Long Cay lies to the west of a shallow lagoon called the Bight of Acklins and is an extension of the western arm of Crooked Island, separated from it by a channel about one mile wide.
Great Salt Pond lies in the middle of the island.
On 19 October 1492, Long Cay was discovered by Columbus on his first voyage to the New World, and he named it Isabela.
Albert Town became a port in the sponge and salt industries and a port of call for the Hamburg America Line and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to recruit stevedore labour.
The island is part of the MICAL constituency for elections to the House of Assembly of the Bahamas.