History of The Bahamas

The city of Nassau in the Bahamas is filled with a rich and unique history that involves all kinds of interesting characters and groups. The island that is now known as New Providence in the Bahamas has been inhabited for over 7,000 years. It was the Siboney Indians who first lived on the islands of the Bahamas. After that group was wiped away, another group of Indians made the Bahamas their home. These were the Arawak Indians or, as they are more commonly known today, the Lucayans. They came from the Amazon jungle in South America and lived in the Bahamas during the 14th and 15th centuries. Their society prospered and at one point it is estimated that approximately 40,000 Lucayans lived on the islands. Unfortunately, they were quickly wiped out by the Spanish shortly after Christopher Columbus and his fleet first made their way onto the islands.

The first group of Europeans to settle the islands was Puritans who migrated via Bermuda, in an attempt to resist the Anglicanism that was prevalent there. They came over in the mid 17th century and a commercial port was built in Nassau. Nassau was then called Charles Town. The next migration of Europeans was Loyalists who migrated to Nassau via America. They were fleeing persecution for remaining loyal to the British crown in the midst of the American Revolution.

In the early 19th century, the Bahamas saw a large influx of African migrants. Many of these were Africans who had been on slave ships and freed by British naval officers on their way to various slave plantations throughout the American South and the Caribbean. In the late 19th century, groups of migrants from Lebanon, China, and Greece in search of work.

The most memorable group of people who ever lived in the Bahamas, however, was those rambunctious pirates and privateers. At one point in the early 18th century, the city of Nassau was in fact ruled by pirates. The famous Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, named himself commander of the fort in Nassau and had many run ins with the British Royal Navy.

Including the pirating of the early 1700s, Nassau and the Bahamas saw many economic booms. These included a cotton boom with over 40 cotton plantations run by over 1200 slaves. Another economic boom in Nassau was during the years of the prohibition in the United States. Captains and boat fleets would easily smuggle cases of liquor tied to the back of their boats. If they saw a US Coast Guard officer coming their way, they would cut the rope that was tied to the cases of booze and then come and retrieve them.

Today, much of this history is still present in many ways in Nassau. You can see it in the wide mix of people and ethnicities that make the city their home. And you can see it in the various cultural exhibits, tours, and festivals that are found in Nassau. When you come on your vacation to Nassau, make sure you look past the glitz, glamour, sun and fun and take a glimpse at the unique history that has made the port city of Nassau into what it is today.