Hamilton

Hamilton is a planned city, and a young one by Bermudian standards. In 1790 the colonial government set aside 145 acres on the north shore of the harbour in Pembroke Parish as the site of a future seat of government; the town was incorporated in 1793 and named after Henry Hamilton, governor from 1786 to 1793. In 1815 the capital moved here from St. George's, and Hamilton has been the political centre of Bermuda ever since, with Government House to the north, the Royal Navy's Admiralty House to the west and the army's headquarters at Prospect Camp to the east.

The Town of Hamilton became a city in 1897. Its first Trinity Church, completed in 1869, was destroyed by arson in 1884, and the stone church that replaced it was built between 1886 and 1905 and consecrated as the Anglican cathedral in 1911; a Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Theresa's, followed later. During the Second World War the Royal Navy named one of the destroyers it received from the United States HMS Hamilton in the city's honour, and in 1975 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited City Hall.

Hamilton has long been Bermuda's main port as well as its seat of government. Today the city is chiefly a business district, and although a long-standing rule bars any building from obscuring the cathedral, buildings as high as ten storeys have been planned, and some begun, in the twenty-first century.

Hamilton is the stage for Bermuda's public life. On Bermuda Day, the fourth Friday in May, a parade winds through the city and a road race finishes here, and families stake out their places along the pavements, sometimes overnight. The day is traditionally the first of the year for swimming and for wearing Bermuda shorts to the office — although the shorts, with knee socks, jacket and tie, are now accepted business dress far more widely. Gombey troupes, masked and costumed dancers with drums and whistles in a tradition that blends African, Caribbean and British influences, take to the streets on holidays.

The harbour is central to the city's identity. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, founded in 1844 and permitted to call itself "Royal" in 1846, has stood at Albuoy's Point since 1933 and co-hosts the Bermuda Race with the Cruising Club of America. The King Edward VII Gold Cup, first sailed as a match race in Bermuda in 1937, is still raced here as the Argo Gold Cup, the highlight of the city's sporting calendar.

Victoria Park's bandstand, brought from Scotland and installed in 1889, is used for free concerts. Among the city's notable people was Johnny Barnes, who stood at the foot of the Lane roundabout every workday morning, waving to the passing traffic. The city's motto, "Sparsa collegit", says that Hamilton has gathered together the scattered.

The City of Hamilton proper had a permanent population of 854 in 2016, which makes it one of the smallest capitals in the world; most Bermudians live in the surrounding parishes rather than in the city itself. Each weekday, though, the population swells: in 2010 some 13,340 people, about 40 per cent of Bermuda's workforce, worked in Hamilton.

Almost all of Bermuda's international business is done within the city limits. Reinsurers, insurers and other international companies have offices here, and several international firms are registered in Hamilton. Hamilton has been ranked as having the highest cost of living of any city in the world.

The rhythm of the day follows office hours and the ferries. Commuters arrive by bus and boat in the morning and leave by the same routes in the evening. Almost every bus route on the islands begins and ends at the city's terminal. Cruise-ship days bring crowds of visitors to the shops along the harbour.

Hamilton has the largest concentration of restaurants on the islands, from waterfront dining rooms to pub-style places along Front Street and the lanes behind it. A Bermudian law keeps out most multinational fast-food chains. The headquarters of the MarketPlace, Bermuda's grocery chain, is in its Hamilton store, the largest supermarket on the islands.

The dish visitors meet first is Bermuda fish chowder, dark with fish and seasoned at the table with black rum and sherry-pepper sauce. The traditional Sunday breakfast is salt codfish with boiled potatoes, egg, onion and banana, and codfish cakes, local wahoo and rockfish, and spiny lobster in season from September to March appear on many menus.

The Dark 'n' Stormy, black rum topped with ginger beer, and the rum swizzle, a rum punch, are the drinks most closely tied to Bermuda. Several of the city's restaurants, such as the Hog Penny off Front Street, are in the style of an English pub.