Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 18th century 2.2 20th century 3 Geography and climate 3.1 Climate 4 Government and politics 4.1 Administrative Divisions 4.2 National symbols 4.2.1 National flag 4.2.2 Coat of arms 4.2.3 National Flower 5 Economy 6 Ethnic Groups 6.1 Afro-Bahamians 6.2 Europeans 7 Culture 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 10.1 General history 10.2 Economic history 10.3 Social history 11 External links

[edit] Etymology

The origin of the name Bahamas is unclear. It may derive from the Spanish baja mar ("shallow seas") or the Lucayan word for Grand Bahama island, ba-ha-ma ("large upper middle land").^[5]

[edit] History

Map of The Bahamas

Main article: History of the Bahamas

Taino people moved into the uninhabited southern Bahamas from Hispaniola and Cuba around the 11th century AD. These people came to be known as the Lucayans. There were an estimated 30,000+ Lucayans at the time of Columbus's arrival in 1492. Christopher Columbus's first landfall in the New World was on an island named San Salvador (known to the Lucayans as Guanahani), which is generally accepted to be present-day San Salvador Island, (also known as Watling's Island) in the southeastern Bahamas.
An alternative theory holds that Columbus landed to the southeast on Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 by National Geographic writer and editor Joseph Judge based on Columbus's log. Evidence in support of this remains inconclusive. On the landfall island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayans and exchanged goods with them.
The Spaniards who followed Columbus depopulated the islands, carrying most of the indigenous people off into slavery.^{[citation needed]} The Lucayans throughout The Bahamas were wiped out by exposure to diseases to which they had no immunity.^[6] The smallpox that ravaged the Taino Indians after Columbus's arrival wiped out half of the population in what is now The Bahamas.^[7]
It is generally assumed that the islands were uninhabited by Europeans until the mid-17th century. However, recent research suggests that there may have been attempts to settle the islands by groups from Spain, France, and Britain, as well as by other Amerindians. In 1648, the Eleutherian Adventurers migrated from Bermuda. These English Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on an island which they named Eleuthera—the name derives from the Greek word for freedom. They later settled New Providence, naming it Sayle's Island after one of their leaders. To survive, the settlers resorted to salvaged goods from wrecks.
In 1670 King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas, who rented the islands from the king with rights of trading, tax, appointing governors, and administering the country.^[8] In 1684 Spain's corsair Juan de Alcon raided the capital Charles Town, and in 1703 a joint Franco-Spanish expedition briefly occupied the Bahamian capital during the War of the Spanish Succession.

[edit] 18th century

During proprietary rule, the Bahamas became a haven for pirates, including the infamous Blackbeard. To restore orderly government, The Bahamas were made a British crown colony in 1718 under the royal governorship of Woodes Rogers, who, after a difficult struggle, succeeded in suppressing piracy.^[9] In 1720 he led local militia to drive off a Spanish attack.
During the American War of Independence, the islands were a target for American naval forces under the command of Commodore Ezekial Hopkins. The capital of Nassau on the island of New Providence was occupied by US Marines for a fortnight.
In 1782, following the British defeat at Yorktown, a Spanish fleet appeared off the coast of Nassau, which city surrendered without a fight.
After American independence, some 7,300 Loyalists and their slaves moved to the Bahamas from New York, Florida and the Carolinas. These Loyalists established plantations on several islands and became a political force in the capital. The small population became mostly African from this point on.
The British abolished the slave trade in 1807, which led to the forced settlement on Bahamian islands of thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy. Slavery itself was finally abolished in the British Empire on August 1, 1834.