Hamilton History and Legacy: the 2017 Americas Cup, Independence Referendum, Coral Restoration Science, Famous Visitors from Twain to Churchill, Heritage Month, and the North Atlantic Most Civilized Island Summary
The complete Hamilton history and legacy covers the 2017 Americas Cup hydrofoil sailing spectacle, the 1995 independence referendum 73-percent British choice, the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences coral research, the Mark Twain and Churchill famous visitor tradition, the Bermuda Day Heritage Month celebration, and the honest conclusion that Bermuda has no equivalent in the temperate ocean world.
- 1
Bermuda and Race: The 2016 America's Cup Legacy
Bermuda hosted the 35th America's Cup in 2017 in the Great Sound, the largest sporting event in the territory's history, bringing the revolutionary hydrofoiling AC50 catamarans, the Team New Zealand, Oracle USA, Land Rover BAR, and Artemis Racing to the Bermuda waters for the most technologically advanced sailing competition ever held. The America's Cup legacy in Bermuda includes the National Museum expansion, the infrastructure investment in the West End, and the global sailing media exposure that permanently elevated the Bermuda sailing tourism profile.
- 2
Bermuda Independence Question: The 1995 Referendum
The 1995 independence referendum in which the Bermuda electorate voted 73 percent to remain a British Overseas Territory and rejected the independence option supported by the Progressive Labour Party government is the most significant domestic political event in modern Bermuda history. The result reflected the Bermuda community's assessment that the benefits of the British connection, including the passport, the security, the legal system, and the reinsurance market credibility, outweighed the autonomy that independence would provide.
- 3
Bermuda Coral Restoration: The Climate Challenge
The Bermuda coral reef, the most northerly coral reef system in the world supported by the Gulf Stream thermal current, is under increasing thermal stress from the ocean temperature increases that have produced bleaching events in 1987, 2009, 2015, and 2017. The Bermuda coral restoration program at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, the most scientifically rigorous coral research institution in the North Atlantic, is monitoring and attempting to assist the adaptation of the Bermuda coral to the rising ocean temperatures that threaten the reef system on which the island ecology and tourism depend.
- 4
Famous Bermuda Visitors: From Mark Twain to Winston Churchill
Bermuda's most celebrated visitors include Mark Twain who made 8 visits to the island between 1877 and 1910 and called it the most beautiful place he had ever seen, Sir Winston Churchill who convalesced in Bermuda in 1953 after his stroke, Sean Connery who lived on the island for 20 years, and the US presidents who have used the Bermuda retreat as the diplomatic conference venue for multiple US-UK summit meetings in the Cold War period. The island's capacity to attract the most influential figures of each era is the most consistent evidence of the Bermuda quality proposition.
- 5
Bermuda Onion Days Festival: The Cultural Calendar
The Bermuda Heritage Month in May, the primary cultural celebration of the territory, encompasses the Heritage Day parade, the cultural exhibitions at the Bermuda Historical Society, and the sporting events that culminate in the Bermuda Day half marathon that is the most popular single public event in the Bermuda calendar. The Bermuda Day celebration, held on the last Friday of May, marks the beginning of the summer beach swimming season by tradition, when the water temperature reaches the minimum acceptable for comfortable bathing by the Bermuda population.
- 6
Hamilton in Summary: The North Atlantic's Most Civilized Island
Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, presides over an island that has achieved the most successful combination of the natural beauty, the historical depth, the financial sophistication, and the visitor experience management of any small island in the North Atlantic. The pink sand, the crystal clear water, the British colonial heritage, the financial industry excellence, and the Gulf Stream climate miracle create a destination that has no equivalent in the temperate ocean world and that rewards the visitor who explores beyond the beach with the most complete small island experience in the Atlantic.