Period+4+Group+5+VT+Storyboard

beauty and paradise! Presented by Margaret, Julie Ann, and Caroline. All of the colors in the Bahamian flag are significant. The black stands for strength, the yellow stands for the beautiful beaches, and the blue stands for the sea. || Magnificent isn't it? I'm here to tell you about the Landforms in the Bahamas. The Bahamas look rather small to some people and big to others, but the actual area of the Bahamas is 5,358 sq. miles. The total area is slightly smaller than Connecticut. The Bahamas have no mountains, except for Mount Alvernia on Cat Island at 63m. They have some low, rounded hills. That's not very high! Mainly because the Bahamas are a bunch of long, flat, coralline limestone islands. It is a vary low flat area with not very many lakes and swamps. There are no navigable rivers. The Bahamas is an archipelago of about 700 islands and coral reefs. It stretches over 1225 kilometers from north to south. The Andros Barrier Reef is one of the longest reef systems in the Western Atlantic Ocean. Most of the reefs are in good condition because of their location and the low population. They have not been as worn down or polluted. The Bahamas have no mountains and they are just long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills. Some of the natural resources are salt, aragonite, timber, and arable land. Unfortunately, some of our environmental issues are that our coral reefs are decaying and our solid waste disposal. || In the Bahamas there are many islands. Some of the main Islands are Andros Island, Bimini Islands, Cat Island, Eleuthera Island, Long Island, Grand Bahama Island, Great Abaco Island, Great Exuma Island, and Great Inagua Island. Wow! That was a toungue twister! || The Bahamas are located in the Atlantic Ocean, right near the tip of Florida, but farther south. The North Equatorial Current from the southeast and the Gulf Stream, both affect the Bahamas. There are small bodies of water scattered through the Bahamas. The Bahamas are islands, and islands are landmasses that are smaller than a continent and completely surrounded by water. It's devastating that the Bahamas receive hurricanes and tropical storms, they cause extensive flooding and wind damage. || The climate in the Bahamas is a semitropical climate with two seasons. The winter season lasts from December to April and the summer season from May to November. Both seasons have humidity ranging from 60% to 100%. Sometimes I enjoy the humidity and sometimes I don't. It depends on what you're doing I guess. The Rainfall per year is 1,320 mm or 52 inches. That is not very much, considering the amount of rainfall that we usually get in Georgia. Well, if this drought doesn't go away, we'll have less than that! Most of the rainfall in the Bahamas occurs from May to June and September to October. To sum it all up in one sentence, The climate is mainly tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of the Gulf Stream. ||
 * Slide Number || Photo || Narrative ||
 * 1 || [[image:The-Bahamas-flag.gif width="296" height="148"]] || The Bahamas: an island of
 * 2 || [[image:church_.jpeg]] || The first cultural aspect of the Bahamas that I will share with you, is religion. Most of the Bahamian people are Protestants. The Bahamian people are very serious about their religion and so there are many services a week. Also, the leaders of the church play an extremely important role in the government; which Margaret will cover for us later. Catholic churches have grown recently because of Haitian immigrants. ||
 * 3 || [[image:people.jpg width="183" height="104"]] || The population of the Bahamas is 303,800. Georgia population is 4,646,003.WOW! What a comparison. About 70 percent of the people live on New Providence island, and only 30% of the people live on all of the other magnificent islands.What is cool is that many Bahamians know each other, while we on the other hand don't even know the whole middle school! This creates a small atmosphere throughout the island. 85% of the population is African American, while 15% is originally from the Bahamas. ||
 * 4 || [[image:Dominoes.jpg width="158" height="118" caption="dominoes"]] || Sports are very popular in the Bahamas. The countries main sport is boat sailing!! Many other sports are popular too like baseball, volleyball,soccer, and cricket. Men and boys like to play dominoes. Some inside activities that families enjoy are watching movies at their houses. ||
 * 5 || [[image:junkanoo.gif width="137" height="163" caption="Junkanoo Festival "]] || The Junkanoo festival, is a festival that the slaves started but was banned by their masters. Now, it is promoted by the citizens of the Bahamas. Citizens parade around on Nassau's Bay Street wearing colorful costumes.Some other interesting holidays that they celebrate are Emancipation Day, which commemorates the end of slavery; Discovery Day, or National Heroes Day ; and boxing day, a British holiday.But of course, they celebrate other holidays that you might be familiar with like New Years and Christmas. ||
 * 6 || [[image:maracas.jpeg]] || In the Bahamas the arts are very important. Bahamian music is still listened to, but pop music is very popular. A lot of the citizens sing in a church choir. Musical instruments like goatskin drums, maracas, and saws create a island beat know as goombay or rake n' scrape. When listening to this music people dance the style of Meringue, a dance from Dominican Republic. Writing dramas are the popular, although singing stories is more common then reading them. ||
 * 7 || [[image:221305pw150.jpg]] || The last stop on our cultural trip is a school in the Bahamas.Going to school is part of the Bahamian peoples daily life. There is little illiteracy in the Bahamas and schooling is from ages 5 to 14. There also is a community college that works with many other colleges around the world.Some food you'll have to try when you are in the Bahamas are fresh fish and sea food. But, if you are looking for a tasty breakfast eat some fresh fish with grits, now thats what i call good eatin'! To burn those calories off though, you can build a house! Yes, most Bahamians build their own houses, and usually they are quite colorful! A house can take up to 4 to 5 years to build. ||
 * 8 || [[image:bahamas.jpg width="259" height="259"]] || (Landforms)
 * 9 || [[image:bahamas-islandnames.jpg width="187" height="221" align="left"]] || (Landforms)
 * 10 || [[image:bahamas360.jpg width="280" height="221"]] || (Water Forms)
 * 11 || [[image:bahamas-scenic.jpg]] || (Climate)
 * 12 || [[image:hawksbill_small.jpg]] || The small animals that live in the Bahamas are the raccoon and the hutia. The larger animals are wild donkeys, horses, and wild boar. The whale and the dolphin are two other mammals that live off the coast. Fish and edible reef animals are still on many reefs. There is a lot of commercial export fish trade. Some people are over-exploiting a few species that include the queen conch, whelk Cittarium Pica, spiny lobster, and several grouper. Some people are using illegal fishing tactics. They are using toxic chemicals, harvesting hawksbill turtles, fishing for the undersized queen conch, and capturing the spiny lobster out of season. I can't believe that people would actually do such a thing in the beautiful country of the Bahamas! ||
 * 13 || [[image:ChristopherColumbus.jpg width="208" height="155" align="left"]] || I'm here to tell you about the current issues in the Bahamas. Did you know that when Christopher Columbus first landed in the America's in 1492, it took place on the easternmost island of the Bahama's, San Salvador. In 1629, the islands were granted to England, and in 1647 the first English settlement was made with the colonization of the Eleuthera Island by the compant of Eleutherian Adventures, a collection of religeous refugees. These settlers built an agriculture economy which prompted a slave trade to develop in the islands. In 1861, due to the American Civil War, an unexpected economic oppurtunity due to the islands' close distance to the United States occured and the islands were used by blockade runners. In the 1950's the Bahama's majority black population, led by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), began a campaign to gain control of the government away from the white United Bahamian Party. Britain granted the Bahamas limited self-government in 1964. ||
 * 14 || [[image:atlantis_resort-bahamas,_unruhs_disney_cruise_06.jpg width="190" height="158"]] || The islands' subtropical atmosphere, sky and sea, lush vegetaion, and folklore has made the Bahamas one of the most popular resorts in the hemisphere. Providing 60% of the gross domestic product and employing about half of the workforce, tourism is the countrys most important industry. Rum, salt, aragonite, animal products, chemicals, and pharmacueticals are the chief exports. The Bahamas also has facilities for the transshipment of petroleum. The United States and Spain are the country's main trading partners. The transport of illegal narcotic drugs has been a problem since the 1960's. Also the flow of illegal refugees from other islands has presented a problem for the Bahamas. ||
 * 15 || [[image:tropical_storm_noel.jpg width="203" height="169"]] || Tropical Storm Noel came crashing toward the Bahamas on Nov. 1 leaving a trail of deadly mudslides and wakes in the Carribean. Forecasters said that the storm could approach hurricane strength as it continues north toward the cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Noel was supposed to pass just west of the Bahamian capital, Nassau, according to National Hurricane Center forecasters. ||
 * 16 || [[image:ParliamentSquare.jpg width="194" height="156" align="left"]] || In the Bahamas, they have a constitutional democracy meaning a monarch inherits the right to rule but is limited by parliament, a body of people elected by the citizens. The Bahamas also has a bicameral legislature and a prime minister. Parliament, which serves a five-year term. has 41 members in its House of Assembly, which is the lower house. Also, there is a 16 member senate, which is the upper house. The 16 senators are chosen by the governor general, 9 on the prime minister's advice, 4 on the opposition leader's advice, and 3 on their joint advice.

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 * 17 || [[image:arthurdionhanna.jpg]] || Right now, Arthur Dion Hanna is the governor general. His duty is to represent the queen. In the Bahamas, they recognize Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State. Also the prime minister now is Hubert Alexander Ingram. He was sworn in on May 4, 2007. ||
 * 18 || [[image:bahamas-1.jpg]] || Thanks for listening to our voice thread! We hope one day that you too can experience the beauty and paradise of what is.....THE BAHAMAS ||