Mike and I have fallen in love with the Bahamas. We were told about the history and like the aborigines of Australia, the Lucayan Indians were the first people of the Bahamas. The tribe is related to the Taino Indians, from the Caribbean Islands. However, unlike the aborigines, the Lucayan people no longer exist.
Between 700 and 1500 the Lucayan culture flourished. Christopher Columbus first touched land in the Bahamas on the island of San Salvador. He and his crew were searching for gold, and the first people he encountered in 1492 were Lucayans. His observations are the first surviving description of them in their original habitat. They were astonishingly attractive people, tall and slender, with straight, black hair kept short but for a few strands in back. Women practiced "head flattening," shaping and lengthening an infant's skull by binding it during the first few months of life. In general, they went mostly naked and were seen to be a peace-loving people. They had no indigenous enemies, except for the occasional Carib Indian war party.
Within a few years, the Bahamas were being exploited for slave labor, that being the only valuable resource available in the eyes of the grasping Europeans. From a peak population of about 40,000 at Columbus' arrival, the Lucayans underwent a rapid decline. They were enslaved, forced to marry out of their culture, and ravaged by disease. By 1520, the Lucayans had ceased to exist as a separate race and society.
English Puritans known as “Eleutheran Adventurers” arrived here in 1649 in search of religious freedom. Instead, they found food shortages. Captain William Sayles sailed to the American colonies for help and received supplies from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Upon his return, the settlers thanked them by shipping them brasileto wood. The proceeds helped purchase land for what later became Harvard University.
During the late 1600's pirates were sailing here, the most famous ones being Blackbeard and Calico Jack. The shallow waters and 700 islands made great hiding places for treasure. And the close proximity to well-traveled shipping lanes made for the perfect spot to steal from merchant ships. There are rumors of hidden treasure that still exist today. It is believed that British pirate William Catt buried loot on Cat Island.
Nassau was overrun by lawless in 1670 by seafaring men and was also destroyed twice, once by Spanish troops, the then by French and Spanish navies. Soon after, pirates began looting the heavily laden cargo ships. By 1718, the King of England appointed Woodes Rogers to serve as the Royal Governor. His job was to restore order so he offered amnesty to those who surrendered. Those who resisted would be hanged. 300 pirates surrendered and the rest, including Blackbeard, fled.
More than a century later, American colonists loyal to Britain arrived in Eleuthera. Many brought their slaves as well as their building skills and agriculture and shipbuilding expertise. These greatly influenced Eleutheran life. In 1783, they solidified their independence and forced the retreat of the Spanish forces from the region without firing a shot.
The Islands Of The Bahamas benefited from the U.S. Civil War. Britain’s textile industry depended on Southern cotton; however, the Union blockaded British ships from reaching Southern ports. So blockade runners from Charleston met British ships in the Bahamas and traded cotton for British goods. Upon their return, they sold their shipment for huge profits.
The end of the Civil War marked the end of prosperity. In 1919, the United States passed the 18th amendment prohibiting alcohol. When Prohibition ended in 1934 so did the enormous revenues and it economically devastated The Bahamas.
The Hotel and Steam Ship Service Act of 1898 opened the Bahamas to the world. The act provided the government support needed for the construction of hotels and subsidized steamship service. Since then, well-to-do Americans no longer able to visit able to visit Cuba brought revenues back to the Bahamas.
July 10, 1973, The Bahamas became a free and sovereign country, ending 325 years of peaceful British rule. However, The Bahamas is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and celebrate July 10th as Bahamian Independence Day.
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