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Grand Bahama: Accessible, Beaches and Casinos |
When Christopher Columbus visited our island in 1492 he called it Gran Bajamar - 'Great Shallows,' from which the name Grand Bahama was derived. However, the name of the island's capital city, Freeport/Lucaya, is probably better known to the world today than the name of the island itself.
Grand Bahama Island is more than just Freeport/Lucaya, more than just casinos, resorts, and tropical entertainment. Outside the city is an entire island filled with gorgeous beaches, natural wonders, including one of the world's largest underwater cave systems, three national parks, and an incredible resource of marine life. There are small towns that seem to sleep in time, and they hide a history unlike any other in the Caribbean.......
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 | A Smuggler's Paradise |  by Conchy Joe
Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Grand Bahama Island had largely been left alone by the outside world. There were plenty of sails on the horizon as ships came and went through the Caribbean, but more often than not they passed by. Records from 1836 show that the population of West End numbered only about 370, many of whom abandoned the island for the greater opportunities in Nassau. In 1861, however, the flow of people reversed direction, and population of the town virtually doubled overnight. The reason was the American Civil War.
At the outbreak of the war, The Confederacy of Southern States, a mere 55 miles away, immediately fell under a strict Union blockade and embargo. Getting goods such as sugar, cotton, and weapons in and out of the Confederacy was essential to the war effort, and smugglers operating out of West End were able to command hefty prices from the South. As soon as the war ended, however, so did the boom, but the short burst of prosperity set an important precedent: from then on, the history of Grand Bahama Island was intimately tied to that of the United States.
.. More . . . | "I can't see why people want to know what I do. Can't they go divin', fishin', and boatin', and leave me alone?"
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