Cigateo Republic

Cigateo is a constituent republic of Lucaya Commonwealth.

Cigateo Republic
Island of Eleuthera
Constituent Republic of Vekllei
Part of the Lucaya Commonwealth
Accession	1930, as part of the Alford Agreement
Area	457.4 km²
Capital	Governor's Harbour
Languages	English, Lucayan
Population	22,935

The Cigateo Republic is a constituent republic of Vekllei in the central Lucayan archipelago. The island of Eleuthera is long and narrow – nearly 180 kilometres from north to south and in some places barely two kilometres across – a strip of pale limestone running through the sea, flanked on the east by the deep blue-black of the open Atlantic and on the west by the shallow turquoise of the Exuma Sound.

The Glass Window Bridge, in the island’s narrow northern waist, is a particular draw for visitors – the island here is no more than thirty metres wide, and from the road you can watch the light, clear Caribbean and the dark, restless Atlantic meet on either side. The sea can look like two different oceans because, for most practical purposes, it is.

English Puritans from Summers settled Eleuthera in 1648, naming it from the Greek word for freedom – a gesture that rang hollow in the plantation economy they later established, which depended on African slaves. The pineapples grown in Cigateo’s red soil are descended from the plantations of that era. The republic still produces them in substantial commercial quantities, though the plantations are now municipally organised and the crop is exported across the Commonwealth. The pink sand beaches of the island’s east coast, unusually coloured by crushed pink coral mixed into the limestone, attract visitors from across Commonwealth Lucaya.

Governor’s Harbour, the capital, sits at the island’s widest point and has a small but functioning town centre with rail connection north and south along the island’s length. The republic has developed considerably under federalisation – schools, a hospital and a new administrative building have been completed in the past decade – but remains less dense and more agricultural than the major Lucayan republics. Many Cigateanos maintain smallholdings alongside other work. The island has a quiet, settled character that contrasts with the more commercially active republics to the northwest.

Climate

Warm tropical with a wet season from June to October, including hurricane risk in August and September. The east coast is more exposed to Atlantic weather than the sheltered west.

Public Holidays

• New Year’s Day 1 Jan
• Republic Day 3 Mar
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• Whit Monday
• Commonwealth Day 1 May
• Emancipation Day 1st Mon/Aug
• Discovery Day 12 Oct
• Christmas Day 25 Dec
• Boxing Day 26 Dec