History of the Bahamas
Encyclopedia
The history of the Bahamas begins with the earliest arrival of humans in the islands in the first millennium AD. The first inhabitants of the islands now known as The Bahamas
were the Lucayan
s, an Arawakan-speaking Taino
people, who arrived between about 500 and 800 from the islands of the Caribbean
. Recorded history begins in 1492, when Christopher Columbus
landed on the island of Guanahani
, an unknown island somewhere in the Bahamas, on his first voyage. The earliest permanent European settlement occurred in 1647 on the island. The 18th century slave trade brought many Africans to the Bahamas. Their descendants constitute 85 percent of the Bahamian population. The Bahamas gained independence from the United Kingdom
on July 10, 1973.
s, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino
s of the Greater Antilles
. Sometime between 500 to 800, Tainos began crossing in dugout canoes from Hispaniola
and/or Cuba
to the Bahamas. Suggested routes for the earliest migrations have been from Hispaniola to the Caicos Islands
, from Hispaniola or eastern Cuba to Great Inagua Island, and from central Cuba to Long Island
(in the central Bahamas). William Keegan argues that the most likely route was from Hispaniola or Cuba to Great Inagua. Granberry and Vescelius argue for two migrations, from Hispaniola to the Turks and Caicos Islands and from Cuba to Great Inagua.
From the initial colonization(s) the Lucayans expanded throughout the Bahamas Islands in some 800 years (c. 700 – c. 1500), growing to a population of about 40,000. Population density at the time of first European contact was highest in the south central area of the Bahamas, declining towards the north, reflecting the progressively shorter time of occupation of the northern islands. Known Lucayan settlement sites are confined to the nineteen largest islands in the archipelago, or to smaller cays located less than one km. from those islands. Population density in the southern-most Bahamas remained lower, probably due to the drier climate there (less than 800 mm of rain a year on Great Inagua Island and the Turks and Caicos Islands and only slightly higher on Acklins and Crooked Islands and Mayaguana).
sailed from Spain
with three ships, seeking a direct route to Asia
. On October 12, 1492 Columbus reached an island in the Bahamas, an event long regarded as the 'discovery' of America. This first island to be visited by Columbus was called Guanahani
by the Lucayans, and San Salvador by the Spanish. The identity of the first American landfall by Columbus remains controversial, but many authors accept Samuel E. Morison's identification of what was then called Watling (or Watling's) Island as Columbus' San Salvador. The former Watling Island is now officially named San Salvador
. Columbus visited several other islands in the Bahamas before sailing on to Cuba.
The Bahamas held little of interest to the Spanish other than as a source of slave labor. Nearly the entire population of Lucayans (almost 40,000 people total) were deported over the next 30 years. When the Spanish decided to evacuate the remaining Lucayans to Hispaniola in 1520, they could find only eleven in all of the Bahamas. The islands remained abandoned and depopulated for 130 years afterwards. With no gold to be found, and the population removed, the Spanish effectively abandoned the Bahamas, but still retained titular claims to them until the Treaty of Versailles
in 1783.
When Europeans first landed on the islands, they reported the Bahamas were lushly forested. The forests were cleared during plantation days and have not regrown.
called 'The Company of Adventurers for the Plantation of the Islands of Eleutheria' sailed to the Bahamas to found a colony. These early settlers were Puritan
s and republicans
. Bermuda was also becoming overcrowded, and the Bahamas offered both religious and political freedom and economic opportunity. The larger of the company's two ships wrecked on the reef at the north end of what is now called Eleuthera Island, with the loss of all provisions. Despite the arrival of additional settlers, including whites, slaves and free blacks, from Bermuda and the receipt of relief supplies from Virginia
and New England
, the Eleuthera colony struggled for many years because of poor soil, fighting between settlers, and conflict with the Spanish. In the mid-1650s many of the settlers returned to Bermuda. The remaining settlers founded communities on Harbour Island and Saint George's Cay (Spanish Wells
) at the north end of Eleuthera. In 1670 there were about 20 families living in the Eleuthera communities.
In 1666 other settlers from Bermuda arrived on New Providence
, which soon became the center of population and commerce in the Bahamas, with almost 500 people living on the island by 1670. Unlike the Eleutherians, who were primarily farmers, the first settlers on New Providence made their living from the sea, salvaging (mainly Spanish) wrecks, making salt, and taking fish, turtles, conch
s and ambergris
. Farmers from Bermuda soon followed the seamen to New Providence, where they found good, plentiful land. Neither the Eleutherian colony nor the settlement on New Providence had any legal standing under English law. In 1670 the Proprietors of Carolina were issued a patent for the Bahamas, but the governors sent by the Proprietors had difficulty in imposing their authority on the independent-minded residents of New Providence.
The early settlers continued to live much as they had in Bermuda, fishing, hunting turtles, whales, and seals, finding ambergris
, making salt on the drier islands, cutting the abundant hardwoods of the islands for lumber, dyewood and medicinal bark, and wrecking
, or salvaging wrecks. The Bahamas were close to the sailing routes between Europe and the Caribbean, so shipwrecks in the islands were common, and wrecking was the most lucrative occupation available to the Bahamians.
s against Spain, even though England and Spain were at peace, and in 1684 the Spanish burned the settlements
on New Providence and Eleuthera, after which they were largely abandoned. New Providence was settled a second time in 1686 from Jamaica
.
In the 1690s English privateers (England was at war with France
) established themselves in the Bahamas. In 1696 Henry Every
(or Avery), using the assumed name Henry Bridgeman, brought his ship Fancy
, loaded with pirate's loot, into Nassau harbor. Every bribed the governor, Nicholas Trott (uncle of the Nicholas Trott
who presided at the trial of Stede Bonnet
), with gold and silver, and by leaving him the Fancy, still loaded with 50 tons of elephant tusks and 100 barrels of gunpowder. Following peace with France in 1697 many of the privateers became the pirates. From this time the pirates increasingly made the Bahamian capitol of Nassau, founded in 1694, their base. The governors appointed by the Proprietors usually made a show of suppressing the pirates, but most were often accused of dealing with the pirates. By 1701 England was at war with France and Spain. In 1703 and in 1706 combined French-Spanish fleets attacked and sacked
Nassau, after which some settlers left and the Proprietors gave up on trying to govern the Bahamas.
With no functioning government in the Bahamas, Nassau became a base of operations for English privateers, in what has been called a "privateers' republic," which lasted for eleven years. The raiders attacked French and Spanish ships, while French and Spanish forces burned Nassau several times. The War of the Spanish Succession
ended in 1714, but some privateers were slow to get the news, or reluctant to accept it, and slipped into piracy. One estimate puts at least 1,000 pirates in the Bahamas in 1713, outnumbering the 200 families of more permanent settlers. The "privateers' republic" in Nassau became a "pirates' republic". At least 20 pirate captains used Nassau or other places in the Bahamas as a home port during this period, including Henry Jennings
, Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Benjamin Hornigold
and Stede Bonnet
. Many settler families moved from New Providence to Eleuthera or Abaco
to escape harassment from the pirates. On the other hand, residents of Harbor Island were happy to serve as middlemen for the pirates, as merchants from New England
and Virginia
came there to exchange needed supplies for pirate plunder.As mentioned above, the activities of pirates provoked frequent and brutal retaliatory attacks by the French and Spanish.
, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas, reached Nassau with a small fleet of warships. Starting in 1713, Rogers had conceived the idea of leading an expedition to Madagascar
to suppress the pirates there and establish it as a British colony. Rogers' friends Richard Steele
and Joseph Addison
eventually convinced him to tackle the pirates nest in the Bahamas, instead. Rogers and others formed a company to fund the venture. They persuaded the Proprietors of Carolina to surrender the government of the Bahamas to the king, while retaining title to the land. The 1,000 or so pirates on the islands surrendered peacefully and the Proprietors then leased their land in the Bahamas to Rogers' company for 21 years. In 1717 King George
appointed Rogers governor of the Bahamas and issued a proclamation granting a pardon to any pirate who surrendered to a British governor within one year.
Word of the appointment of a new governor and of the offer of pardons reached Nassau ahead of Rogers. Some of the pirates were willing to accept a pardon and retire from piracy. Others were not ready to give up. Many of those were Jacobites
, supporters of the House of Stuart
, who regarded themselves as enemies of the Hanoverian
King George. Still others simply saw themselves as rebels, or thought they were better off as pirates than trying to earn an honest living. When a Royal Navy ship brought official word to Nassau of the pardon offer, it seemed at first that most of the pirates in Nassau would accept. Soon, however, the recalcitrant party gained the upper hand, eventually forcing the Navy ship to leave.
Some pirates, such as Henry Jennings
and Christopher Winter, sailed off to find British authorities to confirm their acceptance of the amnesty. Others, such as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Nicholas Brown
and Edmond Condent, left the Bahamas for other territories. Charles Vane
, with "Calico Jack
" Rackham and Edward England
in his crew, came to prominence at this time. Vane worked to organize resistance to the anticipated arrival of Royal authority, even appealing to the James Francis Edward Stuart
, the Stuart pretender
, for aid in holding the Bahamas and capturing Bermuda for the Stuarts. As aid from the Stuarts failed to materialize and Rogers' arrival approached, Vane and his crew prepared to leave Nassau.
Woodes Rogers arrived in Nassau in late July 1718, with his own 460 ton warship, three other ships belonging to his company, and escorted by three ships of the Royal Navy. Vane's ship was trapped in Nassau harbor. His crew set that ship on fire, sending it towards Rogers' ships, and escaped in the ensuing confusion in a smaller ship they had seized from another pirate. Rogers' arrival in Nassau was welcomed by the remaining population, about 200 settlers and 500 to 700 pirates who want to receive pardons, most prominently Benjamin Hornigold
.
Rogers had control of Nassau, but Charles Vane was loose and threatening to drive Rogers out, and Rogers received word that the King of Spain wanted to drive the English completely out of the Bahamas. Rogers worked to improve the defenses of Nassau, but an unidentified disease killed almost 100 of the men who had come to Nassau with Rogers, and then the Navy ships left. Rogers sent four of his ships to Havana to assure the Spanish governor that Rogers was suppressing piracy in the Bahamas and to trade for supplies. The crews of ex-pirates and men who had come with Rogers all turned pirate themselves. Ten of those men were caught at Green Turtle Cay
by Rogers' new pirate-hunter, the ex-pirate Benjamin Hornigold. Eight of the pirates were found guilty and hanged in front of the fort.
Charles Vane attacked several small settlements in the Bahamas, but after he refused to attack a stronger French frigate, he was deposed for cowardice and replaced as captain by "Calico Jack
" Rackham. Vane never returned to the Bahamas, but was eventually caught, tried and executed in Jamaica. After nearly being captured by Jamaican privateers, and hearing that the king had extended the deadline being pardoned for piracy, Rackham and his crew returned to Nassau and received pardons from Woodes Rogers. In Nassau Rackham became involved with Anne Bonny
and tried to arrange an annulment of her marriage to another ex-pirate, James Bonny. Rogers blocked the annulment, and Rackham and Bonny left Nassau to be pirates again, taking a small crew and Bonny's friend Mary Read
with them. Within months, Rackham, Bonny and Read were captured and taken to Jamaica, where Rackham was executed and Bonny and Read escaped execution due to pregnancy. Bonny died in prison, while Read's fate is unknown.
Britain and Spain went to war again in 1719, and many of the ex-pirates became privateers. A Spanish invasion fleet set out for the Bahamas, but was diverted to Pensacola, Florida
when it was seized by the French. Rogers continued to improve the defenses of Nassau, spending his money and going heavily into debt to do so. A second Spanish invasion fleet in 1720 was deterred by the defenses (and the accidental presence of a Royal Navy ship in Nassau). His efforts has also physically exhausted Rogers. He returned to Britain in 1722 to plead for repayment of the money he had borrowed to buildup Nassau, only to find he had been replaced as governor. He then ended up in debtors' prison, although his creditors later absolved his debts, allowing him to leave prison. After the publication in 1724 of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, which gave a favorable account of Rogers' efforts to suppress piracy in the Bahamas, his fortunes began to improve. The king awarded him a pension, retroactive to 1721, and in 1728 appointed Governor of the Bahamas for a second term. Rogers dissolved the colony's assembly when it would not approve taxes to repair Nassau's defenses. Woodes Rogers died in Nassau in 1732.
, former governor of Massachusetts
, was appointed governor of the Bahamas in 1758 and served until 1770.
, the British issued land grants to American Loyalists, and the sparse population of the Bahamas tripled within a few years. Cotton growing soon became established, but it eventually dwindled from insect damage and soil exhaustion. Most of the current inhabitants are descended from the slaves brought to work on the Loyalist plantations, or from liberated Africans set free by the British navy after the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807. Plantation life ended with the British emancipation of slaves in 1834.
, the Bahamas prospered as a base for Confederate blockade-running, bringing in cotton for the mills of England and running out arms and munitions. During Prohibition after World War I
, the islands were a base for American rum-runners
,smuggling liquor into the US. None of these provided any lasting prosperity to the islands, nor did attempts to grow various crops. After emancipation Caribbean societies inherited a rigid racial stratification that was reinforced by the unequal distribution of wealth and power. The three-tier race structure, which existed well into the 1940s and in some societies beyond, upheld the belief of European racial superiority, although most West Indians are of African descent. Race and racial attitudes remain important in mixed Caribbean societies.
, the Allies centred their flight training and antisubmarine operations for the Caribbean in the Bahamas. The wartime airfield became Nassau's international airport in 1957 and helped spur the growth of mass tourism, which accelerated after Havana
was closed to American tourists in 1961. Freeport, on the island of Grand Bahama, was established as a free trade zone in the 1950s and became the country's second city. Bank secrecy
combined with the lack of corporate and income taxes led to a rapid growth in the offshore financial sector during the postwar years.
on July 10, 1973. The country’s first
prime minister was Lynden O. Pindling, leader of the Progressive Liberal Party. Pindling ruled for nearly 20 years, during which the Bahamas benefited from tourism
and foreign investment. By the early 1980s, the islands had also become a major center for the
drug trade, with 90% of all the cocaine
entering the United States
reportedly passing through the Bahamas. Diplomatic relations were established with Cuba
in 1974. A decade later, as increased Cuban immigration to the islands strained the Bahamas’ resources, Cuba refused to sign a letter of repatriation
In September 2004, Hurricane Frances
swept through the Bahamas, leaving widespread damage in its wake. Just three weeks later, Hurricane Jeanne
flattened the islands. Jeanne uprooted trees, blew out windows, and sent seawater flooding through neighborhoods on the islands of Abaco
and Grand Bahama
. Receding floodwaters left boats tossed on roads and homes battered.
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
were the Lucayan
Lucayan
The Lucayan were the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of Europeans. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first inhabitants of the Americas encountered by Christopher Columbus...
s, an Arawakan-speaking Taino
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
people, who arrived between about 500 and 800 from the islands of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. Recorded history begins in 1492, when Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
landed on the island of Guanahani
Guanahani
Guanahani was the name the natives gave to the island that Christopher Columbus called San Salvador when he arrived at the Americas. Columbus reached the island on 12 October 1492, the first island he sighted and visited in the Americas...
, an unknown island somewhere in the Bahamas, on his first voyage. The earliest permanent European settlement occurred in 1647 on the island. The 18th century slave trade brought many Africans to the Bahamas. Their descendants constitute 85 percent of the Bahamian population. The Bahamas gained independence from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on July 10, 1973.
Pre-Columbian period
The first inhabitants of the Bahamas were the LucayanLucayan
The Lucayan were the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of Europeans. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first inhabitants of the Americas encountered by Christopher Columbus...
s, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
s of the Greater Antilles
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
. Sometime between 500 to 800, Tainos began crossing in dugout canoes from Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
and/or Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
to the Bahamas. Suggested routes for the earliest migrations have been from Hispaniola to the Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...
, from Hispaniola or eastern Cuba to Great Inagua Island, and from central Cuba to Long Island
Long Island, Bahamas
Long Island is an island in the Bahamas that is split by the Tropic of Cancer. Its capital is Clarence Town. Long Island is one of the Districts of the Bahamas and is known as the most scenic island in the Bahamas. The population is roughly 4,000 inhabitants.-Geography:Long Island is about 130...
(in the central Bahamas). William Keegan argues that the most likely route was from Hispaniola or Cuba to Great Inagua. Granberry and Vescelius argue for two migrations, from Hispaniola to the Turks and Caicos Islands and from Cuba to Great Inagua.
From the initial colonization(s) the Lucayans expanded throughout the Bahamas Islands in some 800 years (c. 700 – c. 1500), growing to a population of about 40,000. Population density at the time of first European contact was highest in the south central area of the Bahamas, declining towards the north, reflecting the progressively shorter time of occupation of the northern islands. Known Lucayan settlement sites are confined to the nineteen largest islands in the archipelago, or to smaller cays located less than one km. from those islands. Population density in the southern-most Bahamas remained lower, probably due to the drier climate there (less than 800 mm of rain a year on Great Inagua Island and the Turks and Caicos Islands and only slightly higher on Acklins and Crooked Islands and Mayaguana).
Spanish-Lucayan encounter
In 1492 Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
sailed from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
with three ships, seeking a direct route to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. On October 12, 1492 Columbus reached an island in the Bahamas, an event long regarded as the 'discovery' of America. This first island to be visited by Columbus was called Guanahani
Guanahani
Guanahani was the name the natives gave to the island that Christopher Columbus called San Salvador when he arrived at the Americas. Columbus reached the island on 12 October 1492, the first island he sighted and visited in the Americas...
by the Lucayans, and San Salvador by the Spanish. The identity of the first American landfall by Columbus remains controversial, but many authors accept Samuel E. Morison's identification of what was then called Watling (or Watling's) Island as Columbus' San Salvador. The former Watling Island is now officially named San Salvador
San Salvador Island
San Salvador Island, also known as Watlings Island, is an island and district of the Bahamas. Until 1986, when the National Geographic Society suggested Samana Cay, it was widely believed that during his first expedition to the New World, San Salvador Island was the first land sighted and visited...
. Columbus visited several other islands in the Bahamas before sailing on to Cuba.
The Bahamas held little of interest to the Spanish other than as a source of slave labor. Nearly the entire population of Lucayans (almost 40,000 people total) were deported over the next 30 years. When the Spanish decided to evacuate the remaining Lucayans to Hispaniola in 1520, they could find only eleven in all of the Bahamas. The islands remained abandoned and depopulated for 130 years afterwards. With no gold to be found, and the population removed, the Spanish effectively abandoned the Bahamas, but still retained titular claims to them until the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
in 1783.
When Europeans first landed on the islands, they reported the Bahamas were lushly forested. The forests were cleared during plantation days and have not regrown.
Early English settlement
In 1648 a group from BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
called 'The Company of Adventurers for the Plantation of the Islands of Eleutheria' sailed to the Bahamas to found a colony. These early settlers were Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
s and republicans
Classical republicanism
Classical republicanism is a form of republicanism developed in the Renaissance inspired by the governmental forms and writings of classical antiquity. The earliest examples of the school were classical writers such as Aristotle, Polybius, and Cicero...
. Bermuda was also becoming overcrowded, and the Bahamas offered both religious and political freedom and economic opportunity. The larger of the company's two ships wrecked on the reef at the north end of what is now called Eleuthera Island, with the loss of all provisions. Despite the arrival of additional settlers, including whites, slaves and free blacks, from Bermuda and the receipt of relief supplies from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, the Eleuthera colony struggled for many years because of poor soil, fighting between settlers, and conflict with the Spanish. In the mid-1650s many of the settlers returned to Bermuda. The remaining settlers founded communities on Harbour Island and Saint George's Cay (Spanish Wells
Spanish Wells
Spanish Wells is one of the districts of the Bahamas.Spanish Wells is a small island located approximately one mile off the northern tip of Eleuthera island. It has a population of approximately 1,500 residents. It is so small that many residents get around the island using golf carts instead of...
) at the north end of Eleuthera. In 1670 there were about 20 families living in the Eleuthera communities.
In 1666 other settlers from Bermuda arrived on New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
, which soon became the center of population and commerce in the Bahamas, with almost 500 people living on the island by 1670. Unlike the Eleutherians, who were primarily farmers, the first settlers on New Providence made their living from the sea, salvaging (mainly Spanish) wrecks, making salt, and taking fish, turtles, conch
Conch
A conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
s and ambergris
Ambergris
Ambergris is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray or blackish color produced in the digestive system of and regurgitated or secreted by sperm whales....
. Farmers from Bermuda soon followed the seamen to New Providence, where they found good, plentiful land. Neither the Eleutherian colony nor the settlement on New Providence had any legal standing under English law. In 1670 the Proprietors of Carolina were issued a patent for the Bahamas, but the governors sent by the Proprietors had difficulty in imposing their authority on the independent-minded residents of New Providence.
The early settlers continued to live much as they had in Bermuda, fishing, hunting turtles, whales, and seals, finding ambergris
Ambergris
Ambergris is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray or blackish color produced in the digestive system of and regurgitated or secreted by sperm whales....
, making salt on the drier islands, cutting the abundant hardwoods of the islands for lumber, dyewood and medicinal bark, and wrecking
Wrecking (shipwreck)
Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered near or close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities, wrecking has been subjected to increasing regulation and evolved into what is now known as marine salvage...
, or salvaging wrecks. The Bahamas were close to the sailing routes between Europe and the Caribbean, so shipwrecks in the islands were common, and wrecking was the most lucrative occupation available to the Bahamians.
Wreckers, privateers and pirates
The Bahamians soon came into conflict with the Spanish over the salvaging of wrecks. The Bahamian wreckers drove the Spanish away from their wrecked ships, and even attacked the Spanish salvagers and seized goods the Spanish had already recovered from the wrecks. The Spanish raided the Bahamas, the Bahamians in turn commissioned privateerPrivateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s against Spain, even though England and Spain were at peace, and in 1684 the Spanish burned the settlements
Raid on Charles Town
The Raid on Charles Town or Spanish raid on New Providence was a Spanish naval expedition on 19 January 1684 led by the Cuban corsair Juan de Alarcón against the English privateering stronghold of Charles Town , capital of the Bahamas.The Bahamas harbored pirates and privateers who preyed on...
on New Providence and Eleuthera, after which they were largely abandoned. New Providence was settled a second time in 1686 from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
In the 1690s English privateers (England was at war with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) established themselves in the Bahamas. In 1696 Henry Every
Henry Every
Henry Every, also Avery or Avary, , sometimes given as John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the mid-1690s. He likely used several aliases throughout his career, including Benjamin Bridgeman, and was known as Long Ben to his crewmen and associates...
(or Avery), using the assumed name Henry Bridgeman, brought his ship Fancy
Fancy (ship)
The Fancy was Henry Every's ship, and was commanded by him between May 1694 to late 1695, when he retired from piracy and the fate of the Fancy becomes unknown.-History:...
, loaded with pirate's loot, into Nassau harbor. Every bribed the governor, Nicholas Trott (uncle of the Nicholas Trott
Nicholas Trott
Nicholas Trott was an 18th century British judge, legal scholar and writer. He had a lengthy legal and political career in Charleston, South Carolina and served as the colonial chief justice from 1703 until 1719...
who presided at the trial of Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his...
), with gold and silver, and by leaving him the Fancy, still loaded with 50 tons of elephant tusks and 100 barrels of gunpowder. Following peace with France in 1697 many of the privateers became the pirates. From this time the pirates increasingly made the Bahamian capitol of Nassau, founded in 1694, their base. The governors appointed by the Proprietors usually made a show of suppressing the pirates, but most were often accused of dealing with the pirates. By 1701 England was at war with France and Spain. In 1703 and in 1706 combined French-Spanish fleets attacked and sacked
Raid on Nassau
The Raid on Nassau was a privately raised Franco-Spanish expedition during the War of the Spanish Succession led by Blas Moreno Mondragón and Clause Le Chesnaye...
Nassau, after which some settlers left and the Proprietors gave up on trying to govern the Bahamas.
With no functioning government in the Bahamas, Nassau became a base of operations for English privateers, in what has been called a "privateers' republic," which lasted for eleven years. The raiders attacked French and Spanish ships, while French and Spanish forces burned Nassau several times. The War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
ended in 1714, but some privateers were slow to get the news, or reluctant to accept it, and slipped into piracy. One estimate puts at least 1,000 pirates in the Bahamas in 1713, outnumbering the 200 families of more permanent settlers. The "privateers' republic" in Nassau became a "pirates' republic". At least 20 pirate captains used Nassau or other places in the Bahamas as a home port during this period, including Henry Jennings
Henry Jennings
Henry Jennings was an 18th century British privateer who served primarily during the War of Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven of New Providence....
, Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Benjamin Hornigold
Benjamin Hornigold
Captain Benjamin Hornigold was an 18th-century English pirate. His career lasted from 1715 to 1718, after which he turned pirate hunter and pursued his former allies on behalf of the Governor of the Bahamas...
and Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet
Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his...
. Many settler families moved from New Providence to Eleuthera or Abaco
Abaco
Abaco is the Italian form of the Biblical name "Habakkuk".Abaco may refer to:-People:*Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco , Italian composer and violinist*Joseph Abaco , Belgian composer and violoncellist-Places:...
to escape harassment from the pirates. On the other hand, residents of Harbor Island were happy to serve as middlemen for the pirates, as merchants from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
came there to exchange needed supplies for pirate plunder.As mentioned above, the activities of pirates provoked frequent and brutal retaliatory attacks by the French and Spanish.
Woodes Rogers
The "pirates' republic" came to an end in 1718, when Woodes RogersWoodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, and, later, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.Rogers came from an...
, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas, reached Nassau with a small fleet of warships. Starting in 1713, Rogers had conceived the idea of leading an expedition to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
to suppress the pirates there and establish it as a British colony. Rogers' friends Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
and Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison...
eventually convinced him to tackle the pirates nest in the Bahamas, instead. Rogers and others formed a company to fund the venture. They persuaded the Proprietors of Carolina to surrender the government of the Bahamas to the king, while retaining title to the land. The 1,000 or so pirates on the islands surrendered peacefully and the Proprietors then leased their land in the Bahamas to Rogers' company for 21 years. In 1717 King George
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
appointed Rogers governor of the Bahamas and issued a proclamation granting a pardon to any pirate who surrendered to a British governor within one year.
Word of the appointment of a new governor and of the offer of pardons reached Nassau ahead of Rogers. Some of the pirates were willing to accept a pardon and retire from piracy. Others were not ready to give up. Many of those were Jacobites
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
, supporters of the House of Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
, who regarded themselves as enemies of the Hanoverian
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
King George. Still others simply saw themselves as rebels, or thought they were better off as pirates than trying to earn an honest living. When a Royal Navy ship brought official word to Nassau of the pardon offer, it seemed at first that most of the pirates in Nassau would accept. Soon, however, the recalcitrant party gained the upper hand, eventually forcing the Navy ship to leave.
Some pirates, such as Henry Jennings
Henry Jennings
Henry Jennings was an 18th century British privateer who served primarily during the War of Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven of New Providence....
and Christopher Winter, sailed off to find British authorities to confirm their acceptance of the amnesty. Others, such as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Nicholas Brown
Nicholas Brown (pirate)
Nicholas Brown was an English pirate who was active of the coast of Jamaica during the early 18th century. Although accepting a royal pardon, he continued raiding shipping until his capture by pirate hunter and childhood friend Captain John Drudge. Brown used the caves, on the cliffs of Negril to...
and Edmond Condent, left the Bahamas for other territories. Charles Vane
Charles Vane
Charles Vane was an English pirate who preyed upon English and French shipping. His pirate career lasted from 1716 - 1719. His flagship was a brigantine named the Ranger....
, with "Calico Jack
Calico Jack
John Rackham , commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas during the early 18th century...
" Rackham and Edward England
Edward England
Edward England, born Edward Seegar in Ireland, was a famous African coast and Indian Ocean pirate captain from 1717 to 1720. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720...
in his crew, came to prominence at this time. Vane worked to organize resistance to the anticipated arrival of Royal authority, even appealing to the James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...
, the Stuart pretender
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
, for aid in holding the Bahamas and capturing Bermuda for the Stuarts. As aid from the Stuarts failed to materialize and Rogers' arrival approached, Vane and his crew prepared to leave Nassau.
Woodes Rogers arrived in Nassau in late July 1718, with his own 460 ton warship, three other ships belonging to his company, and escorted by three ships of the Royal Navy. Vane's ship was trapped in Nassau harbor. His crew set that ship on fire, sending it towards Rogers' ships, and escaped in the ensuing confusion in a smaller ship they had seized from another pirate. Rogers' arrival in Nassau was welcomed by the remaining population, about 200 settlers and 500 to 700 pirates who want to receive pardons, most prominently Benjamin Hornigold
Benjamin Hornigold
Captain Benjamin Hornigold was an 18th-century English pirate. His career lasted from 1715 to 1718, after which he turned pirate hunter and pursued his former allies on behalf of the Governor of the Bahamas...
.
Rogers had control of Nassau, but Charles Vane was loose and threatening to drive Rogers out, and Rogers received word that the King of Spain wanted to drive the English completely out of the Bahamas. Rogers worked to improve the defenses of Nassau, but an unidentified disease killed almost 100 of the men who had come to Nassau with Rogers, and then the Navy ships left. Rogers sent four of his ships to Havana to assure the Spanish governor that Rogers was suppressing piracy in the Bahamas and to trade for supplies. The crews of ex-pirates and men who had come with Rogers all turned pirate themselves. Ten of those men were caught at Green Turtle Cay
Green Turtle Cay
Green Turtle Cay is an island in The Bahamas. It is located in the "Abaco Out Islands" and is long and 1/2 mile wide. It was named after the abundance of green turtles that inhabited the area. The population of the island is about 450 and its main settlement is New Plymouth which was founded in...
by Rogers' new pirate-hunter, the ex-pirate Benjamin Hornigold. Eight of the pirates were found guilty and hanged in front of the fort.
Charles Vane attacked several small settlements in the Bahamas, but after he refused to attack a stronger French frigate, he was deposed for cowardice and replaced as captain by "Calico Jack
Calico Jack
John Rackham , commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas during the early 18th century...
" Rackham. Vane never returned to the Bahamas, but was eventually caught, tried and executed in Jamaica. After nearly being captured by Jamaican privateers, and hearing that the king had extended the deadline being pardoned for piracy, Rackham and his crew returned to Nassau and received pardons from Woodes Rogers. In Nassau Rackham became involved with Anne Bonny
Anne Bonny
Anne Bonny was an Irish woman who became a famous female pirate, operating in the Caribbean. What little is known of her life comes largely from A General History of the Pyrates.-Historical record:...
and tried to arrange an annulment of her marriage to another ex-pirate, James Bonny. Rogers blocked the annulment, and Rackham and Bonny left Nassau to be pirates again, taking a small crew and Bonny's friend Mary Read
Mary Read
Mary Read was an English pirate. She is chiefly remembered as one of only two women known to have been convicted of piracy during the early 18th century, at the height of the Golden Age of Piracy....
with them. Within months, Rackham, Bonny and Read were captured and taken to Jamaica, where Rackham was executed and Bonny and Read escaped execution due to pregnancy. Bonny died in prison, while Read's fate is unknown.
Britain and Spain went to war again in 1719, and many of the ex-pirates became privateers. A Spanish invasion fleet set out for the Bahamas, but was diverted to Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
when it was seized by the French. Rogers continued to improve the defenses of Nassau, spending his money and going heavily into debt to do so. A second Spanish invasion fleet in 1720 was deterred by the defenses (and the accidental presence of a Royal Navy ship in Nassau). His efforts has also physically exhausted Rogers. He returned to Britain in 1722 to plead for repayment of the money he had borrowed to buildup Nassau, only to find he had been replaced as governor. He then ended up in debtors' prison, although his creditors later absolved his debts, allowing him to leave prison. After the publication in 1724 of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, which gave a favorable account of Rogers' efforts to suppress piracy in the Bahamas, his fortunes began to improve. The king awarded him a pension, retroactive to 1721, and in 1728 appointed Governor of the Bahamas for a second term. Rogers dissolved the colony's assembly when it would not approve taxes to repair Nassau's defenses. Woodes Rogers died in Nassau in 1732.
Mid-century
William ShirleyWilliam Shirley
William Shirley was a British colonial administrator who served twice as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and as Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s...
, former governor of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, was appointed governor of the Bahamas in 1758 and served until 1770.
Loyalists
During the American War of Independence the Bahamas fell to Spanish forces under General Galvez in 1782. A British-American loyalist expedition later recaptured the islands. After the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the British issued land grants to American Loyalists, and the sparse population of the Bahamas tripled within a few years. Cotton growing soon became established, but it eventually dwindled from insect damage and soil exhaustion. Most of the current inhabitants are descended from the slaves brought to work on the Loyalist plantations, or from liberated Africans set free by the British navy after the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807. Plantation life ended with the British emancipation of slaves in 1834.
Post-emancipation
During the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the Bahamas prospered as a base for Confederate blockade-running, bringing in cotton for the mills of England and running out arms and munitions. During Prohibition after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the islands were a base for American rum-runners
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
,smuggling liquor into the US. None of these provided any lasting prosperity to the islands, nor did attempts to grow various crops. After emancipation Caribbean societies inherited a rigid racial stratification that was reinforced by the unequal distribution of wealth and power. The three-tier race structure, which existed well into the 1940s and in some societies beyond, upheld the belief of European racial superiority, although most West Indians are of African descent. Race and racial attitudes remain important in mixed Caribbean societies.
Late-colonial period
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Allies centred their flight training and antisubmarine operations for the Caribbean in the Bahamas. The wartime airfield became Nassau's international airport in 1957 and helped spur the growth of mass tourism, which accelerated after Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
was closed to American tourists in 1961. Freeport, on the island of Grand Bahama, was established as a free trade zone in the 1950s and became the country's second city. Bank secrecy
Bank secrecy
Bank secrecy is a legal principle in some jurisdictions under which banks are not allowed to provide to authorities personal and account information about their customers unless certain conditions apply...
combined with the lack of corporate and income taxes led to a rapid growth in the offshore financial sector during the postwar years.
Post-independence era
Bahamians achieved self-government in 1964 and full independence within the Commonwealth of NationsCommonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
on July 10, 1973. The country’s first
prime minister was Lynden O. Pindling, leader of the Progressive Liberal Party. Pindling ruled for nearly 20 years, during which the Bahamas benefited from tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and foreign investment. By the early 1980s, the islands had also become a major center for the
drug trade, with 90% of all the cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
entering the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
reportedly passing through the Bahamas. Diplomatic relations were established with Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in 1974. A decade later, as increased Cuban immigration to the islands strained the Bahamas’ resources, Cuba refused to sign a letter of repatriation
In September 2004, Hurricane Frances
Hurricane Frances
Hurricane Frances was the sixth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The system crossing the open Atlantic during mid to late August, moving to the north of the Lesser Antilles while strengthening. Its outer bands affected Puerto...
swept through the Bahamas, leaving widespread damage in its wake. Just three weeks later, Hurricane Jeanne
Hurricane Jeanne
Hurricane Jeanne was the deadliest hurricane in the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the tenth named storm, the seventh hurricane, and the fifth major hurricane of the season, as well as the third hurricane and fourth named storm of the season to make landfall in Florida...
flattened the islands. Jeanne uprooted trees, blew out windows, and sent seawater flooding through neighborhoods on the islands of Abaco
Abaco
Abaco is the Italian form of the Biblical name "Habakkuk".Abaco may refer to:-People:*Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco , Italian composer and violinist*Joseph Abaco , Belgian composer and violoncellist-Places:...
and Grand Bahama
Grand Bahama
Grand Bahama is one of the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, and the closest major island to the United States, lying off the state of Florida. Grand Bahama is the fifth largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays...
. Receding floodwaters left boats tossed on roads and homes battered.
See also
- British colonization of the AmericasBritish colonization of the AmericasBritish colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...
- History of the AmericasHistory of the AmericasThe history of the Americas is the collective history of the American landmass, which includes North and South America, as well as Central America and the Caribbean. It begins with people migrating to these areas from Asia during the height of an Ice Age...
- History of the British West Indies
- History of North AmericaHistory of North AmericaThe history of North America is the study of the past, particularly the written record, oral histories, and traditions, passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and western hemisphere....
- History of the CaribbeanHistory of the CaribbeanThe history of the Caribbean reveals the significant role the region played in the colonial struggles of the European powers since the 15th century. In the 20th century the Caribbean was again important during World War II, in decolonization wave in the post-war period, and in the tension between...
- List of Prime Ministers of the Bahamas
- Politics of the BahamasPolitics of the BahamasThe politics of the Bahamas takes place within a framework of parliamentary democracy, with a Prime Minister as the head of government. The Bahamas is an independent country and - as a former British colony - a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Political and legal traditions closely follow...
- Spanish colonization of the AmericasSpanish colonization of the AmericasColonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...