BAY ISLANDS

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BAY ISLANDS, Spanish Islas de la Bahía. A group of coastal islands in the western Caribbean, constituting a department of Honduras. Population: 18,744 (1983). The Bay Islanders speak a CREOLE descended from the English of British settlers, and of African and Carib slaves brought by them from the West Indies. The area was held by Britain between 1850 and 1858, then ceded to Honduras. See CARIBBEAN ENGLISH.