The town that would be called Nassau was founded in 1670 by British noblemen who brought British settlers with them to New Providence. They built a fort, and named it
Charles Town in honour of England's King Charles II. During this time there were frequent wars with the
Spanish, and Charles Town was used as a base for
privateering against them. In 1684 the town was burned to the ground during the
Raid on Charles Town. It was rebuilt in 1695 under Governor Nicholas Trott and renamed
Nassau in honour of King
William III, who belonged to a branch of the
House of Nassau. William was the Dutch
Stadtholder (
stadhouder in Dutch), and, from 1689, the King of England, Scotland and Ireland. The name Nassau ultimately derives from the town of
Nassau in Germany. Lacking effective governors after Trott, Nassau fell on hard times. In 1703, Spanish and French allied forces
briefly occupied Nassau. More so, Nassau suffered greatly during the
War of Spanish Succession and witnessed Spanish incursions during 1703, 1704 and 1706. From 1703 to 1718, there was no legitimate governor in the colony. Thomas Walker was the island's last remaining appointed official and although evidence is scarce, it appears that he was acting in the role of deputy governor upon
Benjamin Hornigold's arrival in 1713. By this time, the sparsely settled Bahamas had become a
pirate haven known as
New Providence. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1,000 pirates in Nassau and that they outnumbered the mere hundred inhabitants of the town. They proclaimed Nassau a
pirate republic, recognising the island's prosperous state in which it offered fresh fruit, meat and water and plenty of protection amid its waterways. Nassau's harbour was tailor-made for defence and it could take around 500 vessels, though it was too shallow to accept large battleships. Benjamin Hornigold, along with his great rival
Henry Jennings, became the unofficial overlord of a veritable pirate republic which played host to the self-styled
Flying Gang. Other pirates of note that spent time in Nassau included
Charles Vane,
Thomas Barrow (who declared himself "Governor of New Providence"),
John Rackham,
Anne Bonny,
Mary Read, and the infamous Edward Teach, better known as "
Blackbeard". In 1718, the British government sought to regain control of the islands and appointed Captain
Woodes Rogers as Royal governor. He successfully clamped down on the pirates, reformed the civil administration, and restored commerce. Rogers cleaned up Nassau and rebuilt the fort, using his own wealth to try to overcome problems. In 1720, the
Spanish attacked Nassau but failed to capture the town and the island. During the wars in the
Thirteen Colonies, Nassau experienced an economic boom. With funds from privateering, a new fort, street lights and over 2300 sumptuous houses were built and Nassau was extended. In addition to this, mosquito breeding swamps were filled. In 1776, the
Battle of Nassau resulted in a brief occupation by American
Continental Marines during the
American War of Independence, where the marines staged their first amphibious raid on Fort Montague after attempting to sneak up on Fort Nassau. In 1778 after an overnight invasion, American raiders led by Captain Rathbun, left with ships, gunpowder and military stores after stopping in Nassau for only two weeks. In 1782,
Spain captured Nassau for the last time when Don Juan de Cagigal, governor-general of Cuba, attacked New Providence with 5,000 men. In April 1783,
Andrew Deveaux, an American Loyalist who resettled on the island, set forth
and recaptured the island for the British Crown.
Lord Dunmore governed the colony from 1787 to 1796. He oversaw the construction of
Fort Charlotte and
Fort Fincastle in Nassau. During the
American Civil War, Nassau served as a port for
blockade runners making their way to and from ports along the southern Atlantic Coast for continued trade with the Confederacy. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nassau profited from
Prohibition in the United States. During the
Cuban Revolution of 1959, tourism further benefited due to the
restrictions imposed on American citizens visiting
Cuba. Today, Nassau's location close to the United States and ties between the U.S. and The
Bahamas make it a common tourist destination. ==Geography==