Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
By choosing to remain a British dependency, Bermuda rejected the trail that many
former colonies in the Caribbean (including Antigua) blazed by declaring their inde-
pendence. Although they remain under the protection of the British, Bermudians
manage their own day-to-day affairs. And ever since the people of Bermuda were
granted the right to govern themselves in 1968, they have done so admirably well.
Bermuda has a 12-member cabinet headed by a premier. The elected legislature,
referred to as the Legislative Council, consists of a 40-member House of Assembly
and an 11-member Senate. Bermuda's oldest political party is the Progressive Labour
Party, formed in 1963. In 1964, the United Bermuda Party was established; it stayed
in power until it was toppled by the Progressive Labour Party in 1998.
Bermuda's legal system is founded on common law. Judicial responsibility falls to
the Supreme Court, headed by a chief justice in a powdered wig and a robe. English
law is the fundamental guide, and in court, English customs prevail.
The island consists of nine parishes, each managed by an advisory council. The
capital, the City of Hamilton, is in Pembroke Parish. (For details on the individual
parishes, see chapter 3.)
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Bermuda's political stability has proved beneficial to the economy, which relies heav-
ily on tourism and foreign investment.
For much of the island's early history, the major industry was shipbuilding, made
possible by the abundant cedar forests. In the second half of the 19th century, when
wooden ships gave way to steel ones, the island turned to tourism. Today, tourism is
the country's leading industry, with annual revenues estimated at $450 million.
Approximately 550,000 visitors come to Bermuda each year; an estimated 86% arrive
from the United States, 4% from Britain, and 7% from Canada. Bermuda enjoys a
42% repeat-visitor rate.
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An Island of Religious Tolerance
About a third of Bermuda's population
adheres to the Church of England,
which has been historically dominant in
the colony. Indeed, the division of Ber-
muda into nine parishes dates from
1618, when each parish was required by
law to have its own Anglican church, to
the exclusion of any other. That division
still exists today, but more for adminis-
trative than religious purposes.
Religious tolerance is now guaran-
teed by law. There are some 10,000
Catholics, many of them from the Por-
tuguese Azores. There are also many
members of Protestant sects whose
roots lie within what were originally
slave churches, among them the
African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Established in 1816 by African Ameri-
cans, the sect was transported to Ber-
muda from Canada around 1870. Today,
the church has about 7,000 members.
Also found in Bermuda are Seventh-
day Adventists, Presbyterians, Baptists,
Lutherans, and Mormons. Less preva-
lent are a handful of Jews, Muslims,
Rastafarians, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Bermuda today boasts more than 110
churches, an average of 5 per square
mile. They range from the moss-
encrusted parish churches established
in the earliest days of the colony to
modest structures with only a handful
of members.
