History

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 honor of King Charles II. The town was burnt to the ground by the Spanish in 1684, but later rebuilt and renamed Nassau in 1695 to honor King William III (formerly Prince of Orange-Nassau) and 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 (those who lured ships to the reefs and then plundered the cargo from the resulting shipwrecks). In an attempt to stop the plundering, Spanish and French fleets attacked and destroyed Nassau periodically over the following years. However, the lawless citizens always returned and rebuilt 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 contained most of the country’s population, its history is intricately woven into the country’s history.