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Bahamas - History |
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The date was October 12th, 1492. Columbus, in search of gold, spices and treasure, was searching for a new route to reach India--he had failed in his original quest, but had achieved something greater when he brought Western Civilization to the New World. Unfortunately, for the Arawaks, he also brought with him a few of the bad ideas and bad people, that plagued Western Civilization at the time, so that soon the original settlers of the islands--the Arawak Indians-- would be taken as slaves and wiped out, soon to be replaced by Negroes taken from the shores of the massive continent of Africa.
During the next few centuries the Bahamas would pass under the rule of Spain, for a brief time America and finally lay under the law of England. In between this period of almost 500 years, would pass many world and civil wars, pirates such as the infamous Blackbeard, boot legers and rum runners, and thanks to the discovery of the social principle of individual rights: the abolition of slavery. Though in terms of blood and genes the majority of Bahamians have relations with the Negroes who presently inhabit Africa, in terms of ideas, the Bahamas is primarily Western, by choice. Though many of the native festivals--such as Junkanoo-- have a tribal African flavour.
The dominant religions in the Bahamas various flavours Christianity, with a church dotting nearly every other street, though all religions are freely tolerated. Though the people of the Bahamas consider the Bahamas to a "Christian Country" in practice this is really the case, as most children are born to illegitimate parents. The native language is English--with of course some colourful and charming native "improvements" (falsely termed mis-pronunciations by outsiders).
Today, the Bahamas is a democracy, with open elections held every 5 years, with a Constitution based (for the most part) on the right of each man to life, liberty and property--honestly acquired. Since the birth of the Bahamas as a sovereign in 1973, vast improvements have been made to the country by the governments of Mr. Pindling.
Under the FNM, the borders of the Bahamas were further opened to foreign industry, talent and dollars--the life blood of the country, without which the Bahamas would soon reach the economic and moral level of its' Caribbean neighbour Haiti. The cosmopolitan nature of the Bahamas as a meeting place of all cultures, people, and dollars, situated in tropical paradise, sets the seeds for the Bahamas as the center point for peace, prosperity, and happiness in our ever-changing world. |
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It
was the famous Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, in an expedition
backed by the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who first set
foot on the Island of Guanahani--or San Salvador as it is know today--one
of the 700 plus islands that make up the archipelago, known today as the
Commonwealth of the Bahamas. 
Though
the Arawaks did little for modern ideas we do credit them with adding a
few popular words to our language such as 'barbecue', according to some
scholars.
Bahamians
are modern in terms of speech, education and knowledge of the
world--unlike many Americans, Bahamians do know where the Bahamas is on
the map--"next to the country of Miami" (just kidding).
Though
first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Bahamas did not
become sovereign until July 10th, 1973, when it gained independence from
Great Britain, under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Sir. Lynden
Pindling.
Unfortunately
Mr. Pindling and many of the members in his government freely chose to use
their legitimately acquired power for illegitimate purposes, and within
roughly a decade his party was ousted and replaced by the FNM--led by
Prime Minister Hubert Ingrahm.
