BGCSE History key terms

The Indigenous Taino-speaking people living in the Bahamas when Europeans arrived, organised into chiefdoms and living by fishing, farming and gathering. Spanish slavers removed most of them within a few decades after 1492.

A Caribbean Indigenous people of the Greater Antilles whose culture, language and farming practices were shared with the Lucayans of the Bahamas. Their villages grew cassava and other root crops.

The transatlantic movement of plants, animals, people and diseases that began with Columbus's voyages in 1492. It transformed Caribbean diets and helped cause catastrophic Indigenous population decline through disease.

English Puritan settlers who arrived in the Bahamas in the 1640s seeking religious freedom. Led by William Sayle, they settled Eleuthera, struggled with supply shortages, and split into rival factions.

The first Royal Governor of the Bahamas, appointed in 1718, who suppressed piracy, offered pardons, and restored lawful government. His measures helped make Nassau a settled colony rather than a pirate haven.

The period around 1700-1720 when Nassau served as a base for pirates attacking Caribbean shipping. Pirates dominated local affairs until Governor Woodes Rogers arrived with authority to suppress them.

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution and moved to the Bahamas after 1783, often bringing enslaved people. They reshaped Bahamian politics, landholding and the cotton economy.

A plantation crop promoted in the Bahamas by Loyalist settlers after 1783, grown mainly on Out Islands with enslaved labour. Soil exhaustion and pests caused the industry to collapse within a few decades.

The salvage of cargo and vessels from ships wrecked on Bahamian reefs, a major nineteenth-century industry centred on Abaco, Grand Bahama and Nassau. Wreckers were licensed and their disputes went to vice-admiralty courts.

The harvesting of natural sea sponges, which became the Bahamas' leading export from the mid-nineteenth century. Overfishing and a blight in the 1930s destroyed the industry and deepened economic hardship.

A colonial court with jurisdiction over maritime matters such as salvage, prize and wreck disputes. In the Bahamas these courts handled wrecking claims and sometimes enslaved people freed from illegal slaving ships.

An agricultural economy based on large estates worked by enslaved or coerced labour and producing cash crops for export. In the Bahamas it was weaker than in sugar islands because soils were thin and land was plentiful.

A society whose economy, law and social hierarchy are built on the ownership of enslaved people. In the Bahamas enslaved people often worked in households, on small farms and at sea rather than on large sugar estates.

A system in which enslaved people are treated as movable property that can be bought, sold and inherited. Bahamian law and practice denied enslaved people legal personality and controlled their movement and family life.

Britain's 1807 law banning British subjects from carrying enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. British naval patrols then intercepted slavers, and some liberated Africans were landed and settled in the Bahamas.

Africans freed from illegal slave ships by British naval patrols and resettled in colonies such as the Bahamas. Many settled in Nassau and Out Island communities, adding new cultural influences to Bahamian life.

The British law that abolished slavery in most British colonies, taking effect on 1 August 1834. It compensated slave owners and imposed a transitional period of apprenticeship on the formerly enslaved.

A transitional labour scheme after 1834 that kept formerly enslaved people working unpaid for their former owners for part of each week. Harsh conditions and resistance led Britain to end it early in 1838.

The annual commemoration on the first Monday in August of the ending of slavery in the British Empire. In the Bahamas it is a public holiday marked by Junkanoo and cultural events.

A Bahamian festival of costumed parades, drumming and brass music held mainly at Christmas and New Year. Its roots lie in enslaved and free African-Bahamian cultural traditions of masking and celebration.

The elected lower chamber of the Bahamian Parliament, dating from the eighteenth century. It controls taxation and the executive, and its members are chosen in general elections.

The appointed upper chamber of the Bahamian legislature, later replaced by the Senate at independence. Members were nominated by the governor and later by the political parties in proportion to seats.

The upper house of the Bahamas Parliament established at independence in 1973. Its members are appointed on the advice of the prime minister and opposition leader rather than elected.

A system in which the executive must answer to an elected legislature rather than only to a governor or monarch. The Bahamas moved toward this through the ministerial system and internal self-government in the 1960s.

A stage of constitutional development in which a colony manages most of its own domestic affairs while Britain retains control of defence and foreign policy. The Bahamas reached this in 1964 under a new constitution.

The supreme law that took effect when the Bahamas became independent on 10 July 1973. It establishes a parliamentary democracy, constitutional monarchy, fundamental rights and the structure of government.

The Bahamas' separation from British colonial rule on 10 July 1973, following negotiations led by Lynden Pindling. The country became a sovereign state within the Commonwealth with the Queen as head of state.

Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party who became the first Prime Minister of an independent Bahamas in 1973. He dominated Bahamian politics from 1967 to 1992 and shaped the modern state.

The 1967 transfer of political power to the black Bahamian majority after the Progressive Liberal Party won the general election. It ended decades of minority control in the House of Assembly.

A political party founded in 1953 that drew support from the black majority and trade unions. It won power in 1967 and led the Bahamas to independence in 1973.

A 1942 protest by Bahamian labourers over low wages and poor conditions on a wartime airfield project. The unrest exposed racial and class tensions and strengthened the labour movement.

The organised efforts of Bahamian workers in the 1930s and 1940s to win better wages and conditions through unions and strikes. It became a major force behind the push for political change.

The campaign to extend the right to vote beyond propertied men to women and poorer citizens. In the Bahamas women gained the vote in 1962, widening participation before Majority Rule.

The economic slump of the 1930s that hit the Bahamas through falling trade, the collapse of the sponge industry and high unemployment. It fuelled labour unrest and demands for political reform.

The Caribbean Community, a regional organisation promoting economic integration, trade and cooperation among Caribbean states. The Bahamas joined in 1983 but does not participate in all parts of the common market.

A short-lived political union of British Caribbean colonies formed in 1958 and dissolved in 1962. The Bahamas did not join, but the experiment shaped later regional cooperation efforts.

The movement of people into or out of the Bahamas, including enslaved Africans, Loyalists, liberated Africans, Haitian and other Caribbean migrants, and Bahamians seeking work abroad. It has shaped population and culture.

Evidence created at the time of the events studied, such as letters, laws, newspapers, maps or oral testimony. Historians use it to interpret the past while judging its author's purpose and bias.

An account produced after the events it describes, such as a textbook or scholarly article, often drawing on primary evidence. It reflects the author's interpretation and should be compared with other sources.

The study of how history has been written and interpreted over time, including changing questions, methods and viewpoints. It encourages candidates to compare historians' accounts rather than accept a single narrative.