Claim: The Bahamas is an internationally recognized state that comprises a series of landlocked areas that form an archipelago.
Evidence: It consists of more than 700 islands , cays , and islets in the Atlantic Ocean and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola -LRB- Haiti and the Dominican Republic -RRB- ; northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands ; southeast of the US state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys.