With the return of Hong Kong to China, Bermuda became the most populous of the remaining fourteen BDTs with almost 60,000 inhabitants occupying 53.3 square kilometres.

Of the BDTs, Bermuda is the most advanced constitutionally and has the oldest parliament outside of Westminster.

With an annual GDP of over $36,000 (Nov. 1997), Bermuda is the most prosperous of the BDTs and even foots the bill for Her Majesty the Queen's representative, The Governor of Bermuda.

Bermuda is self-financing and requires no aid from Whitehall.

Bermuda is the northernmost coral reef in the world. The Islands are not in the Caribbean but are in the North Atlantic Ocean 917 km east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA., and 1287 km north of the nearest West Indian Island.

The Islands of Bermuda are considered to be the apex of the Bermuda Triangle.

From Grolier's Encyclopaedia we learn " The Bermuda Triangle, also called the Devil's Triangle, is an area of the Atlantic Ocean off southeast Florida, where the disappearance of ships and airplanes on a number of occasions has led to speculation about unexplainable turbulences and other atmospheric disturbances. Violent storms and downward air currents frequently occur there, but studies have not revealed any significant peculiarities about the area in question.

Boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle have been formed by drawing an imaginary line from Melbourne, Fla., to Bermuda, to Puerto Rico, and back to Florida. These apparent boundaries vary widely, however, among writers trying to establish a Bermuda Triangle "mystery" by incorporating farther-ranging disappearances in their accounts."

Anthony Trollope visited Bermuda in 1858 and stated: "Everyone, of course, knows that there are 365 of these islands, all lying within 20 miles in length and three in breadth".

Terry Tucker in The Islands of Bermuda (1970) lists 172 names "worthy of being recorded".

British-born author Dr. John J. Jackson (Islands BERMUDA (1988)) does not disagree with a count of 365 but suggests "this is because there are islets, rocks, banks, and shoals which may or may not always be counted or seen."

G. Daniel Blagg has just published (Nov. 1997) Bermuda Atlas & Gazetteer which greatly expands on the works of earlier authors and provides over 280 pages of text, maps and paintings. With this book one can travel from Abbott's Bay to Zuill's Park and to all points within and around the Islands to count the islands for themselves.

Argus Island is worth mentioning since in 1962 it was the newest island in the world. It was built at a cost of $1,500,000 on a submarine cone 30 miles south-west of Bermuda. The Office of Naval Research (USA) built the 10,000 square foot facility for Projects Artemis and Trident. Sealab-I was placed on the ocean floor 200 feet below the surface at Argus Island and provided underwater living for four men for the nine days of the experiment in July 1969.

In the gales of 1962 Argus Tower (as it was known to Bermudians) was buffeted by 60-foot waves while seven men were in residence. The Island was demolished in1975.

 Flora at Tarrafal Longtail (click photo)