Crooked Island

Crooked Island, island of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, 400 km (250 mi) southeast of Nassau, and just south of the Tropic of Cancer, with an area of 197 sq km (76 sq mi). Crooked Island, along with Acklins and a number of small islands, forms an arc-shaped archipelago around a fishing bank. After the American Revolution (1775-1783), American royalists settled on Crooked Island and became cotton planters. Because of insect pests, and due to the general decline in the economy following the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1834, most of the plantations were abandoned. Crooked Island is sparsely settled. Between Crooked Island and Long Island to the northwest is Crooked Island Passage, a channel 100 km (60 mi) in length, which is a major shipping lane between the Panama Canal and East Coast ports of the United States. Population (1990) 423.