Bermuda

Bermuda^[1]
Bermuda
	Motto: "Quo Fata Ferunt" (Latin); "Whither the Fates Carry [Us]"
	Anthem: "God Save the Queen" (official); ;
Capital	Hamilton; 32°18′N 64°47′W / 32.3°N 64.783°W
Largest municipality	; St. George's
Official language(s)	English 1
Ethnic groups	54.8% Afro-Caribbean; 34.1% European; 6.4% Multiracial; 4.3% Other; 0.4% Unspecified
Demonym	Bermudian
Government	British Overseas Territory (constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democratic dependency)
Area
Population
GDP (PPP)	2009 estimate
HDI (2003)	n/a (very high) (n/a)
Currency	Bermudian dollar2 (BMD)
Time zone	AST (UTC-4)
Internet TLD	.bm
Calling code	+1-441
1	According to CIA World Factbook.
2	On par with US$.

Bermuda (/bɜrˈmjuːdə/ "Ber-myu-dah"; officially, the Bermudas or Somers Islands) is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The land has one main island and 180 smaller islands. Bermuda is a popular tourist place, with mild weather during the winter months.

Located off the east coast of the United States, Bermuda's nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 kilometres (640 mi) to the west-northwest. It is about 1,373 kilometres (853 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida. Its capital city is Hamilton (picture below).

Street in Hamilton (the capital city).

Bermuda was discovered in 1505 by Spanish navigator Juan de Bermúdez (who said it to be inhabited only with pigs), after whom the islands are named. Bermúdez claimed it for the Spanish Empire. Unoccupied, the island was settled by England in 1609, making it the oldest and most populous remaining British overseas territory. Its first capital, St George's, was founded in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the Americas.^[4]

Bermuda has a wealthy economy, with finance as its largest sector, followed by tourism.^[4]^[5] In 2005, Bermuda was even claimed to have the world's highest GDP per capita, yet these statistics are hard to verify as Bermuda is not classified as a country but rather as a territory of the U.K.

Map of Bermuda, showing many of the islands (right-click map to enlarge).

Bermuda has a subtropical climate.^[6] The weather is humid and, as a result, the summertime heat index can be high, even though mid-August temperatures rarely exceed 30 °C (86 °F). Winters are mild, with average daytime temperatures in January and February around 20 °C (68 °F). The temperature rarely drops below 10 °C (50 °F).

Bermuda is the easternmost point of the so-called "Bermuda Triangle"– a region of sea in which a number of aircraft and ships have allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Some people think there is a pattern to the disappearances, while other people think it is only coincidence.