HISTORY OF THE BAHAMAS

 

     I came to south Florida in 1952.  And yes, I have lived through every hurricane that hit the Treasure Coast which included Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.  So, as many of us who experienced them, my family and I have managed many good years living here.  Nevertheless, when those storms came, we prepared for them. It was quite an endurance test for survival.  But you know what?  It wasn’t the end of our world and we, fortunately, had minimal losses even without air conditioning and electricity.  But, needless to say, we are very thankful but not everyone has been that lucky.  Living here in the mecca of tourism we have taken advantage of many trips to Disney World and cruises to Europe and the Caribbean.

    BUT! On September 1, 2019, the eye of Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the Abaco Islands with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, making it the strongest hurricane on record to affect the Bahamas.  September 2, the eye of Dorian moved over the eastern end of Grand Bahama Island and drifted across the island wreaking devastation.  By Wednesday, September 12 weather forecasts indicated it was moving up the Florida coast.  I remember our anxiety was beginning to diminish but not eliminated.  As the air began to clear and I heard the news of the tragedy in the Bahamas, I couldn’t help but reminisce of our past visits to the Bahamas and felt sadness of what had happened there.

    When we used to take a few cruises to the Bahamas over the years, we enjoyed the amenities of the cruises as well as the sights of the islands but, I never really knew much about the history of the islands.  My research really has helped me realize why Dorian has left such damaged conditions to the Bahamas. It’s important to understand that the Bahamas, an archipelago is an ecological haven spreading over 100,000 square miles of ocean.  It includes beautiful breathtaking islands.

    The name Bahamas is of Lucayan or Arawakan derivation attributable to the early indigenous people who occupied the islands in the first millennium A.D.  Some historians believe the term is from the Spanish “bajamar” meaning “shallow water”.  The Bahamas however, occupy a unique position as a gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and South America.  

    Recorded history of the Bahamas began when on October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, sailing from Spain, landed on the Lucayan island called Guanabana later named San Salvador.  Eventually, the Spanish, finding no gold, held little interest in the Bahamas and abandoned them except as a source of slave labor. For many years, historians believed the Bahamas was not colonized.  However, recent studies show that by the 17^th century, groups from Spain, France, Britain and the Netherlands had made attempts to settle there.  Over the years, the Bahamians faced a multitude of vicissitudes.  There were conflicts with the Spanish over salvations from shipwrecks.  Privateers and pirates competed for positions of profit or control.  Slavery ended August 1, 1834.  The Bahamas remained a British Crown Colony until becoming independent as a Commonwealth Realm in 1973.  A high rate of unemployment and subsequent poverty is often attributed to a lack of economic diversity in the Bahamas. Sixty percent of the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) stems from tourism, at times, weakened due to political and economic instability.  We can see how terrible it is for the Bahamians to recuperate from such a storm.