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Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus left Spain for his first voyage and planted
the Spanish flag on SanSalvador upon his first landfall in the
Americas in 1492. He landed in San Salvador.His threeships were the
Santa Maria, the Nina, and the Pinta.
Lucayans
The original inhabitants of The Bahamas were the Lucayans, a
tribe of the Arawak Indian group,who arrived near the turn of the
9th century. The Lucayans had left the Lesser Antilles to
avoidtheir enemies, the Carib Indians, who were known to be fierce
warriors and cannibals. The
Lucayans were a peaceful group, who were farmers and also lived
primarily off the sea,
fishing and harvesting shellfish, conch, lobster and mollusks.
They lived in thatch huts, usedstone tools and made their own
pottery. They were politically, socially and religiously
advanced.
When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 on San Salvador (some
historians think he landedon Cat Island), there were about 40,000
Lucayans living in The Islands of the Bahamas. Takingadvantage of
the peoples gentle nature, he enslaved them three years later and
shipped them offto Hispaniola to work in his mines. Slavery,
disease and other hardships wiped out the entire tribe
within 25 years of Columbus arrival.
What little remains of their culture is limited to pottery
shards, petroglyphs and words such as'canoe', 'cannibal',
'hammock', 'hurricane' and 'tobacco'.
Eleutheran Adventurers
The next phase of Bahamian history involves the Eleutheran
Adventurers, English settlers wholeft Bermuda in 1647 searching for
religious freedom. They formed the first British colony on
theIsland of Eleuthera, and began a prosperous agricultural economy
that still thrives today.
In 1648, a group of dissident English Puritans (known as the
"Eleutheran Adventurers") arrivedhere in their quest for religious
freedom. Although the adventurers gave the island its name,
theisland didnt give much back, and the settlers experienced food
shortages, a lack of propersupplies and internal strife that split
the group into separate communities along GovernorsHarbour and
Preachers Cave in Eleuthera. Seeking peace, the Eleutherans leader,
CaptainWilliam Sayles, set sail for the American colonies and
succeeded in obtaining survival suppliesfrom the Massachusetts Bay
Colony and then returned to the struggling outpost. To better
guardagainst marauding Spanish troops in the area, another
settlement was then established on thenearbyand more easily
defendedHarbour Island
Loyalists
Following Britain's defeat in the American Revolutionary War
more than a century later, another
major influx of newcomers arrived in Eleuthera. They were the
American colonists still loyal to theBritish flag, so they left the
newly independent nation, many bringing with them the slaves
theyheld in America and grew cotton under the Crown's protection in
their new home.These Loyalists also brought their Colonial building
skills, as well as their agricultural and
shipbuilding expertise, all of which became major influences in
Eleutheran life.
To solidify their independence, in 1783, the former Loyalists,
assisted by the South Carolinamilitia, took up arms and forced the
retreat of Spanish forces from the entire regioneven as faraway as
Nassau and Bermudawithout a shot being fired.
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The land was unsuited to the plantations they set up and most of
the farms failed within a fewyears. When the Crown outlawed the
slave trade in 1807, the Royal Navy began interceptingships and
depositing freed slaves in The Bahamas. Many Loyalists left after
emancipation, oftenbequeathing their lands to their former slaves,
who eked out a living from fishing and subsistencefarming. Full
equality and political rights, however, proved more elusive, for
the post-slavery erawas marked by the rule of an elite minority of
whites over an under-represented black majority.
SLAVERY IN THE BAHAMAS
The earliest English Bahamians were generally small-plot
farmers, occasionally supplementingtheir farming income by looting
shipwrecks and piracy. The islands were known as a key base
forBluebeard and other pirates through the first decades of the
18th century. Most of these whitecolonists were not large
landowners, so African slavery developed more slowly in the
Bahamasthan in several nearby islands. But it did develop,
gradually changing the Bahamas into amajority-black population.
The first black Bahamians were free immigrants who arrived when
Bermuda decided to banish allof its free blacks, and some of its
more "troublesome" slaves, to Eleuthera. As late as 1788, the
black population on Eleuthera was still mostly free. But in
other parts of the islands, most of theearliest black Bahamians
were Yoruba, Kongo, Ibo, Mandingo, Fulani, and Hausa West
Africansand their descendants who had been stolen from their homes
to serve as slaves for the Englishplanters. By 1734 more than a
third of Bahamians were black slaves, and another 5 percent
werefree people of color. The first Bahamian slave laws had been
passed in 1723, restricting themobility and rights of black
Bahamians. In the text of those laws the terms "Negroes,"
"Negroesand Indians," and "Slaves" were all used interchangeably,
indicating clearly that even blackBahamians who were not enslaved
were also not completely free.
In the late 1700s the Bahamas became a popular refuge for
British Loyalists from the Americancolonies who chose to flee as
the revolution approached. Many of these were Southernslaveholders
who brought their slaves with them, and as a result, the black
presence in theBahamas also grew rapidly. By the 1780s blacks
formed the majority of the Bahamian population.
decent treatment of Bahamian slaves, black Bahamians were
certainly no more "content" to beslaves than any other enslaved
individuals. The persistence of advertisements for runaway
slaves(maroons), and the existence of maroon settlements (see
Maroonage in the Americas) designedto harbor those former slaves
safely, make this clear. The first Bahamian slaves often served
asdomestic or farm help for their owners, who usually could afford
only one or two slaves. But bythe beginning of the 19th century
there were several white Bahamians wealthy enough to ownhundreds of
slaves, sometimes spread out over several farms. The great majority
of Bahamianslaves continued to serve as domestic and field workers,
with smaller numbers employed as saltmine workers, mariners,
tradesmen, or midwives.
EMANCIPATION AND ECONOMICSThe abolition of slavery in all
British territories in 1834 freed 10,000 black Bahamians, who
were
thus ready to find a new role in Bahamian society (see Role of
Slaves in Abolition andEmancipation in Latin America and the
Caribbean). During the period of apprenticeship thatlasted until
1838, former slaves were obligated to remain on their former
owners' land in return forsome form of payment that was agreed to
individually. Even after apprenticeship had ended,many black
Bahamians chose to remain employed as farmers and fishermen, the
occupationsmost Bahamians had traditionally pursued. Those who were
able to learn a craft or receive ahigher education were quick to
take advantage of these opportunities as well. In this way,
somenewly emancipated slaves were able to lay the foundation for
the black middle class oftradesmen, teachers, ministers, doctors,
and lawyers that would continue to grow.
