New Providence Island

New Providence, better known for the main city of Nassau, encompasses 80 sq.mi. / 207 sq.km with an east-west length of roughly 20 miles / 30km. Paradise Island (formerly Hog Island) is an upscale resort area connected to Nassau by two bridges high enough to let sailboats pass.

Nassau became the prime city (150,000) of the Bahamas because of its natural harbor, now a stop on the cruise ship circuits.

Arawak Indians occupied the island in pre-Columbian times. It became a British colony in 1666. What is now Nassau was originally named Charles Town after King Charles II. During the 17th and 18th centuries the town became the base of pirates until the British were able to re-establish their authority. In the late 1700s Nassau became a regional slave market. In 1776, United States revolutionary warships destroyed Nassau. In 1782 it was again attacked by Spain. At the end of the 1700s Americans still loyal to Britain migrated to the Island. Emancipation came in 1834 and freed slaves started several new villages.

During the American Civil War, the Island and particularly the Royal Victoria Hotel became the haunt of Southerners running the U.S. blockade and associated spies. During American Prohibition, the island flourished in the liquor trade.