Conch () was originally a

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

term for

Bahamians Bahamians are people originating or having roots from The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. One can also become a Bahamian by acquiring citizenship. History Culture Olympic Games World Championships in Athletics List * Sidney Poitier, fi ...

of European descent.

Theories of the name

After the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, many

loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

migrated to the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

. Some of the loyalists looked down on the original white Bahamians and called them Conchs, possibly because shellfish was a prominent part of their diet. Some other theories that have been proposed for the origin of the term are: *The Bahamians told the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

authorities that they would "eat conch" before paying taxes levied by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. *The adventurers from

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located 40 miles (64 km) south of downtown Jacksonville, the city is on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spani ...

(then part of British

East Florida East Florida () was a colony of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of the Spanish Empire from 1783 to 1821. The British gained control over Spanish Florida in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Tre ...

) who recaptured Nassau from the

Spanish 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

in 1782 hoisted a flag with a shell rampant on a field of canvas. *The first regiment of militia in Nassau adopted a regimental flag with a gold conch shell on a blue field.

Use in Florida

Florida Keys

By extension, the term ''Conch'' has also been applied to the descendants of Bahamian immigrants in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Bahamians began visiting the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

in the 18thcentury to catch turtles, cut timber, and salvage wrecks. During the 19thcentury and the first half of the 20thcentury, most of the permanent residents in the

outside of

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

, and many in Key West, were Bahamian in origin. ''Conch'' was reported to be a term of distinction for Bahamians in Key West in the 1880s. The white Bahamians in the keys continued to be known as Conchs. The 1939 ''WPA Guide to Florida'' produced by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA) noted that both Conchs and black Bahamians in Key West spoke with a "Cockney accent". Other residents of the Florida Keys, especially in Key West, began calling themselves Conchs, and the term is now applied generally to all residents of Key West such as in Conch Republic. To distinguish between natives and non-natives, the terms "Salt Water Conch" (native) and "Fresh Water Conch" (non-native) have been used. Newcomers become "Fresh Water Conchs" after seven years.

Elsewhere in Florida

Riviera Beach, Florida Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated on September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area. In the 2020 ...

, was known as "Conchtown" in the first half of the 20thcentury because of the number of Bahamian immigrants who settled there. Unlike the situation in Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys, where being Conch became a matter of pride and community identification, ''Conch'' was used by outsiders (in particular the residents of

West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

) in a pejorative manner to describe the Bahamian community in Riviera Beach. The usage there also carried the connotation that at least some of the Conchs were of mixed racial heritage. As a result, some of the Bahamians in Riviera Beach denied being Conchs when interviewed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Florida Writers Project in the late 1930s. WPA worker Veronica Huss (with assistance from

Stetson Kennedy William Stetson Kennedy (October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011) was an American author, folklorist and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered for having infiltrated t ...

) and photographer Charles Foster wrote a book on the Conchs and their culture entitled ''Conch Town,'' but the WPA chose not to publish it (Foster eventually published an edited version in 1991). Many Bahamians also settled in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, particularly in the

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

neighborhood, and in

Tarpon Springs Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and underwent beautification in 2010. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 25,117 at the 2020 census. As of ...

Other uses

The term ''Conchy Joe'' or ''Conky Joe'' can be a pejorative or affectionate term used to refer to a native Bahamian of primarily European descent.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Online version (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida) of a 1939 WPA exhibit, "Conch Town," on the Conchs of Florida by Charles Foster and Veronica Huss
- Accessed July 7, 2018.
Key West Population Half Bahamas Negroes and One-Quarter "Conchs" 1888
- Accessed July 7, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Conch (People) Bahamian-American culture in Florida Society of the Bahamas Culture of Key West, Florida European American culture in Florida European diaspora in the Bahamas History of Key West, Florida White American culture in Florida