Guanima Republic

Guanima is a constituent republic of Lucaya Commonwealth.

Guanima Republic
Island of Cat Island
Constituent Republic of Vekllei
Part of the Lucaya Commonwealth
Accession	1930, as part of the Alford Agreement
Area	389 km²
Capital	New Bight
Languages	English, Lucayan
Population	2,803

The Guanima Republic is a constituent republic of Vekllei, a long, narrow island in the central Lucayan archipelago with a population well under three thousand. The capital, New Bight, sits on the west coast next to Fernandez Bay, a wide sandy stretch of water where most of the swimming happens, lined with the wooden houses that are still built here in the old Lucayan style. Inland the island rises into bush-covered hills, and Mount Alvernia, near the centre, is the highest point in the Bahamas at 63 metres – not a mountain by any real standard, but tall enough that the view from the top takes in most of the island and, on a clear day, the sea on both sides.

The Hermitage sits at Alvernia’s summit: a stone chapel, the stations of the cross, and a monk’s cell, all cut into the rock and carved from the local limestone by hand. A priest built it after retiring to the hill in the mid-20th Century and stayed there for the rest of his life. He is one of the island’s better-known former residents, and the chapel is now kept up by the republic. Pilgrims and the curious still make the climb, generally by ferry from Nassau to New Bight and on foot from there.

The English called the island Cat Island, after either the wild cats once found here or the pirate Arthur Catt, depending on who you ask. Most people on the island call it Guanima, the Lucayan name, and both names are in use. Obeah has deep roots here, as it does across much of the Caribbean, and although Vekllei civil law applies as it does everywhere else, the regional and federal governments mostly leave local custom alone. At the southern tip of the island, Columbus Point is claimed by some historians to be where Columbus actually made landfall in 1492, rather than the better-known site usually credited; further round the coast, Devil’s Point is a stretch of mangrove and wading birds reachable only by boat or a long walk through the bush.

Guanima gets by largely on its own. Fishing and smallholding are the main occupations, and federalisation – the island joined Vekllei in 1930, under the Alford Agreement – has brought better schools, healthcare and roads over the years, but the republic remains one of the more remote and traditional in the Commonwealth.

Climate

Warm tropical with distinct wet and dry seasons. Drier than many Lucayan islands, with lower humidity. Hurricane risk in late summer.

Public Holidays

• New Year’s Day 1 Jan
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• Commonwealth Day 1 May
• Emancipation Day 1st Mon/Aug
• Discovery Day 12 Oct
• Christmas Day 25 Dec
• Boxing Day 26 Dec