How the Bahamas was able to prove to Britain that it will able to sustain itself if independence from Britain was granted?
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Dr. Robert Nash & Sydnee Viray
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Introduction:
The Bahamas officially known as the Commonwealth of Bahamas is an island country consisting of more than 700 islets, cays and islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It lies to the north of Cuba and Hispaniola (The Dominican Republic and Haiti). It is North West to Turks and Caicos Islands. To its South East lies the U.S. State of Florida and to the East Florida Keys. The rich variety of flora and fauna along with the aesthetic appeal of this conglomeration of islands country had attracted the British colonial rulers to The Bahamas. The Bahamas derived its name from the Spanish name “Baja Mar”, where the letter “J” is pronounced more like the English letter ”H” and the land masses were islands. Hence, they came to be known as The Bahamas. The capital of this country is Nassau. The topic I choose for this research paper is the process of independence for the Bahamas and the team players that lead the Bahamas to that great moment in Bahamian history. The information collected on this topic depicts a vague incite to the problem faced. The topic of independence is not portrayed in-depth; it is seen simply as a national celebration that is to be celebrated on the tenth of July every year. Children and adults look forward to this day as a day off to rest as it is a holiday on our Bahamian calendar. It is not lamented upon and seen for the trials and tribulations faced by the Bahamas and Bahamians as to why independence from Great Britain was chosen.
History:
It is believed that Bahamas were inhabited during the first millennium A.D by people who came from what is now known as Cuba. The earliest settlers in these islands were Lucayans, and Arawakan speaking Tarino people. The Lucayans mean the island people. In a short time, the Spanish people overpowered the Lucayans and lured / forced them to slave labor and thereby destroying the entire indigenous race.
Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492 landed on the island of Guanahani according to an alternative story, which was renamed by him as San Salvador. He described the islands as “baja mar” meaning shallow sea. The actual location is still a matter of conflict. Columbus took the initial possession of the islands with great pomp and show in the name of Spain and as per the Treaty of Tordesillas between and Spain and Portugal in 1494. The Lucanyans being of peaceful nature made them an easy target for Coloumbus.
British Colonization
The nation of Britain was a powerful one and they showed interest in the islands began in 1629 when Charles I granted Robert Heath, the then attorney general of England, territories in America, including Bahamas and all the other isles and islands lying on the southern side on the aforementioned continent. The islands were visited by many privateers and pirates, most well known being Blackbeard, Calico and Mary Read, during the late 1600s to early 1700s. The shallow waters were a perfect hiding spot for treasure, which was aided by the 700 islands. During the 17th century, there was religious discontent brewing in the European continents. At that time, Captain William Sayle, who was the Governor of Bermuda twice, took leadership during this discontent and formed an enterprise called as “Company of the Eleutherans”. He along with the dissidents of Bermuda sailed to the Bahamas where he said that the dissidents could worship as they liked. When they sailed to the Bahamas, they thought that they would be able to establish a flourishing plantation there under favorable conditions. But their hopes were dashed, when they encountered stiff Spanish opposition, unproductive soil and internal discord. After a short span of time, Captain William Sayle, along with some of the settlers returned home with a heavy heart. The New Providence Island had had a good harbor, named Gnaws, with two entrances / exits, primarily inhabited by seafarers. It is also said that the Bahamians were probably the first people in the world who developed the “commerce of wrecking” or in other words salvaging the goods from wrecked ships. The wrecking slowly turned into privateering and later pirating.
The pirating was put to an end by the combined forces of French and Spain. They sacked and burned Gnaws. It was the rebuilt quickly and continued to prosper until the onset of American Revolutionary War, when both America and England took everything that they could from the Bahamas to fight for each other. In 1961, Cuba was closed to American tourists, opening the doors of good fate for the Bahamas.
Early Economy of the Bahamas:
During the early 15th century, capitalism was rising the as the new socio economic system. The main thrust of this was the production of commodities for sale at home and abroad in the hope of making profit whereas in the Bahamas it was the slavery system. The Spaniards attempted to produce money directly by slave labor. In this matter, the Portuguese were the main supplier of slaves. The infamous “triangle trade” from Europe to Americas and back to Europe was the last main link required to forge the capitalist world market. This further stimulated the division of labor in Europe. And contributed to the upsurge in the growth of Western European economies. Due to the inhumane conditions, these slaves had to endure during their slavery, at the end of the 18th century and early 19th century, there was a rise in nationalist and anti slavery revolution in Haiti, Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1838, slavery was abolished in the British Caribbean. This event sounded the death knell for of slavery throughout the New World. The U.S., Cuba and Brazil were among the last countries to end the plantation slave system. The Great Depression that swept the North Americas and European economies caused an intolerable situation to boil over in the Caribbean Islands. As a result of these revolts and upsurges in these islands, the British government was forced to make some concessions just before the onset of World War II. By the end of the war, some amount of interim governance was granted to the larger Caribbean Islands such as Jamaica and Trinidad.
After World War I had ended, these islands served as a base for the American rumrunners. During World War II, all the Allies concentrated anti submarine operations for the Caribbean and their flight training in the Bahamas. Since then, the place has become a major tourist attraction and a financial services centre. As, these islands in a short span of time demonstrated an increased capability to garner wealth and modernize effectively, there was pressure mounted for political independence from Britain. The island committee of the Bahamas deserved this freedom after facing many years of oppression from various colonial rulers from around the world. This was achieved through a series of constitutional and political steps. The British made their first mistake by granting self-government status in the year 1964. This was followed by other movements which finally led to the independence from the oppressive rule of the Britishers.
Economy of the Bahamas:
Bahamas were granted independence from British rule on July 10, 1973. This was due to the efforts of Lynden Pindling, of the Progressive Liberal party (PLP) who during a watershed incident in the month of April 1965, threw the symbolic golden mace out of the window of the House of Assembly in anger against the United Bahamian Party (UBP), a body mainly dominated by the people with the European ancestry, controlled the colonial government of Bahamas’ at the body’s expulsion of another black member for filibustering. In the year 1967, Pindling won the control of the government and led the Bahamas to independence. He remained the prime minister till 1992 and died in August 2000.
During the 1980’s reputation of the Bahamas was tarnished as the crime rates increased and there were innumerable reports that stated that the Bahamas provided a haven for the drug traffickers. This was all a part of post independence drama where the nation tries to come together as a whole but there are always some who want to stop people from being able to preogress. The reports mentioned that these islands were providing major cover to the drug racketeers. There was dissent in the PLP due to these reports. Hence in the year 1990 a coalition of former UBP members and PLP dissidents formed the Free National Movement (FNM). This party was led by Hubert Ingraham. His party took a pro-business approach than the PLS favoring easing restrictions on free enterprise and limiting the public sector. He came to power during the general elections which were held in the year 1992. He was again re-elected in March 1997. The prime focus of his party was job creation and economic development. He was helped by the US economy during his tenure of rule. This support of the US helped to support and give impetus to the Bahamas tourist industry.
However, due to the urban-in migration pattern tended to accelerate at a very fast pace thereby putting tremendous strain on the island’s infrastructure and thereby prompting the concern that the issues vital to the outer islands which are communication services and product development of local resources were being neglected.
During September 1999, the Hurricane Floyd inflicted severe damage to the Bahamas’ Islands. This was a major setback to the ongoing development programmes of the government. The government was unwilling to let a hurricane stop the Bahamas from progressing. From that time onwards, the government has been relying heavily on outside financial assistance from international friends. This financial assistance has been able to assist the government in the reconstruction process of the islands, which has now slowly regained normalcy.
It also established itself as an attractive centre for offshore banking and related financial services. This dual approach has helped the Bahamas Islands immensely to its economy. The major risk was however associated with the lenient banking practices with laundering of money and the link between drug trafficking and money laundering. To counter this government passed stringent laws to prevent money laundering in the banking sector in 1995. During year 2000, the government’s handling of Bahamasair came under severe scrutiny. The government had pumped in $45 million into the dying airline to curb the loss. The extra money was used to clear other debts, including a backlog of taxes and nearly $16 million to the US Internal Revenue and the Immigration and Naturalization Services.
The ruling government was also under severe pressure due to recession, and the revenue collection was down. The deficit was about to rise. Along with this, the terror attack of World Trade Centre, on September 11, 2001 gave a blow to the tourism industry of the Bahamas. In the year 2002, the opposition party PLP won the parliamentary elections. The main focus of this party was to increase the budget for the country’s financial services which included an expansion of the offshore financial services. In 2003, the priority was gaining an entry into the World Trade Organization. From this year onwards, the tourism industry and the financial services contributed in a major way to the economy of the Bahamas and it is said that tourism contributes to 60% of the economy whereas the offshore services along with business services contribute to 35% of the economy. Today, more than half of the country’s personnel acquire jobs from tourism. It is now one of the most preferred tourist destinations.
In this way, Bahamas proved that it could sustain itself after it gained independence from Britain.
References
Encyclopedia Britannica,. 'The Bahamas (Islands, West Indies) :: History'. Last modified 2013. Accessed October 19, 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/48951/The-Bahamas/54757/History.
Encyclopedia Britannica,. 'The Bahamas (Islands, West Indies) :: British Colonization'. Last modified 2013. Accessed October 19, 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/48951/The-Bahamas/54758/British-colonization.
Keyshistory.org,. 'History Of The Bahamas'. Last modified 2014. Accessed October 19, 2014. http://www.keyshistory.org/bahamas.html.
Keyshistory.org,. 'History Of The Bahamas'. Last modified 2014. Accessed October 19, 2014. http://www.keyshistory.org/bahamas.html.
David, C Wong, A review of the Caribbean Political Economy: Latin American Perspectives,42,1(3) (Sage Publications:1984), 131-135
Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Bahamas review 2013: Country Watch (Houston, TX:2013), 8-15
Bahamas.co.uk,. 2014. 'The Official UK Website, The Island Of The Bahamas | The Islands Of The Bahamas'. http://www.bahamas.co.uk. Bahamas.co.uk,. 2014.
'Tourism / Independence | The Islands Of The Bahamas'. http://www.bahamas.co.uk/about-the-bahamas/bahamas-history/tourism-independence.
Encyclopedia Britannica,. 2013. 'The Bahamas (Islands, West Indies) :: Independence'. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/48951/The-Bahamas/54759/Independence.
