The Abaco Islands consist of limestone, with some elevation, and are protected on the Atlantic-facing sides by the third-largest barrier reef in the world.

These original Loyalist settlers made a modest living by salvaging wrecks, by building small wooden boats, and basic farming.

[citation needed] Spain laid claim to the Bahamas after Columbus discovered the islands but showed little interest in them.

Juan de la Cosa's first map of the New World, printed in 1500, shows the Abaco Islands with the name Habacoa.

The Peter Martyr map, in the first edition of De Orbe Novo in 1511, shows the Bahamas' islands but does not name them.

Spain regarded the depopulated Bahamas as unprofitable and treacherous to navigate;- in 1593, a Spanish fleet of 17 ships wrecked off the Abaco.

[citation needed] Also, English and French pirates and freebooters had begun preying on Spanish vessels north of Cuba.

[citation needed] Ownership of the Bahamas passed back and forth between Spain and Great Britain for 150 years.

[6] The Loyalists settled on a small sandy harbor about six leagues north of Marsh Harbour near modern-day Treasure Cay.

[8] Disputes over food distribution and misinformation about the resources available led some of these settlers to found a rival town near Marsh Harbour called Maxwell.

[1] In the 1790s, a group of Loyalists from the Carolinas arrived on the islands via Florida, founding the isolated settlement of Cherokee Sound.

[9] Two slave ships from the United States, The Encomium and the Comet, wrecked off the coast of Abaco in December 1830 and 1834 respectively.

[11] In June 1971, the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Lynden Pindling, announced his government's independence from Britain.

Errington Watkins took this petition to London in May 1973, hoping to influence The Bahamas Independence Order, then-debated in the British Parliament.

A sympathetic MP, Ronald Bell, introduced an amendment that would have excluded Abaco from an independent Bahamas and have the islands remain a British colony.

His talk of an armed insurrection and attempts to recruit mercenaries to go to Abaco greatly discredited AIM.

Hurricane Dorian wreaked havoc on Grand Bahama and Abaco, with damaging winds and storm surges, as well as the island of New Providence.

[citation needed] In addition to Marsh Harbour there are several other settlements on Great Abaco including Cherokee Sound, Coopers Town, Crossing Rock, Green Turtle Cay, Hope Town, Little Harbour, Rocky Point, Sandy Point, Spring City, Treasure Cay, Wilson City, and Winding Bay.

[25] These are: The Great Abaco Family Fitness Weekend takes place every March in Treasure Cay, attracting both domestic and international tourism.

The events include an open water swim, sprint and Olympic triathlons, a children's race, and a 5k/10k fun run/walk.

Green Turtle Cay has an interactive Bahamas Pig Tour and Hope Town has a historic lighthouse.

Marsh Harbour Airport was the site of a plane crash on 25 August 2001, that claimed the lives of nine passengers, among them R&B singer Aaliyah.

Ferry service is also to be found between Nassau and Sandy Point on the southern end of Great Abaco on weekends.

It is the location of "Sandy Point Airport", which has yet to serve any regular scheduled carrier, and a new police station.

The annual "Homecoming and Conch Fest" is held around Bahamian Labour Day, the first Friday in June.

[30] Species of birds include the Bahamian subspecies of Cuban amazon (Amazona leucocephala bahamensis), which exists only in Cuba, the Cayman Islands, the southern Bahamas and Abaco.