Crooked Island is an island and

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, part of a group of Bahamian islands defining a large, shallow lagoon called the

Bight of Acklins The word is derived from Old English ''byht'' (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”). In modern English, bight may refer to: * Bight (geography), recess of a coast, bay, or other curved feature * Bight (knot), a curved section, slack part, or loo ...

, of which the largest are Crooked Island in the north and

Acklins Acklins is an island and district of the Bahamas. It is one of a group of islands arranged along a large, shallow lagoon called the Bight of Acklins, of which the largest are Crooked Island () in the north and Acklins () in the southeast, and ...

in the south-east, and the smaller are

Long Cay Long Cay (formerly known as Fortune Island; pt, Caio Longo; es, Cayo Largo; french: Île de la Fortune) is an island in the Bahamas in an atoll that includes Acklins Island and Crooked Island. It is 8 square miles (21 km²) and is in the Ackl ...

(once known as Fortune Island) in the north-west, and Castle Island in the south.

History

The islands were settled by American

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

s in the late 1780s who set

cotton plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s using over 1,000

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. After the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

these became uneconomical, and the replacement income from

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

diving has now dwindled as well. The inhabitants now live by fishing and small-scale farming. It is believed that the first Post Office in the Bahamas was at

Pitts Town Pitts may refer to: People *Allen Pitts Allen Pitts (born June 28, 1964) is a former receiver for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League from 1990 to 2000. He attended Cal-State Fullerton and played his entire professional career ...

on Crooked Island.

Population

The main town in the group is

Colonel Hill Colonel Hill is a town in the Bahamas, located on Crooked Island. it has a population of 51.

(pop. 51) on Crooked Island. The population of Crooked Island was 330 at the 2010 census.CROOKED ISLAND POPULATION BY SETTLEMENT AND TOTAL NUMBER OF OCCUPIED DWELLINGS: 2010 CENSUS
- Bahamas Department of Statistics

Transportation

The island is served by

Colonel Hill Airport Colonel Hill Airport , also known as Crooked Island Airport, is an airport in Colonel Hill on Crooked Island in the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipela ...

References

Islands of the Bahamas Districts of the Bahamas {{Bahamas-geo-stub