Caribbean · BHS
Bahamas
The story · 9 chapters
How it was drawn
A chain of some seven hundred islands, emptied by Spain, settled by English colonists and pirates, and independent from Britain since 1973.
Play the story Take the first lessonThrough the ages
Rivals in history
The kingdoms, empires and states Bahamas fought or stood against, from the first to today.
- Crown of Castile1499 to 1520
Once Hispaniola's Taino population collapsed, Spanish slaving expeditions turned to the Bahamas and carried the Lucayans off to work in mines and on plantations. Within about twenty years the islands were almost empty.
- Spanish Empire1684 to 1783
Spain treated the English settlers as pirates. Its forces burned Charles Town in 1684, sacked Nassau with the French in 1703, were beaten off in 1720, and captured Nassau in 1782. A Loyalist force under Andrew Deveaux retook it in 1783.
- Pirates of Nassau1706 to 1718
After royal government collapsed, pirate captains ran Nassau as their own base for a decade, preying on shipping off Florida and the Caribbean. Woodes Rogers broke their hold in 1718 with pardons and hangings.
- United States1776 to 1783
In March 1776 a Continental fleet raided Nassau, the first landing by American marines, and carried off cannon and military stores. Americans raided the town again in 1778, before Spain captured it in 1782.
- British Empire1942 to 1973
The Burma Road riot of 1942, over low wages at an airfield project, began open protest against colonial rule and the Bay Street elite. Majority rule came in 1967 and independence, negotiated peacefully, in 1973.
- Cuba1980
In May 1980 Cuban military jets attacked and sank the Bahamian patrol vessel Flamingo, which had arrested Cuban fishing boats near Ragged Island. Four Bahamian marines were killed in the attack.
Today
Bahamas now
Lucayan Indians inhabited the Bahama islands when Christopher COLUMBUS first set foot in the New World in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Piracy thrived in the 17th and 18th centuries because of The Bahamas' close proximity to shipping lanes. Since gaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas has prospered through tourism, international banking, and investment management, which comprise up to 85% of GDP.
- Capital
- Nassau
- Government
- parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm
- Head of government
- Philip "Brave" Davis
- Head of state
- Charles III
- Languages
- English
- Area
- 13,878 km²
Through time
Then and now
- Population399,5002023 · 83,500 in 1950
- Life expectancy74.6 years2023 · 58.9 years in 1950
- Living in cities81%2025 · 51% in 1950
- Literacy78%1950
- Military alliancesRio Pact2024 · None of these in 1950
- War deathsNone2025
Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.
Relations
Close partners and tensions
Close partners
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Canada
Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.