(“bermuda” (UK: /bəˈmjuːdə/; US: /bɚˈmjuːdə/) is a “british overseas territory” in the “north atlantic ocean”)
(it is approximately 1,070 km (665 mi) east-southeast of ‘Cape Hatteras’, ‘North Carolina’; 1,236 km (768 mi) south of ‘Cape Sable Island’, ‘Nova Scotia’; and 1,578 km (981 mi) north of ‘San Juan’, ‘Puerto Rico’)
(the capital city is ‘Hamilton’)
(‘Bermuda’ is an associate member of CARICOM)
(the first person known to have reached ‘Bermuda’ was the Spanish sea captain ‘Juan de Bermúdez’ in 1503, after whom the islands are named)
(he claimed the islands for the “Spanish Empire”)
(‘Bermúdez’ never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the ‘archipelago’, of which he created a recognizable map)
(shipwrecked ‘Portuguese’ mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on ‘Portuguese Rock’ (previously called ‘Spanish Rock’))
(subsequent ‘Spanish’ or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, which had become ‘feral’ and abundant on the island by the time European settlement began)
(in 1609, the “English ‘Virginia Company”, which had established ‘Jamestown’ in ‘Virginia’ two years earlier, permanently settled ‘Bermuda’ in the aftermath of a hurricane, when the crew and passengers of the Sea Venture steered the ship onto the surrounding reef to prevent its sinking, then landed ashore)
(the island was administered as an extension of ‘Virginia’ by the ‘Company’ until 1614)
(its ‘spin-off’, the “Somers Isles Company”, took over in 1615 and managed the colony until 1684)
(at that time, the company’s charter was revoked, and the ‘English Crown’ took over administration)
(the islands became a ‘british colony’ following the ‘1707 unification’ of the parliaments of ‘Scotland’ and ‘England’, which created the “Kingdom of Great Britain”)
(after 1949, when ‘Newfoundland’ became part of ‘Canada’, ‘Bermuda’ became the oldest remaining ‘British Overseas Territory’)
(since the return of ‘Hong Kong’ to ‘China’ in 1997, it is the most populous ‘Territory’)
(its first capital, Saint George’s, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited ‘English’ town in the ‘New World’)
(Bermuda’s economy is based on offshore ‘insurance’ and ‘reinsurance’, and ‘tourism’, the two largest economic sectors)
(‘Bermuda’ had one of the world’s highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century and several years beyond)
(recently, its economic status has been affected by the ‘global recession’)
(it has a ‘subtropical climate’)
(‘bermuda’ is the northernmost point of the ‘bermuda triangle’, a region of sea in which, according to legend, a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared under supposedly unexplained or mysterious circumstances)
(the island is in the ‘hurricane belt’ and prone to severe weather)
(however, it is somewhat protected from the full force of a ‘hurricane’ by the ‘coral reef’ that surrounds the island)
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(***BACK TO “BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES″***)
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*TABLE OF CONTENTS*
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*”WE WON THE WAR”*
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