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Recorded history began on 12 October 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Guanahani, which he renamed San Salvador Island, on his first voyage to the New World. The earliest permanent European settlement was in 1648 on Eleuthera.
The Bahamas, archipelago and country on the northwestern edge of the West Indies. This strategic location has given the history of The Bahamas a unique and often striking character. Formerly a British colony, The Bahamas became an independent country within the Commonwealth in 1973.
Bahamas History is well-documented and filled with lore and legends from the first settlements to the Age of Piracy and beyond.
The island was renamed Eleuthera, meaning freedom. The settlers introduced the plantation economy and African slave labour. An early form of democratic government, with a bicameral parliament and elected lower house, developed but was abolished in 1717, when the Crown resumed government.
1400’s - 1800's. (1492) Christopher Columbus made first landing in Bahamas. (1625) French settlers tried unsuccessfully to colonize what was created as a barony of The Bahamas. (1647) English, Bermudan religious refugees established first European settlement in Bahamas.
Naming and etymology. The name Bahamas is derived from the Lucayan name Bahama ('large upper middle island'), used by the indigenous Taíno people for the island of Grand Bahama. [20][21] Tourist guides often state that the name comes from the Spanish baja mar ('shallow sea').
History in Bahamas. The Early Years. After Columbus made his first landfall somewhere in The Bahamas, Ponce de León voyaged here in 1513 looking for the legendary Fountain of Youth. This journey, incidentally, led to the European discovery of Florida and the Gulf Stream -- but not the magic fountain. Ponce de León's historian described the ...
Its crystal-clear, shallow waters and close proximity to major shipping routes made it a convenient spot for pirates, rum-runners, and other seafaring criminals to conduct their business. Let’s take a look at some of the thrilling true-life tales that helped shape The Bahamas’ history.
The Bahamas - British Colonization: British interest began in 1629 when Charles I granted Robert Heath, attorney general of England, territories in America including “Bahama and all other Isles and Islands lying southerly there or neare upon the foresayd continent.”
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is an English-speaking archipelagic nation on the northwestern edge of the West Indies. The Bahamas consist of 700 islands and cays, only about 30 of which are inhabited, and more than 2,000 low, barren rock formations.