Mayaguana
Encyclopedia
Mayaguana is the most easterly island and district
Districts of the Bahamas
Local government in the Bahamas exists in two forms, namely second-schedule and third-schedule district councils. There are a total of 32 local government districts: 13 second-schedule districts, which are further sub-divided into town areas, and 19 third-schedule districts, which are all unitary...

 of the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

. It is one of only a few Bahamian islands which retain their Lucayan
Lucayan
The Lucayan were the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of Europeans. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first inhabitants of the Americas encountered by Christopher Columbus...

 names. The population of Mayaguana in the 2000 census was 259, amounting to an estimate 312 in 2010. It has an area of about 280 km².

About 100 km north of Inagua and 560 km south of the capital Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...

, Mayaguana is considered the halfway point between South Florida and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 and is about 450 nautical mile
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...

s off Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. It is a popular stopover for yachtsmen on a direct route to the Caribbean.

History

Mayaguana was inhabited by Lucayan
Lucayan
The Lucayan were the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of Europeans. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first inhabitants of the Americas encountered by Christopher Columbus...

s prior to the arrival of the Spanish following 1492. After the last of the Lucayans were carried off to Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

 by the Spanish early in the 16th century, the island remained uninhabited until 1812, when people began to migrate from the Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...

, which are located about 100 km southeast.

The Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen
Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen
Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, Viscount of Porto Seguro was a Brazilian military, diplomat and historian. He is the patron of the 39th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.-Life:...

 suggested in 1824 that Mayaguana is Guanahani
Guanahani
Guanahani was the name the natives gave to the island that Christopher Columbus called San Salvador when he arrived at the Americas. Columbus reached the island on 12 October 1492, the first island he sighted and visited in the Americas...

, the first island visited by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

 at his discovery of the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

. His theory has found little support. Mayaguana apparently was the Lucayan name (meaning "Lesser Midwestern Land" ) for the island.

The first steamship to circumnavigate the globe, the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 sloop HMS Driver
HMS Driver (1840)
HMS Driver was a Driver-class wood paddle sloop of the Royal Navy. She is credited with the first global circumnavigation by a steamship when she arrived back in England on 14 May 1847.-Construction and commissioning:...

, was wrecked on Mayaguana on 3 August 1861, 14 years after the completion of her epic voyage in 1847.

During NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's Project Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...

 and the Apollo program, the United States space program had a missile tracking station on what is now Mayaguana Airport. The station was used to help keep astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

s on course.

The Bahamian government has recently approved working with American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 investors MMC to turn Mayaguana into a "free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

 zone," complete with tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 development of approximately 14% of the island. Actually, this is 14% of the total landmass but essentially most of the coastal region. The proposal was met with moderate resistance by Mayaguanians, who look forward to economic expansion but are unsure of what change is to come. This development is still in a planning phase and is trying to maintain the nature of the island as a quiet eco-tourist destination while still creating sustainable economic growth. http://www.thenassauguardian.com/business/285618714311150.php

People and culture

The largest settlement is Abraham's Bay
Abraham's Bay
Abraham's Bay is a town in the Bahamas. It is located on Mayaguana island....

 on the south coast; other settlements are the neighboring towns of Betsy Bay and Pirate's Well in the northwest. The uninhabited areas of Upper Point (north shore), Northeast Point, and Southeast Point are largely inaccessible by road.

The least developed Bahamian island, Mayaguana has never seen major growth. It was settled gradually after 1812 by people from the Turks and Caicos. Most people make a living fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 and farming.

Considered the most isolated Bahamian island, Mayaguana uses the country's mail
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 boat system as its primary form of communication. Mayaguana is visited once a week for delivery and pickup.

Environment

Mayaguana is known for its fertile soil, which is good for farming, and its woody terrain. Common Lignum-vitae (Guaiacum officinale
Guaiacum officinale
Guaiacum officinale, commonly known as Roughbark Lignum-vitae, is a species of tree in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae, that is native to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America.-Description:...

), Holywood Lignum-vitae (G. sancutm
Guaiacum sanctum
Guaiacum sanctum, commonly known as Holywood or Holywood Lignum-vitae, is a species of flowering plant in the creosote bush family, Zygophyllaceae. It ranges from southern Florida in the United States and the Bahamas south to Central America and the Greater Antilles...

) and other
Bahamian dry forests
The Bahamian dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, covering an area of . They are found on much of the northern Bahamas, including Andros, Abaco, and Grand Bahama, where they are known as coppices...

 hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

s can be found throughout the island. The island is home to several government nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

s.

As the easternmost island in the Bahamian Commonwealth, Mayaguana is bordered to its east by deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. Many underwater coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

s are found off-shore, as well as shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

s.

Mayaguana is home to the Bahamian Hutia
Bahamian Hutia
The Bahamian Hutia or Ingraham's Hutia is a species of rodent in the Capromyidae family.Geocapromys ingrahami is endemic to the Bahamas.-Habitat:...

, a rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 that was thought to be extinct until the mid-1960s, as well as American Flamingoes, Bartsch's Iguanas
Cyclura carinata bartschi
Bartsch's iguana or Booby Cay iguana is an endangered subspecies of lizard of the genus Cyclura endemic to a single cay, Booby Cay, in the Turks and Caicos islands.-Taxonomy:...

, plover
Plover
Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout...

s, tern
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...

s, and Osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...

. Nesting sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...

s can be found throughout the undeveloped eastern part of the island. About 118 species of bird are found on the island, including two large Brown Booby
Brown Booby
The Brown Booby is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. The adult brown booby reaches about in length. Its head and upper body are covered in dark brown, with the remainder being a contrasting white. The juvenile form is gray-brown with darkening on the head, wings and tail...

 colonies
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...

.

Tourism

As the most isolated island, Mayaguana is one of the least visited by tourists in the Bahamas. Most tourists who visit do so for the isolation, as well as scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

, bonefish
Bonefish
The bonefish is the type species of the Albulidae family, or bonefishes in order Albuliformes. It is amphidromous, living in inshore tropical waters, moving onto shallow mudflats to feed with the incoming tide, and retreating to deeper water as the tide ebbs...

ing, snorkeling
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...

, and duck hunting
Duck hunting
Waterfowl hunting is the practice of hunting ducks, geese, or other waterfowl for food and sport...

. The eastern part of the island is popular with advanced off-trail bikers
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...

. Ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

 is also a common draw.

The island is accessible by Mayaguana Airport (MYG), which is located southeast of Abraham's Bay and is visited by Bahamasair
Bahamasair
Bahamasair Holdings Limited, operating as Bahamasair, is an airline based in the Bahamasair House in Nassau, Bahamas. It is the national airline and operates domestic scheduled services to 15 destinations and regional scheduled services to Havana and four cities in Florida. Its main base is Lynden...

as well as private aircraft.

External links

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