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Bahaman History
The first definite evidence of human settlement in the
Bahamas dates to the 7th century AD. A seafaring
people, the Taino (who later came to be known to Europeans as
"Lucayans") are known to have migrated into the archipelago
from Hispaniola and Cuba.
Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World at
San Salvador Island (also known as Watling's Island) in the southern
Bahamas in 1492. There is believed to have been
a population of around 40,000 Lucayans at the time of Columbus' landing,
but within a quarter century, the entire people had been virtually eliminated
by disease, warfare, and deportation and the imposition of slavery
(many Lucayans were taken to Hispaniola as slaves).
English settlers began to arrive in the Bahamas in
1647, which were by that time, virtually unoccupied. The islands became
a British crown colony in 1717, and following the American Revolution
(1775 to 1783), around 8,000 loyalists and their slaves arrived in
the islands. After the ending of slavery on the islands in 1834,
the population was further boosted by a steady trickle of fugitive
slaves from the United States.
Britain granted full internal self-government to the islands
in
1964,
and in
1973,
the islands became fully independent (although remaining a member of
the Commonwealth of Nations, and with the British Queen,
Queen Elizabeth II, as Queen of the Bahamas).
The Bahamas
joined CARICOM (at the time called "Caribbean Community and Common Market")
in 1974,
and after many years of prolonged economic growth,
today has the 3rd highest GDP in the western hemisphere
(after the
United States and
Canada).
Here are some books about the history of
the Bahamas:
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By Peter Barratt
AuthorHouse
Paperback (360 pages)
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BAHAMA SAGA is a chronicle of the human presence on a unique archipelago of the Americas. The story takes its title from a few invented characters and the romantic and beautiful country of seven hundred sub-tropical islands. The confetti of Bahamian islands has, at different times, been a locus for the three races of the planet. After the original Amerindian inhabitants perished, the Bahamas remained uninhabited for nearly 150 years until people from Bermuda - largely of English and African stock - re-settled the islands commencing in 1648. Not long afterwards many more Africans were brought to the Bahamas in bondage. Their descendants today hold the destiny of the islands in their hands. The geographical location of the Bahamas allowed the islands to play a brief, but important part in the history of the modern world. The eastern islands protrude out into the Atlantic Ocean so as to make them one of the nearest parts of the Americas to Europe and it was here that an explorer from Europe made a historic landfall at what, for him at least, was a 'New World' It was just over five hundred years ago that Christopher Columbus in 1492 'sailed the ocean blue' The islands on the western side are a mere 50 miles from the United States. Throughout time, events on the North American continent have had a major affect upon the history of the Bahama Islands as this well-written and intriguing story relates. |
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By Michael Craton
University of Georgia Press
Paperback (584 pages)
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The present work concludes the important and monumental undertaking of Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People, creating the most thorough and comprehensive history yet written of a Caribbean country and its people. In the first volume Michael Craton and Gail Saunders traced the developments of a unique archipelagic nation from aboriginal times to the period just before emancipation. This long-awaited second volume offers a description and interpretation of the social developments of the Bahamas in the years from 1830 to the present. Volume Two divides this period into three chronological sections, dealing first with adjustments to emancipation by former masters and former slaves between 1834 and 1900, followed by a study of the slow process of modernization between 1900 and 1973 that combines a systematic study of the stimulus of social change, a candid examination of current problems, and a penetrating but sympathetic analysis of what makes the Bahamas and Bahamians distinctive in the world. This work is an eminent product of the New Social History, intended for Bahamians, others interested in the Bahamas, and scholars alike. It skillfully interweaves generalizations and regional comparisons with particular examples, drawn from travelers' accounts, autobiographies, private letters, and the imaginative reconstruction of official dispatches and newspaper reports. Lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs and original maps, it stands as a model for forthcoming histories of similar small ex-colonial nations in the region. |
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By Michael Craton
Media Enterprises Ltd
Paperback (334 pages)
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By Jan Rogonzinski
Plume
Released: 2000-09-01
Mass Market Paperback (432 pages)
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This comprehensive volume takes the reader and student through more than five hundred years of Caribbean history, beginning with Columbus's arrival in the Bahamas in 1492. A Brief History of the Caribbean traces the people and events that have marked this constantly shifting region, encompassing everything from economic booms and busts to epidemics, wars, and revolutions, and bringing to life such important figures as Sir Francis Drake, Blackbeard, Toussaint Louverture, Fidel Castro, the Duvaliers, and Jean-Bertrand Aristide. This superbly written history, revised and updated, with new chapters that reflect the islands' most recent social, economic, and political developments, is a work of impeccable scholarship. Featuring maps, charts, tables, and photographs, it remains the ideal guide to the region and its people. |
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By K. A. Albury
Booksurge
Released: 2009-02-18
Kindle Edition
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Kate lived on Highborne Cay, Exuma in the Bahamas, for five years. Most people think it would be a vacation paradise to live and work on a small island, away from the stress and confusion of everyday life.
This book will tell otherwise. It is the true story of a woman who learned about courage, fortitude and patience as she continually faced extraordinary and often dangerous situations in a place that had no doctor, no police nor other emergency personnel. Her everyday experiences in an isolated surrounding provide excitement and give a fresh and thought-provoking view of unusual events that were part of her life on this tiny, unprotected island in the Caribbean.
From an armed robbery, drug traders and illegal immigrants, to medical mishaps and disasters at sea, Kate learned in those short five years that she and her husband, Peter, would be forced to step forward to protect the island and its people. |
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By Keith Tinker
Xlibris, Corp.
Paperback (170 pages)
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By Paul Albury
St Martins Pr
Hardcover
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