White Bahamians are Bahamian citizens of European ancestry, most of whom trace their ancestry back to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Bahamians of European descent are sometimes called "

Conchs Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Ame ...

", a term that is also applied to people of White Bahamian descent in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. White Bahamians were a majority in the 18th century, but now constitute less than 5% of the Bahamian population. White Bahamians are largely concentrated in

Eleuthera Eleuthera () refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the ...

, the Abaco Islands, Long Island, and New Providence.

History

Chritopher Columbus's first landfall in the Americas was in the Bahamas, but after the Spanish had removed all of the native

Lucayans The Lucayan people ( ) were the original residents of the Bahamas before the European conquest of the Americas. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first indigenous Ame ...

from the archipelago by 1520, they showed little interest in the islands. A group of religious dissidents from

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

who settled on

in 1648 consisted primarily of people of European descent, but included a few slaves of African descent. Later migrants from Bermuda to Eleuthera also consisted primarily of white people, but included a few free and enslaved black people. Starting in 1666, immigrants, again primarily white, from Bermuda,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, and elsewhere began settling on New Providence and other islands in the Bahamas. By 1783 blacks outnumbered whites in the Bahamas. The Bahamas remained loyal to Britain during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. During and after the war, approximately 1,600 white Loyalist refugees, many with slaves of African descent, settled in the Bahamas. A survey in 1783 found 1,380 taxable persons, presumably adult males, in the islands. About two-thirds of those taxable persons were black, primarily slaves. In 1788, the number of white male heads of families had increased by a little over one-half, while the number of slaves had almost tripled. Black Bahamian slaves were emancipated in 1834, but white Bahamians remained an economic and social elite in the Bahamas. No new land was provided to emancipated slaves and Black Bahamians were denied equal political rights and access to education. Many Black Bahamians lived in conditions of quasi-slavery, working for wealthy white Bahamians. After World War II, greater accessibility to the US mainland led to the rapid growth of industry. The minority white population benefited most from this new-found prosperity, as they controlled the government and economy. White Bahamians owned many successful hotels, restaurants, and stores at a time when American money was flowing into the economy and causing the construction of numerous new hotels and other establishments. In 1966, White Bahamians constituted approximately 11.5% of the population of the Bahamas. Though the number of White Bahamians has not decreased since this time, the proportion of White Bahamians within the population of the Bahamas has decreased due to the higher birth rate of Afro-Bahamians, the largest ethnic group in the country.

Demographics

White Bahamians constitute the majority (81.95%) of the district of

Spanish Wells Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, which is located on St. George's Cay and Russell Island, north of

. White Bahamians are also a significant minority in Long Island (18.07%) and the Abaco Islands (13.76%), in which several settlements and small cays are majority white. The largest concentration of white people in the Bahamas is in New Providence, which is home to 9,436 white Bahamians as of 2010.

References

{{Authority control European diaspora in North America Scottish Caribbean Ethnic groups in the Bahamas European Caribbean

History

Demographics

See also

References