Grand Life Magazine Summer 23 - Flipbook - Page 57
CLAIMED BY THE SPANISH IN 1492... After the Spanish claimed the island in 1492, there was
barely a footprint to be seen on the beaches of Grand Bahama Island. The Lucayans were
enslaved and transported to work the gold and silver mines of Hispaniola and Cuba, and the
pearl fisheries of Margarita, near Trinidad. The conquerors gave the island the name “Gran
Bajamar” – great shallows – a term that eventually became the basis for The Islands of The
Bahamas themselves.
After they stole away its inhabitants, the Spanish seemed to have completely ignored Grand
Bahama Island. Once in a great while, a ship would drop anchor, perhaps scavenge a few
provisions, then sail off towards Europe or South America. More often than not, Grand Bahama
Island was viewed as a perilous landfall, due to the treacherous shallow reefs surrounding it. So
many ships would collide with the reefs that “wrecking” became a major livelihood of what few
inhabitants there were, most of who lived at West End. In hard times it wasn’t unheard of for
the townspeople to actually try and lure ships onto the reef with a well-placed lantern at night.
CLAIMED BY THE BRITISH IN 1670... Great Britain claimed The Islands of The Bahamas in 1670,
after British colonists left Bermuda for the island of Eleuthera, where they sought religious
independence. More followed, and other ports and colonies gradually developed, bringing in
their wake an army of pirates and privateers. Grand Bahama was probably well known to
famous pirates like Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Henry Morgan, as its reefs would have been
perfect for running aground vessels, a common pirate tactic. By 1720, the crown had
successfully established control over the pirates, and the island probably saw a lot fewer
visitors than it had during “the Golden Age of Piracy.” The sleepy colony lay largely undisturbed
for another 200 years, when history finally caught up with it again.
THE IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.... Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Grand
Bahama Island had largely been left alone by the outside world. There were plenty of sails on
the horizon as ships came and went through the Caribbean, but more often than not, they
passed by. Records from 1836 show that the population of West End numbered only about 370,
and many of those people abandoned the island for the greater opportunities in Nassau. In
1861, however, the flow of people reversed direction, and the population of the town virtually
doubled overnight. The reason was the American Civil War.
At the outbreak of the war, The Confederacy of Southern States, a mere 55 miles away,
immediately fell under a strict Union blockade and embargo. Getting goods such as sugar,
cotton, and weapons in and out of the Confederacy was essential to the war effort, and
smugglers operating out of West End were able to command hefty prices from the South. As
soon as the war ended, however, so did the boom, but the short burst of prosperity set an
important precedent: from then on, the history of Grand Bahama Island was intimately tied to
that of the United States.
