[Long Island Administrators]
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LONG ISLAND
Island Information

Long Island, which has been called a ‘country of contrasts’, extends about 57 miles from Cape Santa Maria to South Point and is nowhere wider than four miles. At its north-eastern end it has rugged cliffs plunging into the sea. On the opposite shore, the area has broad white sandy beaches. In the southern part of the island lie the low, flat lands where salt used to be produced.

Long Island was originally called by the Arawak name, Yuma. It was rechristened Fernandina by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the New World in 1492. Archaeological evidence shows that the Lucayan Arawaks settled at Long Island as they did throughout the Bahamian chain of islands. After the demise of the Lucayans, permanent settlement did not occur until the Loyalists arrived and set up plantations. A memorial to the Lucayans was dedicated by Long Islanders at Cape Santa Maria, believed to be the third landfall of Columbus.

With a population of over 5,000, Long Island is the leading stock-rearing island and its farmers also grow corn, peas, bananas, pineapples and other crops.

Some of its settlements include Stella Maris, Deadman’s Cay, Clarence Town, Simms, Salt Pond, where the annual Long Island regatta is held, Millerton, Mangrove Bush, Buckley’s and Mortimer’s, where three wooden ‘duhos’ or ceremonial stools used by Lucayan Arawak chiefs were discovered hidden in a cave.

Information courtesy of Bahamas Information Services, Department of Archives and Local Government.

For more information visit the Website of the Ministry of Tourism