Bahamas Gains Independence

Date: July 10, 1973 • Location: Nassau, Bahamas

The Bahamas gains full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic country in the Caribbean located within the Lucayan Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. The country comprises 700 islands, and more than 2,500 cays in the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Cuba and north-west of the island of Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the US state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys. The capital and largest city is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes the Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.