Exuma

The history of the Islands of Exuma, just as the history of The Bahamas in general, is one of adventure, mishap, economic experimentation, and ironic eventual social justice. It tells of a people eradicated by explorers of a new world with the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, when the Arawaks/Lucayan Indians were savagely killed and/or driven away. But the Spanish’s stay was more transitory than the Arawaks. The value of the Island as part of this archipelagic Nation would not manifest itself until much later in time. There was no gold and therefore no real settlers until the British arrived around 1648. The 1700’s brought some economic hope with the mining and export of salt but the coves of the cays of the Exuma’s were often plagued with the mischief of pirates and buccaneers, hampering any real chance for stability.

World History changed the landscape of the Exumas again in the late 1700’s when British Loyalists left the Americas post the War of Independence. In an attempt to start a new and prosperous life, they turned to an old habit, slavery and cotton fields. Georgetown, the capitol of Exuma was founded in 1793 but by 1834 with the Emancipation Act and the abolition of all remnants of slavery, Georgetown became the capitol for a new people, a free people. Slave Owners abandoned the not so fertile grounds of Exuma, leaving “paradise” in the hands of the descendants of those who had been brought against their will. And so marked a new era for a Bahamas who has seen many peoples come and go, as economic failure and lack of vision tested and tried to see who would be worthy of calling the Exumas and The Bahamas, “home!”

Tourism has done what exploration, buccaneering, bootlegging, slavery, farming and fishing could not do. It has given the new Exumians a blue print for success. This blue print calls for the perfect balance of development/ investments with the wisdom of a people to secure their place in the future of Exuma. It is Anchor property coupled with an anchored way of life. If executed harmoniously, the now settlers of an Exuma and a Bahamas, which has always been a place of transition, may very well have secured an eternal relationship with a land whose purpose, mystery, and charm have long outlived the bloodline of those who passed its way.