Is The Bahamas Part Of The US?

Is the Bahamas a part of the United States? No, the Bahamas is not a state of the United States; instead, it is a self-governing, independent country that is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Caribbean Community.

Photo by Fernando Jorge on Unsplash

The archipelago was historically popular with loyalists and pirates, but it is now one of the swankiest holiday spots for the wealthy. Anyone who enjoys boating, fishing, sailing, or snorkeling will be spoiled for choice! The Bahamas is a dream come true for all beach lovers out there.

When did Columbus first set foot in the Bahamas?

The Bahamas were Columbus's first land discovered in the New World when he arrived on one of the Bahamas islands on October 12, 1492. They remained a Spanish possession for the following 300 years, albeit by 1600, they had depopulated and enslaved most of the native population and abandoned the islands. The Bahamas were legally given to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

When did the American colonists arrive in the Bahamas?

The Battle of Nassau (3-4 March 1776), when Continental forces attacked the British outpost in the (now) Bahamian capital and took all of the weapons and gunpowder from its arsenal. This was one of the first battles in the American Revolution and the first victory ever won by the American Navy and Marine Corps. The two weeks that America occupied Nassau were the only time our forces ever controlled any part of the Bahamas (and it happened four months before the Declaration of Independence).

When did the Bahamas gain their independence?

Spain reclaimed the islands in 1782 but returned them to Britain a year later when the peace treaty was signed. Following the war, many Loyalists from the 13 Colonies relocated to the Bahamas. I published an article in one of my publications many years ago about how many North Carolina families staged a reunion with long-lost relatives whose grandparents had opted to remain British after the Revolution and relocated to the Bahamas.

In the 1910s, there was a movement for the Bahamas to join the Dominion of Canada, but this never happened. The Bahamas never had a movement calling for annexation by the US. They gained self-government in 1964, but being subject to British suzerainty. The Bahamas remained a British Crown Colony until 1973, when it gained independence as a Commonwealth Realm.