New Providence: Difference between revisions

 

The frigate [[Indien (1778)|''South Carolina'']], of the [[South Carolina Navy]], arrived at Havana on 12 January 1782. At Havana, after negotiations between [[Alexander Gillon]] and the Spanish, the ''South Carolina'' joined a force of 59 vessels carrying [[Spain|Spanish]] forces under [[Bernado Galvez]]. On 22 April the expedition sailed to capture New Providence. By May 5 the whole fleet had reached New Providence and on 8 May the colony surrendered. This was the third capture of New Providence during the American Revolutionary War.

After the [[American Revolution]], several thousand [[Tories]] and their [[slavery|slave]]s emigrated to New Providence and nearby islands, hoping to re-establish [[plantation]] agriculture. The shallow soils and sparse rainfall doomed this activity to failure, and by the early 19th century the Bahamas had become a nearly vacant [[archipelago]]. Salt raking continued here and there, wreck gleaning was profitable in [[Grand Bahama]], but New Providence was the only island with any prosperity because of the large [[United Kingdom|British]] military establishment. The fortresses began to crumble and were abandoned by 1850. New Providence had two periods of high economic success during the [[American Civil War]] and during [[Prohibition]], when it was a smuggling center.