Population and Settlement

 

The First Settlement: Coming from the Caribbean, the first inhabitants of the Bahamas are known as the Lucayans, an Arawakan-speaking Taino people who arrived to the islands between the years 500 to 800. With an estimated population of 40,000 by the late 15^th century, the Lucayans were plentiful and prosperous. Most historians believe that they had an advanced political and social structure and lived in well-organized cities, but with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, they were quickly dominated by the Spanish. As a result, little is known about them. Following those events, the island remained abandoned for another 130 years until a group from Barmuda known as The Company of Adventurers for the Plantation of the islands of Eleutheria, sailed to the Bahamas to found a colony.

Population: In the 1960’s, the population of the Bahamas was about 65,388. As the population of Nassau grew, so did its populated areas. Today the city leads the entire island. Nassau has a population of about 250,000 natives, which is about 70 percent of the entire population of the Bahamas. The population of the Bahamas is predominantly of African descent with an 87 percent of the total population. European descents make up 12 percent of the population, with the remaining 3 percent of Asian or Hispanic origin. The population is relatively young with 30 percent under the age of 15 and 6 percent over the age of 65.

Most people reside in Urban Areas, with two-thirds of the population living on the New Providence Island where Nassau is located. Many others live in or near Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. There are small settlements throughout the outer island called the Family Islands. In July 2000, the estimated population of the Bahamas was 294,982. With a high birth rate of 19.54 births per 1,000 people and a death rate of 6.81 per 1,000 people, it is estimated that by 2015 the Bahamas is expected to have a population of about 330,000.