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Thursday, 22 May, 2008
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Nassau's beautiful harbour lies on the 21-mile-long island of New Providence. Tiny Paradise Island protects Nassau harbour for a three-mile stretch. This sheltered harbour has attracted settlers since the early days. When the British colonists discovered the harbour in the late 1600s, some left the Bahamian island of Eleuthera to live on New Providence.
In 1670, King Charles II of England granted The Islands of the Bahamas to six British noblemen called the Proprietors. These men brought British settlers from Bermuda to the island of New Providence. There they built a fort and a city, which they called Charlestown, in honour of the king. Several years later, the city was renamed Nassau, to honour William, Prince of Orange-Nassau, the successor to the throne of England.
Although some of the religious farmers from Eleuthera lived in Nassau, most of its population were pirates, privateers or wreckers (people who lured ships to run aground on the reefs and then plundered the cargo from the shipwrecks). In an attempt to stop the plundering, the Spanish and French fleets attacked and destroyed Nassau periodically over the following years. However, the lawless citizens would always return and rebuild the port city.
In 1718, Great Britain declared The Islands of the Bahamas a Crown colony and named former privateer Woodes Rogers as its first Royal Governor. Rogers flushed out the pirates from Nassau, restored law and order and built Fort Nassau.
After accomplishing his mission Rogers left the islands, but returned in 1729 at the request of the Bahamians. He opened the first House of Assembly in The Bahamas and presided over the colony until his death. The assembly adopted Rogers’ official motto, "Expulsis Piratis, Restituta Commercia" which means "Pirates Expelled, Commerce Restored".
During the Revolutionary War, British Loyalists fleeing America in the 1770s settled in Nassau. They added to the town’s architecture, population and prosperity. During the American Civil War and Prohibition, Nassau grew and prospered as it was ideally situated for shipping blockaded goods to the United States.
Since Nassau is the capital city of The Islands of the Bahamas and has always been home to most of the country’s population, its history is intricately interwoven with that of the country.
