BAHAMAS

BAHAMAS.

Space themes.
Satellite view of Eleuthera island.
Third stamp in a set of 4, issued on 21.04.1981.
Face value: 25 cents of Bahamian dollar.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 478.
- Scott No. 488.
- StampWorld No. 478.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 583.

Eleuthera is an island in the archipelago of the Bahamas, located in the eastern part of it, about 80 km (50 mi) east of Nassau, the capital of the country. It is long and narrow: 180 km (110 mi) long and in some places just over 1.6 km (1.0 mi) wide. Its eastern side faces the Atlantic Ocean and its western side, the Great Bahama Bank. The island's topography ranges from wide, pink-sand beaches to large outcrops of ancient coral reefs, and its population is approximately 11,000. The main economy of the island is tourism.

The first settlers of the island were Taínos or Arawaks. Formerly it was known as Cigateo; the current name was given to it by the first Europeans who occupied it, a group of British Puritan settlers who arrived in 1648 from Bermuda.