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{{Infobox settlement
|official_name          = District of Inagua
|other_name             = 
|native_name            =
|nickname               =
|motto                  = 
|image_shield           =
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|image_map              = Inagua in Bahamas (zoom).svg
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|coordinates            = 
|subdivision_type       = Country
|subdivision_name       = {{flagicon|BAH}} Bahamas
|subdivision_type1      = [[List of islands of the Bahamas|Island]]
|subdivision_name1      = Great Inagua
|government_type        = District Councils
|leader_title1          = Chief Councillor
|leader_name1           = Kennard Rolle
|leader_title2          = Deputy Chief Councillor
|leader_name2           = Dometrius Taylor
|leader_title3          =
|leader_title4          = Island Administrator 
|leader_name3           = 
|leader_name4           = Herman Gilbert
 
|established_title      = [[The Bahamas Local Government Act 1996|Established]]
|established_date       = 
|established_title2     =  
|established_date2      =
|established_title3     =  
|established_date3      =
|area_total_km2         = 1679 
|population_as_of       = 2022
|population_footnotes   =
|population_note        =
|settlement_type        = District
|population_total       = 856<ref>{{cite web |title=Census population and housing |url=https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/c0d9fae8-54df-49e3-b4b9-92e29e0b264c/2022+CENSUS+PRELIMINARY+RESULTS_FINAL+April+12+2023.pdf?MOD=AJPERES |website=Bahamas Gov |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>
|population_density_km2 = auto 
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|timezone               =  [[Eastern Time Zone (North America)|EST]]
|utc_offset             = −5
|timezone_DST           = [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]]
|utc_offset_DST         = −4
|elevation_footnotes    =  <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags-->
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|postal_code            =
|area_code              =242
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|footnotes              =
}}

'''Inagua''' is the southernmost [[Districts of the Bahamas|district of]] [[the Bahamas]], comprising the islands of Great Inagua and [[Little Inagua]]. The headquarters for the [[Local government in the Bahamas|district council]] are in [[Matthew Town]].<ref>In 2012 $20,000 was contracted for repairs to the government complex in Matthew Town, including repairs to "the clock tower rooftop, the post office area and the upstairs district council area." {{Cite news|last=McCartney |first=Juan |title=Minister's contract claims disputed |date=13 June 2012 |newspaper=The Nassau Guardian |url=http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31642:ministers-contract-claims-disputed&catid=3:news&Itemid=27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203225550/http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31642%3Aministers-contract-claims-disputed&catid=3%3Anews&Itemid=27 |archive-date=3 February 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>

==History==
The original settlers were the [[Lucayan people]] (Taíno), who arrived sometime between 500 and 800 CE, crossing in [[Dugout canoe|dugout canoes]] from [[Hispaniola]] and/or [[Cuba]] to the Bahamas.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keegan|first=William F.|title=The people who discovered Columbus : the prehistory of the Bahamas|date=1992|publisher=University Press of Florida|others=Jay I. Kislak Reference Collection|isbn=0-8130-1137-X|location=Gainesville|oclc=25317702}}</ref> 

The larger island was initially called by the name ''Heneagua'', which may derive from a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] expression meaning 'water is to be found there'.<ref name="Saunders-180">{{Cite book|last=Saunders |first=Gail |year=1993 |title=The Bahamas: A Family of Islands |edition=second|location=London |publisher=Macmillan |page=180 |isbn=978-0-333-59212-0 }}</ref> Two names of apparent [[Lucayan language|Lucayan]] origin, ''Inagua'' (meaning "Small Eastern Island") and ''Baneque'' (meaning "Big Water Island"), were used by the Spanish to refer to Great Inagua.<ref>Julian Granberry and Gary S. Vescelius. (2004) ''Languages of the Pre-Columbian Antilles.'' The University of Alabama Press. {{ISBN|0-8173-5123-X}} p. 83</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ahrens |first=Wolfgang P. |date=2015 |title=Naming the Bahamas Islands: History and Folk Etymology |url=https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/oc/article/view/14910 |journal=Onomastica Canadiana |language=en |volume=94 |issue=2 |pages=101 |issn=2816-7015}}</ref><ref>D. Gail Saunders, “The 1937 Riot In Inagua, The Bahamas,” Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide, Vol. 62, No. 3/4 (1988), pp. 129-145 at p. 13.1.</ref>

Between the years of 1500 and 1825, many documented treasure laden ships were destroyed on Inaguan reefs. The two most valuable wrecks lost off the Inaguas were treasure-laden [[Spain|Spanish]] [[galleon]]s: the ''Santa Rosa'' in 1599; and the ''Infanta'' in 1788. Other ships of considerable value that were wrecked there include the French ''Le Count De Paix'' in 1713,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brooks |first=Baylus C. |year=2016 |title=Quest for Blackbeard: The True Story of Edward Thache and His World |location=Lake City, Florida |publisher=Lulu |pages=225–226 |isbn=978-1-365-32821-3}} citing "America and West Indies: July 1716," ''Calendar of State Papers''; [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol3/pp159-173 "Journal, July 1716: Journal Book S,"] ''Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volme 3; March 1715 &ndash; October 1718'' (1924),  pp. 159&ndash;173</ref> the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] [[HMS Lowestoffe (1761)|HMS ''Lowestoffe'']] in 1801,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goodwin |first=Peter |year=2002 |title=Nelson's Ships: A History of the Vessels in which he Served: 1771&ndash;1805 |location=Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania |publisher=Stackpole Books |page=63 |isbn=978-0-8117-1007-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Colledge2006|page=205}}</ref> and the British HMS ''Statira'' in 1815.<ref>The Statira Shoal, just southeast of Great Inagua, is named after it and is where the ship wrecked. {{Cite book|last=Barnett |first=Edward |display-authors=etal |year=1887 |chapter=The Bahamas general description, population, exports and imports: Great Inagua |title=The West India Pilot, Volume II |edition=Fourth |location=London |publisher=HM Hydrographic Office |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PEAZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA486 486] }}</ref>

As early as the 1600s, salt was being produced and shipped to Spanish colonies,<ref name="Pavlidis-300" /> and its extraction was a going business by 1803.<ref name="Pavlidis-300" />

[[Henri Christophe]], king of northern Haiti from 1811 to 1820, built{{when|date=March 2018}} a summer retreat at the Northeast Point of Great Inagua.<ref name="Pavlidis-300">{{Cite book|last=Pavlidis |first= 	Stephen J. |year=2002 |title=On and off the beaten path: The central and southern Bahamas guide from south Florida to the Turks and Caicos |edition=second |location=Port Washington, Wisconsin |publisher=Seaworthy Publications |page=300 |isbn=978-0-9639566-9-9}}</ref> Local legend has it that he also buried a cache of gold there.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hannau |first1=Hans W. |last2=Mock |first2=Bernd H. |year=1973 |title=Beneath the Seas of the West Indies: Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, Bermuda |location=New York |publisher=Hastings House |page=47 |oclc=253266419}}, reprinted in 1984 in London by [[Robert Hale (publishers)|Robert Hale Ltd.]] {{ISBN|978-0-7090-2064-6}}</ref>

By 1918, after the end of [[World War I]], lower salt prices and competition had driven the small producers on Great Inagua out of business, and the salt works were abandoned except for incidental local use.{{sfn|Erickson|1987|p=25}}

In 1935, the Erickson brothers from Massachusetts founded West India Chemicals Ltd., purchasing the abandoned salt works from the British government.<ref>{{harvnb|Erickson|1987|page=27}}</ref> They drilled test holes, set up offices, and began restoration of the buildings, but the locals<ref>Notably George and Willis Duvalier who were sentenced to hang as a result of the riot. {{Cite news|date=4 November 1937 |title=2 Brothers Doomed in Bahamas Slaying |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=7 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/11/04/archives/2-brothers-doomed-in-bahamas-slaying-duvaliers-sentenced-to-hanging.html |url-access=subscription}}</ref> felt threatened, fearing changes to the power structure ''status quo''.<ref>{{Cite news|date=9 September 1937 |title=Blames Gang in Inagua |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=8 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/09/09/archives/blames-gang-in-inagua-erickson-derides-statement-that-only-two-were.html |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In August 1937, a riot broke out, an employee was killed, and the Ericksons were forced to flee.<ref>{{Cite news|date=15 August 1937 |title=One Slain, 15 exiled in Great Inagua Riot |newspaper=The New York Times |page=9 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/08/25/archives/one-slain-15-exiled-in-great-inagua-riot-bahamas-government.html |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Erickson|1987|pages=113&ndash;114}}</ref> They soon returned, and full-scale development resumed.<ref name="Salt-Tourism">{{Cite web|title=Morton Salt Factory |publisher=The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism |url=http://www.bahamas.com/vendor/morton-salt-factory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320142638/http://www.bahamas.com/vendor/morton-salt-factory |archive-date=20 March 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy}}</ref>

In the mid-1950s, [[Morton Salt]] bought the Great Inagua saltworks,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |year=2003 |chapter=Chapter Twentysix: Big Salt Little Salt |title=Salt: A World History |location=London |publisher=Penquin |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GhpNc1YU6wsC&pg=PT350 350] |isbn=978-0-14-200161-5 }}</ref> which includes over 80 [[Salt evaporation pond|salt ponds]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Johnson |first=Patricia |year=2012 |title=The Bahama Islands Some Facts You Should Know |location=Bloomington, Indiana |publisher=Xlibris |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=K8cBA5Gp84oC&pg=PA25 25] |isbn=978-1-4797-0521-4 }}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}} now the second largest such operation in [[North America]].<ref name="Salt-Tourism" /> Morton is the major employer on the island.<ref>In 2008 Morton employed about 60% of the island's working population. {{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Workers at Bahamas' Morton Salt plant end strike |date=27 August 2008 |newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune |url=http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/business/20080826-1531-bahamas-saltstrike.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203212115/http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/business/20080826-1531-bahamas-saltstrike.html |archive-date=3 February 2017 |url-status=dead |df=dmy |access-date=3 February 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Scavella |first=Nico |date=20 April 2016 |title=Morton Salt Signs Five-Year Deal With Workers |newspaper=The Tribune |location=The Bahamas |url=http://www.tribune242.com/news/2016/apr/20/morton-salt-signs-five-year-deal-workers/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421114725/http://www.tribune242.com/news/2016/apr/20/morton-salt-signs-five-year-deal-workers/ |archive-date=21 April 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>[https://thenassauguardian.com/2017/09/11/morton-salts-inagua-facility-damaged-by-irma/ ''Morton Salt’s Inagua facility damaged by Irma''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807202024/https://thenassauguardian.com/2017/09/11/morton-salts-inagua-facility-damaged-by-irma/ |date=2019-08-07 }} ''The Nassau Gardian''. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2019.</ref>

==Islands==
===Great Inagua===
Great Inagua is the second largest island in the Bahamas at 596 sq mi (1544&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), {{citation needed span|it is 4 times smaller then [[Andros, The Bahamas|Andros]], the largest island in the Bahamas.|date=April 2025}} It lies about {{convert|55|mi|0|abbr=off}} from the eastern tip of [[Cuba]]. The island is about {{convert|55|by|19|mi|0|abbr=on}} in extent and mostly flat with some sand hills, the highest points being East Hill at {{convert|132|ft|0|abbr=on}}, Salt Pond Hill at {{convert|102|ft|0|abbr=on}}, and James Hill at {{convert|90|ft|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Saunders-180" /> It encloses several lakes, most notably the {{convert|12|mi|km|adj=on}} long Lake Windsor (also called Lake Rosa) which occupies nearly a quarter of the interior. The population of Great Inagua is 913 (2010 census).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inagua Population by Settlement and Total Number of Occupied Dwellings: 2010 Census |publisher=Bahamas Department of Statistics |url=http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/4640372d-357d-4c20-85dd-6f5a8d9f0b82/INAGUA+POPULATION+BY+SETTLEMENT_2010+CENSUS.pdf?MOD=AJPERES |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630150131/http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/4640372d-357d-4c20-85dd-6f5a8d9f0b82/INAGUA%20POPULATION%20BY%20SETTLEMENT_2010%20CENSUS.pdf?MOD=AJPERES |archive-date=30 June 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>

The island's capital and only harbour is Matthew Town, named after [[George Matthew]], a 19th-century [[Governor of the Bahamas]]. This town houses the [[Morton Salt|Morton Salt Company]]’s main facility, producing one million tonnes of [[sea salt]] a year — the second largest solar saline operation in North America and Inagua's main industry.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Great [[Inagua Airport]] ([[IATA airport code|IATA]]: '''IGA''', [[ICAO airport code|ICAO]]: '''MYIG''') is located nearby.<ref name="Morin2014">{{cite news |last1=Morin |first1=Richard |title=On Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, the flamingos are many and magnificent |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/2014/10/13/e801f942-48bf-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |date=16 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017185703/http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/2014/10/13/e801f942-48bf-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html |archive-date=17 October 2014 |access-date=1 September 2024 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Curran & Glumac 2023">{{cite book |last1=Curran |first1=H. Allen |last2=Glumac |first2=Bosiljka |editor1-last=Cónsole-Gonella |editor1-first=C. |editor2-last=Valais |editor2-first=S. de |editor3-last=Díaz-Martínez |editor3-first=I. |editor4-last=Citton |editor4-first=P. |editor5-last=Verde |editor5-first=M. |editor6-last=McIlroy |editor6-first=D. |title=Ichnology in Shallow-marine and Transitional Environments |date=6 June 2023 |publisher=Geological Society of London |isbn=978-1-78620-568-1 |page=27 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0HGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 |chapter=Dactyloidites ottoi (Geinitz, 1849) in Bahamian Pleistocene carbonates: a shallowest-marine indicator}}</ref>

A large bird sanctuary in the centre of the island has a population of more than 80,000 [[American flamingo|West Indian flamingo]]es and many other bird species, including the [[Cuban amazon|Bahama parrot]], [[Inagua woodstar]], [[White-cheeked pintail|Bahama pintail]], [[brown pelican]], [[tricolored heron]], [[snowy egret]], [[reddish egret]], [[Western spindalis|stripe-headed tanager]], [[double-crested cormorant]], [[Neotropic cormorant]], [[roseate spoonbill]], [[American kestrel]], and [[burrowing owl]]. The Union Creek National Reserve is specially set aside for the study of [[green sea turtle]]s (''Chelonia mydas'').<ref name="Tourism-Eco">{{Cite web|title=Ecotourism In Inagua |publisher=The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism |url=http://www.bahamas.com/islandinterestdetail/ecotourism-inagua |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203224627/http://www.bahamas.com/islandinterestdetail/ecotourism-inagua |archive-date=3 February 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=National Park or Protected Area: Union Creek Reserve |publisher=National Geographic |url=http://www.bahamasgeotourism.com/content/union-creek-reserve/bahBED9D52C56A2C3573 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203225612/http://www.bahamasgeotourism.com/content/union-creek-reserve/bahBED9D52C56A2C3573 |archive-date=3 February 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>

===Little Inagua===
The neighbouring [[Little Inagua]], {{convert|8|km|mi nmi|0|abbr=on}} to the northeast, is uninhabited and occupied by a large Land and Sea Park.<ref name="Tourism-Eco" />  It has an area of {{convert|30|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}}, with herds of [[feral]] [[donkey]]s and [[goat]]s (descendants of stock introduced by the [[France|French]]). Various species of [[endangered sea turtles]] breed on the island.<ref name="Tourism-Eco" /> Little Inagua has a large protective reef extending up to {{convert|1|mi|m}} away from the island in all directions, which prevents boats from coming too close.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

== Politics ==
The island is part of the [[MICAL (Bahamas Parliament constituency)|MICAL constituency]] for elections to the [[House of Assembly of the Bahamas]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Rachel |date=2021-05-31 |title=Moultrie: MICAL should be two seats |url=https://www.thenassauguardian.com/news/moultrie-mical-should-be-two-seats/article_1649ee25-bbef-50ca-9ecf-6efa5211288c.html |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=The Nassau Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:MainHouseMatthewtown.jpg|Main Guest House in Matthew Town, Great Inagua
File:Matthew Town, Great Inagua, Bahamas.jpg|Downtown Matthew Town, Great Inagua
File:OldPrisonMatthewtown.jpg|Old disused prison, Matthew Town, Great Inagua
File:PrisonWindowMatthewtown.jpg|Window in old prison, Matthew Town, Great Inagua
File:PoliceStationMatthewtown.jpg|Modern police station, Matthew Town, Great Inagua
File:GroceryStoreMatthewtown.jpg|Grocery store in Matthew Town, Great Inagua
File:Morton Salt facilities, Great Inagua.jpg|Part of the Morton Salt facilities on the north shore of Great Inagua
File:NorthShoreGreatInagua.jpg|Northern rocky shore of Great Inagua exposing [[Pleistocene]] reef limestones
File:Great Inagua and Little Inagua from ISS.jpg|Great Inagua and Little Inagua viewed from the International Space Station on 2022-12-09
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Erickson |first=Margery O. |year=1987 |title=Great Inagua |location=Garrison, New York |publisher=Capriole Press|oclc= 	16662171}}
* {{cite book|last=Klingel|first=Gilbert C.|year=1940|title=The Ocean Island (Inagua)|url=https://archive.org/details/oceanislandinagu00klin|publisher=Dodd, Mead|location=New York|oclc= 	1540989}} Also published under the title: ''Inagua: Which is the Name of a Very Lonely and Nearly Forgotten Island''. (Natural History of the island)
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/starkshistoryan03stargoog|title=Stark's History and Guide to the Bahama Islands|pages=[https://archive.org/details/starkshistoryan03stargoog/page/n201 158]-9|first=James H.|last=Stark|publisher=Boston Photo Electrotype Co.|location=Boston|year=1891|oclc=1071967476}}

==External links==
* [http://www.xpda.com/caribbean/inagua/ Great Inagua Photos], January 2006
* [https://thenassauguardian.com The Nassau Guardian]

{{Districts of the Bahamas}}

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[[Category:Inagua| ]]