About Bahamas All Inclusive
The Bahamas was first discovered by the Europeans in 1492 when Christopher Columbus mistakenly thought he had found a route to the East Indies. He found the island inhabited by the Lucayans and exchanged gifts with them. Later slave traders would return and take many of the inhabitants to work the mines of Hispaniola. The islands were once lush with forest but the Spaniards cleared the land for plantation growing and the islands have never been the same since.
The islands of the Bahamas became the perfect place for pirates and well into the 17th Century, pirates plundered traffic between the New World and Europe. The Bahamas economy became centered on the pirate trade and wrecking. Wrecking involved salvaging goods from ships that had been wrecked. Unfortunately, for the survivors of the wrecked ships, ‘wreckers’ were not interested in helping them. Charles Town was destroyed by the French and Spanish fleet in 1703 and the local declared New Providence a Privateers Republic. This was the age of Blackbeard and Nassau became the port of choice for pirates. The pirates were eventually eradicated in the early 1700s when Woodes Rogers was sent to restore ‘law and order’. Ironically, he was a former privateer. He helped to found the House of Assembly that has existed ever since.
The British lost control over the Bahamas during the American War of Independence to the Spanish. After the war, the British once again regained control of the Bahamas and granted much of the land to American Loyalist. Before the Loyalists received their grants of land, there were only about one thousand slaves present. Afterwards, more than triple the population of slaves would be brought in to run the plantations. Loyalist had high hopes for the plantations of cotton that they began to be cultivate but the land proved unsuitable. Most people can trace their heritage to the slaves that were brought in to farm the plantations. If you want to know more about this you can make a vacation and book an all inclusive bahamas trip.
The island has maintained its ‘piracy heritage’ over the years as it has been the renegade choice of many groups. The Confederates used the Bahamas as a base of operations during the Civil War. During prohibition in the US, rumrunners would smuggle alcohol into the US. In 1866, the islands were devastated by a killer hurricane that destroyed much of the islands.
Inhabitants of the Bahamas would deal with racial inequalities well into the 1940s. Even today, many social groups on the islands still harbor racial attitudes for mixed Caribbean people. The country began its economic growth in WWII when the Allies used the islands as a base for antisubmarine operations. Nassau’s airport would allow tourism to grow in leaps and bounds when Havana was closed to the US population. The country’s bank secrecy laws, lack of corporate income taxes and tourism would all help to strengthen the country’s financial situation.
Today, the islands are independent (since 1973) and self-governed. The Bahamas islands are recognized all over the world for its beautiful beaches and waters. The islands are one of the most sought after tourist destinations available today.