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The Out Islands of the Bahamas are the most remote islands in the archipelago.
The islands included in this group are:
The Abacos, a 120 mile long chain of small islands first settled by Europeans
in the 1770s, by Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. The Loyalists’
cotton plantations did well in the first years, but were destroyed by soil depletion.
By the 1800s fishing, boat building, and wrecking – scavenging from ships
wrecked off the coast – were the islanders’ main sources of income.
Acklins and Crooked Island are situated over 200 miles to the southeast of
Nassau. The first settlers, American Loyalists arriving in 1783, imported slaves
to work their cotton fields. In the 1820s, a disease hit the cotton fields on
the islands, and today most people make their living from fishing and subsistence
farming.
The Berry Islands are a collection of 30 islands, situated on the eastern rim
of the Great Bahama Bank. The Berry Islands total a mere 12 miles squared, with
a population of 730. The secluded beaches, excellent diving, and sport fishing
available here are the main attractions. A number of the cays are privately
owned.
Inagua is composed of two islands, forming the southernmost point of the Bahamas.
Great Inagua’s population is about 920, but Little Inagua is uninhabited.
These two islands are home to numerous bird species, including over 80,000 West
Indian flamingos.
Long Island is named after its 80-mile long coastline stretching along the
sea. On the western side, clean, untouched beaches meet the ocean, while on
the eastern coast waves crash against the rocky cliffs. The island is split
in half by the Tropic of Cancer.
Mayaguana is the most isolated island in the Bahamas, home to a mere 312 Bahamians,
and an ever-changing population of yachtsmen who stop here on route to the Caribbean.
Its three main towns, Abraham’s Bay, Betsy Bay, and Pirate’s Well,
were all founded after the first settlers arrived in 1812.
San Salvador is one of the Bahamas’ most eastern landmasses, and is actually
the tip of an underwater mountain. This is the site where Christopher Columbus
first landed in 1492, giving the island its name. George Watling, an English
seaman, took control of the island, renaming it Watling Island, and it wasn’t
until 1925 that San Salvador’s original name was restored.
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