The location of the Bahamas has made it a well traveled shipping channel from the days of slave trading. It was always caught the attention of travelers, shippers, rum smugglers, and pirates.
In 1648, a group of dissident English Puritans (known as the "Eleutheran Adventurers") arrived here in their quest for religious freedom. Although the adventurers gave the island its name, the island didn't give much back, and the settlers experienced food shortages, a lack of proper supplies and internal strife that split the group into separate communities along Governor's Harbour and Preacher's Cave in Eleuthera. Seeking peace, the Eleutheran's leader, Captain William Sayles, set sail for the American colonies and succeeded in obtaining survival supplies from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and then returned to the struggling outpost. To better guard against marauding Spanish troops in the area, another settlement was then established on the nearby—and more easily defended—Harbour Island.
One of the most notorious pirates of all time was Edward Teach,
a.k.a.BLACKBEARD. An unusually large man, he struck terror in his own
crew and in those he attacked. Before battle, Edward Teach would weave
hemp into his long, black beard and light it.
The sight of his smoking form standing on deck -- displaying numerous
swords, knives and pistols -- was enough to make many merchantmen
surrender before any shots were fired. If they gave up without a fight,
Blackbeard would confiscate their valuables and weapons -- letting them
sail away without bloodshed. However, if the crew showed any
resistance, he would either kill or maroon them, leaving them abandoned
on a deserted island.
When Blackbeard lived in Nassau, fellow pirates appointed him as the
magistrate of their "Privateers' Republic." He enforced his own style
of law and justice until Royal Governor Woodes Rogers arrived in 1718.
Blackbeard was out to sea when Rogers eradicated all of the pirates
from Nassau, so he moved to another spot in the Caribbean and continued
his raids.
In 1718, a British ship trapped Blackbeard's on a sandbar off the coast
of Virginia. A bloody battle ensued in which Blackbeard received "five
pistol balls and 20 cutlass wounds" before he expired. The Royal Navy
captain then decapitated Blackbeard and displayed his head on the
ship's rigging. Although his pirating career only lasted about five
years, it is believed that Blackbeard captured 40 ships and his legend
lives on today.
(source: www.bahamas.com)