Parliament of The Bahamas

The Parliament of The Bahamas is the bicameral national parliament of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The parliament is formally made up of the sovereign (represented by the governor-general), an appointed Senate, and an elected House of Assembly. It currently sits at the Bahamian Parliament Building in Nassau, the national capital. The structure, functions, and procedures of the parliament are based on the Westminster system. History Originally inhabited by the Lucayan people, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people, the Bahamas were the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492. Although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.