The Little Book of Bahamas Facts: Fascinating Things You Never Knew About the Islands

Seven hundred islands. Five hundred years of Atlantic crossings. And a story stranger than anyone planned.

The Bahamas has always been more than the postcard. These pages hold the full, surprising truth of an archipelago that gave sailors the hammock, gave Prohibition rum-runners their most infamous supply route, and gave hip-hop one of its most iconic names — entirely by accident.

You'll find out how the phrase the real McCoy traces directly to a Nassau harbour operation during Prohibition. How a Bahamian actor's minor 1975 film role handed the most legendary alias in rap history to a Brooklyn teenager who liked the sound of it. How the Lucayan people — long before Columbus arrived — invented the woven sleeping net that became standard issue on every sailing vessel on earth. And how a Bahamian sprinter won Olympic gold in 2016 by throwing her entire body across the finish line with four hundredths of a second to spare.

Short enough to read in a sitting, rich enough to keep you thinking long after, each fact is a door into a place most visitors only see from the surface.

Written by Jonah Keene and published by The FACTory Press.

The perfect gift for: Bahamas travellers & island dreamers · History buffs & trivia lovers · Cruise ship regulars ready to go deeper · Anyone curious about the Atlantic world's most surprising nation