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 some researchers believe to be present-day San Salvador Island, (also known as Watling's Island) in the southeastern Bahamas.
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.
Bahamas
The Lucayans throughout the Bahamas were wiped out as a result of
Spanish forced migration of the population to Hispaniola for use as
forced labour there, and exposure to diseases to which they had no immunit
. The smallpox that ravaged the Taino Indians after Columbus's arrival wiped out half of the population in what is now The Bahamas.
Bahamas
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.
Bahamas
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.
In 1684 Spain's corsair Juan de Alcon raided the capital, Charles Town (later renamed Nassau), and in 1703 a joint Franco-Spanish expedition briefly occupied the Bahamian capital during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Bahamas
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.
In 1720, Rogers led local militia to drive off a Spanish attack.
Bahamas
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, and the city surrendered without a fight.
Bahamas
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.
Bahamas
20th century
Modern political development began after the Second World War. The first political parties were formed in the 1950s and the British made the islands internally self-governing in 1964, with Sir Roland Symonette of the United Bahamian Party as the first premier.
The fourth James Bond film
Thunderball was partly filmed in 1965 in Nassau.
Bahamas
In 1967, Sir Lynden Pindling
of the Progressive Liberal Party became the first black premier of the
colony, and in 1968 the title was changed to prime minister. In 1973,
The Bahamas became fully independent, but retained membership in the Commonwealth of Nations.
Sir Milo Butler was appointed the first Bahamian governor-general (the
representative of Queen Elizabeth II) shortly after independence.
Based on the twin pillars of tourism and offshore finance, the
Bahamian economy has prospered since the 1950s. However, there remain
significant challenges in areas such as education, health care, housing,
international narcotics trafficking and illegal immigration from Haiti.
Bahamas
The College of The Bahamas
is the national higher education/tertiary system. Offering
baccalaureate, masters and associate degrees, COB has three campuses and
teaching and research centres throughout The Bahamas. The College is in
the process of becoming The University of The Bahamas as early as 2012.
Bahamas 
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IBRAHIM KHALIL
