The Bahamas was discovered by Christopher Columbus in October 12, 1942. He met the Arawak Indians of the Lucayan tribe, who were the first settlers of the islands. When Columbus traveled back to Europe, some of them went with him. But since the Spaniards needed slaves to work in Hispaniola in their gold mines, they captured the Indians. And in just a span of 25 years, the Arawak Indians vanished in the islands of the Bahamas.
In 1647, a religious group called the Eleutheran Adventurers was the first European settlers in the Bahamas. After which, different religious groups followed and inhabited the islands. During the 17th century, pirates stayed in the faraway cays of the Bahamas then slowly settled in Nassau with Edward Teach as their leader. In 1717, the Bahamas was then colonized by the British and it was in 1718 when Woodes Rogers, who used to be a pirate, was appointed to be the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He gave pardon to those pirates who were willing to reform excluding Edward Teach, Charles Vane and some other notorious bandits. Then in 1782, the islands were occupied by the Spaniards leaded by General Galvez, but their stay was shot lived since under the rules of Treaty of Paris, the Bahamas became a British Crown Colony again after a year. The British Loyalists then accepted land grants after the American Revolution and this resulted to the increase of population in the islands in just a matter of years. As part of their living, the slaves of the loyalists tried to plant cotton but became unsuccessful. They also tried getting sponges but it was soon stopped when the sponges perished because of the fungus. From then on until present, fishing and other forms of agriculture that can survive in the islands’ soil are some of the sources of income of the inhabitants.
It was during the World War II when the Bahamas started to become a vacation spot for the tourists. Trainings and operations with regards to submarines or flights were done in the Caribbean. In 1961, the islands became one of the famous tourist resorts since Havana, a popular destination of the Americans, did not allow American visitors in the place. The Bahamas became even more attractive to the people in 1955 when the Freeport, where free trading takes place, was established.
In 1964, the Bahamians finally attained self-government and, subsequently, their most-awaited independence on July 10, 1973.
