Bermuda, a group of approximately 140 coral islands and islets in the Caribbean, is a self-governing British territory formerly known as the Somers Isles, after Admiral Sir George Somers, who founded the original colony. The present name honours Juan de Bermudez, the Spanish explorer who discovered the group in around 1505 but left it unoccupied, claiming it was fit only for pigs. That claim might well be disputed by the 70,000 resident Bermudians whose thriving tourism businesses – combined with the financial services sector – give it one of the highest GDPs on Earth.
The main island, also called Bermuda, is long and thin, measuring 15 miles (21km) from south-west to north-east and has a total surface area of 20 square miles (53 square km). Current land use is focused heavily on residential and commercial property, and the population density is such that very little land is left for agricultural use. Prior to colonization Bermuda was covered with scrub and forest, the latter dominated by the Bermuda cedar (Juniperus bermudiana). Today just a tiny proportion of the plant species found there are native, and the wine-bearing grape species Vitis vinifera does not feature among them. There are no vineyards on Bermuda and no wine is produced on the island. A brief inspection of satellite imagery reveals the majority of green, cultivated spaces on Bermuda are actually golf courses.
A thriving agricultural trade was once a mainstay of the Bermudian economy. Flowers and vegetables were shipped to the US, including Virginia, whose booming tobacco trade put Bermuda's own tobacco growers out of business in the 17th century; Bermudian tobacco was outclassed by that produced in the Chesapeake area in quality and quantity. At one point, the Bermuda cedar used to make the tobacco boxes had a higher market value than the tobacco they contained.
Despite the current lack of agriculture in Bermuda, the territory's main export is rum, specifically Gosling's Rum. Although made from imported raw ingredients, all Gosling's products count as Bermuda made. This family business is also the oldest in the territory, dating back to the mid-19th century.
