49 Fun Facts About Bermuda

What is the capital of Bermuda?

Hamilton has been Bermuda's capital since 1815, when it replaced St George's; it houses the territory's bicameral parliament.

Which US state holds the closest land to Bermuda?

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, is Bermuda's nearest landfall, roughly 1,035 km to the west-northwest.

How many islands make up the Bermuda archipelago?

Bermuda is conventionally counted as 181 islands and islets; the main ones are linked by bridges and read as a single landmass.

Bermuda is named after an explorer of which nationality?

Spanish navigator Juan de Bermúdez sighted the uninhabited islands around 1505, and they took his name.

Early sailors called Bermuda the 'Isle of Devils' because of what?

The 'Isle of Devils' name came from raucous bird calls and wild hogs at night: the eerie cries were probably cahows, and the hogs had been left by passing ships.

Which ship's wreck on Bermuda's reef in 1609 led to English settlement?

The Sea Venture, flagship of a relief fleet bound for Jamestown, was driven onto Bermuda's reef in a 1609 storm; everyone aboard survived.

Which two ships did the stranded settlers build to continue to Jamestown?

The castaways built Deliverance and Patience from Bermuda cedar and salvaged timbers, sailing for Jamestown in May 1610.

Bermuda's first capital, St George's, is the oldest continuously inhabited English town where?

St George's, founded in 1612, is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World; Jamestown, settled in 1607, was later abandoned.

What may be the earliest conservation law in the New World, passed in Bermuda in 1620?

Bermuda's 1620 'Act Agaynst the Killing of Ouer Young Tortoyses' was a ban on killing young sea turtles, passed four years after a 1616 proclamation protecting cahows.

Bermuda's flag is unusual among British Overseas Territories for being based on which flag?

Bermuda's flag is based on the Red Ensign, defaced with the territory's coat of arms; most other British Overseas Territories fly a Blue Ensign.

The colony was renamed in 1615 in honour of which admiral of the wrecked 1609 relief fleet?

Sir George Somers commanded the 1609 fleet and died on Bermuda in 1610; the colony became the Somers Isles under the Somers Isles Company from 1615.

The first two enslaved people brought to Bermuda in 1616 were sent to do what?

They were sent to dive for pearls, which turned out not to exist; one was Black and one Native American, brought from the West Indies.

What was stolen from Bermuda's magazine on 14 August 1775 while the governor slept?

About 100 barrels of gunpowder were rolled out to waiting American boats; in return the Continental Congress exempted Bermuda from its trade embargo.

The island's first newspaper, founded in 1784 by Joseph Stockdale, was called what?

Joseph Stockdale printed the first issue of The Bermuda Gazette in St George's in January 1784 and also ran the island's first postal service.

Which flower's bulb exports to New York were vital to Bermuda's economy around 1900?

Bermuda shipped Easter lily bulbs to New York by the million; a mosaic virus nearly killed the trade until pathologist Lawrence Ogilvie identified it in the 1920s.

Which US law of 1930 killed Bermuda's agricultural exports and pushed it toward tourism?

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 priced Bermuda's onions and lily bulbs out of the US market, so the island turned to tourism.

The Bermuda Railway, opened in 1931, was abandoned in which year?

The Bermuda Railway closed in 1948 and its rolling stock was sold to British Guiana; the right of way became the Bermuda Railway Trail.

Which hotel served as a British censorship centre during the Second World War?

Some 1,200 censors at the Hamilton Princess read transatlantic mail and helped expose Axis agents, including the 'Joe K' ring.

Which governor of Bermuda was assassinated in March 1973?

Sir Richard Sharples and his aide-de-camp were shot at Government House on 10 March 1973; Erskine Burrows was hanged for the murders in 1977.

How did Bermudians vote in the 1995 independence referendum?

A large majority against independence, about 74% of voters, was recorded in the August 1995 referendum, which the opposition PLP had urged supporters to boycott.

What is Bermuda's highest point, Town Hill, in metres?

Town Hill in Smith's Parish rises only about 79 metres; the whole territory is low-lying with some 103 km of coastline.

Bermuda's islands are made mostly of what rock, sitting on an extinct volcano?

Bermuda's islands are limestone: wind-blown carbonate sand cemented into eolianite, capping the flanks of an extinct volcano more than 30 million years old.

Bermuda's mild winters are attributed to which ocean current?

The Gulf Stream passes nearby and keeps Bermuda's winters mild; February, the coldest month, averages around 17-18 °C.

Which 2003 hurricane hit Bermuda directly with winds over 120 mph?

Hurricane Fabian crossed Bermuda on 5 September 2003 as a Category 3 storm, killing four people on the Causeway and causing around $300 million in damage.

Bermuda's national bird, the cahow, was rediscovered in 1951 after being thought extinct since when?

The cahow was believed extinct from the 1620s, wiped out by settlers, hogs and rats, until 18 nesting pairs were found on rocky islets in 1951.

What are Bermuda's only indigenous mammals?

Five species of bat are Bermuda's only native mammals, all of them also found in the eastern United States.

Which bird, locally called the longtail, is Bermudians' first sign of spring?

The white-tailed tropicbird, known locally as the longtail, returns to Bermuda's cliffs to nest each February and March.

Somerset Bridge holds what world record?

Somerset Bridge is billed as the world's smallest drawbridge: its hinged plank opens a gap of just 32 inches, enough for a sailboat's mast.

The Royal Naval Dockyard stands on which island at Bermuda's western tip?

The Royal Navy began building its dockyard on Ireland Island, at Bermuda's western tip, in 1809; the yard closed in 1951.

What colour are Bermuda's famous beaches?

Bermuda's sand is pink because it is flecked with the crushed red shells of foraminifera; Horseshoe Bay and Warwick Long Bay are the best known beaches.

Bermuda's currency, adopted in 1970, is pegged at par with which other one?

The Bermudian dollar, introduced in 1970 to replace the pound, is fixed at par with the US dollar, and US cash circulates alongside it.

What kind of tax did Bermuda first introduce in 2025, having never had one before?

Bermuda's first corporate income tax, at 15%, took effect on 1 January 2025 and applies only to multinational groups with annual revenue of €750 million or more.

Which industry dominates Bermuda's international business sector?

Insurance and reinsurance dominate: Bermuda is one of the world's largest reinsurance centres, home to groups such as Arch, Everest and RenaissanceRe.

Gibbs Hill Lighthouse (1846) is one of the world's oldest lighthouses made of what?

Gibbs Hill Lighthouse was assembled from prefabricated cast iron sections shipped from England and first lit on 1 May 1846; it stands 117 feet tall.

Which two-day Bermuda public holiday each summer centres on a cricket match?

Cup Match pairs Emancipation Day and Somers Day, a two-day holiday at the end of July or start of August, around the annual cricket match between the St George's and Somerset clubs.

Which slave narrative, published in 1831, is the first notable book by a Bermudian?

The History of Mary Prince, published in London in 1831, was the first account of a Black woman's life in slavery published in Britain; Prince was born in Bermuda around 1788.

Who won Bermuda's first Olympic gold medal, in the 2020 triathlon?

Flora Duffy won the women's triathlon at the Tokyo Games in 2021, making Bermuda the smallest population ever to take a Summer Olympic gold; Clarence Hill's 1976 boxing bronze was the only earlier medal.

What garment do the island's athletes traditionally wear at Olympic opening ceremonies, summer or winter?

The tradition holds even for the Winter Games.

The island's famous shorts are considered proper business attire when worn with what?

Bermuda shorts count as business wear when worn with knee-length socks, dress shirt, tie and blazer; the hem sits about an inch above the knee.

The Bermuda Triangle is roughly bounded by Bermuda, Puerto Rico and which US state?

The triangle's usual third corner is Miami, Florida; official bodies such as the US Coast Guard have found nothing unusual about the area.

The century-old Newport-Bermuda Yacht Race starts in which US state?

The Newport Bermuda Race, first sailed in 1906, starts from Newport, Rhode Island, and runs about 635 nautical miles to St David's Head.

On which side of the road does traffic drive in Bermuda?

Bermuda drives on the left, like the UK; the island has about 447 km of roads, roughly half of them private.

How many parishes is Bermuda divided into?

Bermuda's nine parishes, from Sandys in the west to St George's in the east, grew out of the eight 'tribes' of Richard Norwood's 1616 survey plus St George's public land.

Roughly what was Bermuda's population in 2019?

Bermuda's population was about 64,000 in 2019, packed onto just 53 square kilometres, giving one of the world's highest population densities.

The first aeroplane ever to reach Bermuda, in 1930, was what kind of aircraft?

A Stinson Detroiter seaplane, Pilot Radio, flown by Lewis Yancey, William Alexander and Zeh Bouck, reached Bermuda from New York in April 1930; scheduled flying-boat services followed in 1937.

Which 1940 deal gave the United States base rights in Bermuda?

Under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement of September 1940 Britain granted 99-year base leases; Bermuda's and Newfoundland's were gifts rather than payment for the 50 destroyers.

Which British prime minister insisted on holding the first Bermuda summit with the US president in 1953?

Winston Churchill pressed for the December 1953 Bermuda Conference, meeting Eisenhower and French premier Joseph Laniel at the Mid Ocean Club; further Bermuda summits followed in 1957 and 1961.

Bermuda's national football team qualified for its first major tournament, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which year?

Bermuda qualified for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup through the 2018-19 Nations League qualifying rounds, the Gombey Warriors' first major tournament; the cricket team had reached the 2007 World Cup.

In which year did Bermuda pass from the Somers Isles Company to direct Crown rule?

The Somers Isles Company lost its charter in 1684 after years of disputes with the colonists, and Bermuda became a Crown colony.