|
Bermuda
more...
 Home
Africa
Asia
Commonwealth/ British...
 Aden
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Ascension Island
Australia
Bahamas
Bahrain
Barbados
Basutoland/ Lesotho
Bechuanaland/ Botswana
Bermuda
British Antarctic Territory
British Guiana/ Guyana
British Honduras/ Belize
British Indian Ocean...
British Levant
British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Burma
Canada
Cayman Islands
Ceylon
Collections/ Mixture
Cook Is/ Aitutaki/ Penrhyn
Cyprus
Dominica
Falkland Is & Dependencies
Fiji
Gambia
Gibraltar
Gilbert & Ellice Is/...
Gold Coast/ Ghana
Grenada
Heligoland
Hong Kong
India
Jamaica
Kenya/ Uganda/ Tanganyika
Kuwait
Leeward Islands
Malaya/ Malaysia/ S. Setts.
Maldive Is.
Malta
Mauritius
Montserrat
Morocco Agencies
Nauru
New Hebrides/ Vanuatu
New Zealand
Nigeria
Niue
Norfolk Island
North Borneo
Northern Rhodesia/ Zambia
Nyasaland/ BCA/ Malawi
Omnibus Issues
Other Commonwealth Stamps
Pakistan/ Bahawalpur
Palestine
Papua New Guinea
Pitcairn Island
Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe
Samoa
Sarawak
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Somaliland Protectorate
South Africa
South West Africa/ Namibia
St Helena
St Kitts & Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent/ Grenadines
Sudan
Swaziland
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tristan da Cunha
Turks & Caicos Is
Tuvalu
Zanzibar
Great Britain
Ireland
Latin America
Middle East
Philately/ Postal History
Rest of the World
Thematics
United States
Bermuda (also known as The Bermuda Islands and formerly as The Somers Isles) is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean, situated around 640 miles (1030 km) northeast of Florida and is actually about 667 miles (1073 km) east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (see Geography section below)—off the east coast of the United States. It is the oldest remaining British overseas territory, settled by England a century before the Acts of Union and two centuries before the creation of the United Kingdom.
Although commonly referred to in the singular, the territory consists of approximately 138 islands, with a total area of 27.7 sq. mi.(71.7 square kilometers). Compiling a list of these islands is often complicated, as many have more than one name (as does the entire archipelago, which, in addition to its two official names, has historically been known as "La Garza", "Virgineola", and the "Isle of Devils"). Despite the limited land mass, there has also been a tendency for place names to be repeated; there are, for instance, two islands named "Long Island", two bays known as "Long Bay" and the town of St. George is located within the parish of St. George on the island of St. George. Meanwhile, Bermuda's capital, the City of Hamilton, lies in Pembroke Parish, not Hamilton Parish, on the largest island, "Main Island", which itself is sometimes called "Bermuda" (or "Great Bermuda").
Bermuda has a thriving economy, with a large financial sector and tourism industry. It is blessed with a warm, tropical climate and beautiful beaches. Bermuda is one of the few islands in the world to boast pink sand and turquoise oceans.
History
-
Bermuda was discovered by the early 1500s, probably in 1503, according to some sources. It was certainly known by 1511, when Peter Martyr d'Anghiera published his Legatio Babylonica, which mentioned Bermuda, and the island was also included on Spanish charts of this year. The discovery is attributed to a Spanish explorer, Juan de Bermudez. Both Spanish and Portuguese ships used the islands as a replenishment spot for fresh meat and water, but legends of spirits and devils, now thought to have stemmed only from the callings of raucous birds (most likely the Bermuda Petrel), and of perpetual, storm-wracked conditions (most early visitors arrived under such conditions), kept them from attempting any permanent settlement on the Isle of Devils.
Bermudez and Gonzales Ferdinando d'Oviedo ventured to Bermuda in 1514 or 1515 with the intention to drop off a breeding stock of hogs on the island as a future stock of fresh meat for passing ships. The inclement weather prevented them landing however.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
|
|
