History of The Bahamas

History of The Bahamas. . , Bimini's Early Beginnings , Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon is said to have plied the waters of Bimini in his famous sailing voyage of 1513. Searching for the Fountain of Youth, he also hoped to find slaves as well as new lands for development., In the 1600s and 1700s, Bimini was a popular haunt for pirates, due to its location in the Gulf Stream. By 1840, a small number of permanent settlers struggled unsuccessfully to make a living from fishing, sponge, diving, and growing sisal for rope making., A Boon for the Island , When Prohibition was enacted in the U.S. in 1919, Bimini reaped the rewards. Its population of 600 people soon swelled, along with its economy. The island experienced a huge influx of liquor and cash as it became a base of operations for rum runners from Nassau., Arthur Ernest Hemingway also brought notoriety to Bimini when he lived and worked there. Capturing his island experience, he penned the prize-winning books The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream., 2007 - Hubert Ingraham is reelected Prime Minister, 2002 - Ferry Christie becomes the third Prime Minister of the Bahamas , 2001 - Dame Ivy Dumont becomes the first female Governor-General , 2000 - Sir Lynbden Pinding dies. , 1992 - Hubert Ingraham became Prime Minister, ending 25 years of rule by the Progressive Liberal Party. , 1973 - The Bahamas gained Independence. , 1969 - Official status is changed from British colony to Commonwealth of the Bahamas. , 1967 - Lynden Pindling became the first black Premier in the islands' first legislative elections. , 1964 - The Bahamas is granted self-governance. , 1940-45 - The Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VII of Great Britain, abdicates his throne and is appointed governor of The Bahamas. The islands served as a sea and air way-station for Allied forces during World War II. , 1861 - Bahamians aid the Confederates during the American Civil War and are blockaded by Union forces. , 1834 - The Emancipation Act granted freedom to all slaves. , 1783 - Spain ceded The Bahamas to Britain. British Loyalists and their African slaves began to establish plantations. , 1782 - Spain occupies the islands. , 1717 - The Bahamas became a British Crown colony. Woodes Rogers was appointed the first royal governor and eradicated piracy. , 1666 - Colonization of New Providence Island begins., 1648 - "The Golden Age of Piracy" dominated the islands until the mid-1700s. , 1647 - English and Bermudian religious refugees, the Eleuthera Adventures, established the first European settlement in the Bahamas. , 1492 - Christopher Columbus makes his first landing in the New World in the Bahamas. , 800s- Tainos (Lucayans), from South America, began to settle in the islands.,