of aquamarine sea, with a black triangle pointing at it.

The flag of Bahamas: aquamarine, gold and black

🇧🇸 The flag is three horizontal stripes of aquamarine, gold and aquamarine, with a black triangle at the flagpole. The stripes show the islands' golden beaches between the aquamarine sea. Black stands for the strength of a united people, and the triangle for their enterprise and determination.

Region and neighbours

Bahamas is an island country in the Lucayan Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, north of Cuba and southeast of Florida. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Bahamas

The Bahamas is made up of 700 islands and more than 2,500 cays.
Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World in the Bahamas in 1492.
Nassau was once known as a stronghold of pirates.

Sources: Wikipedia: The Bahamas, Wikipedia: Flag of the Bahamas, Wikipedia: Nassau, Bahamas, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Bahamas

North American capitals quiz — match Bahamas to Nassau
North American flags quiz — spot the Bahamas flag among its neighbours
Island nations quiz — Bahamas is an island country

Quizzes that include Bahamas

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Bahamas those are:

North America map quiz — place it on a blank map
North America flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
North America capitals quiz — match it to Nassau
Bahamas capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Bahamas
Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Nearby countries

Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬 — capital Saint John's
Barbados 🇧🇧 — capital Bridgetown
Belize 🇧🇿 — capital Belmopan
Canada 🇨🇦 — capital Ottawa
Costa Rica 🇨🇷 — capital San José
Cuba 🇨🇺 — capital Havana
Dominica 🇩🇲 — capital Roseau
Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 — capital Santo Domingo
El Salvador 🇸🇻 — capital San Salvador
Grenada 🇬🇩 — capital Saint George's
Guatemala 🇬🇹 — capital Guatemala City
Haiti 🇭🇹 — capital Port-au-Prince

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Bahamas flag?

The flag of Bahamas is three horizontal stripes of aquamarine, gold and aquamarine, with a black triangle at the flagpole. The stripes show the islands' golden beaches between the aquamarine sea. Black stands for the strength of a united people, and the triangle for their enterprise and determination.

Which countries border Bahamas?

None. Bahamas is an island country in the Lucayan Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, north of Cuba and southeast of Florida, so it has no land borders with other countries.