History of Bermuda - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Initial discovery

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

was discovered by Juan de Bermudez

Juan de Bermudez

Juan de Bermúdez was a Spanish navigator of the 16th century. In 1505, while sailing back to Spain from a provisioning voyage to Hispaniola in the ship La Garça , he discovered Bermuda, which was later named after him. Legatio Babylonica, published in 1511 by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, lists "La...

in 1505.
The island is shown as "La Bermuda" in Peter Martyr

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera was an Italian-born historian of Spain and its discoveries during the Age of Exploration...

's Legatio Babylonica (1511). Bermudez returned again in 1515, with the chronicler Oviedo y Valdés. Oviedo's account of the second visit (published in 1526) records that they made no attempt to land because of weather.

In 1609, Sir George Somers

George Somers

This article is about the English naval hero. For the American football player, see George Somers Admiral Sir George Somers was an English naval hero. Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the son of John Somers, his first fame came as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston against the Spanish...

set sail aboard the Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...

, the new flagship of the Virginia Company

London Company

The London Company was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel ...

, leading a fleet of nine vessels, loaded with provisions and settlers for the new English colony of Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

, in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. The fleet was caught in a storm, and the Sea Venture was separated and began to founder. When the reefs to the East of Bermuda were spotted, the ship was deliberately driven on them to prevent its sinking, thereby saving all aboard (150 sailors and settlers, and one dog). The survivors spent ten months on Bermuda. Several were lost-at-sea when the Sea Venture's longboat was rigged with a mast and sent in search of Jamestown. Neither it nor its crew were ever seen again. The remainder built two new ships: the Deliverance, largely from the material stripped from the Sea Venture (which sat high-and-dry on the reef, and was still being cannibalised in 1612 – its guns were used to arm a fort) and the Patience. The latter was made necessary by the food stores the survivors had begun to collect and stockpile in Bermuda, and which could not be accommodated aboard the Deliverance. It was built almost entirely from material sourced on the islands. When the two new vessels were complete, most of the survivors set sail, completing their journey to Jamestown.

They arrived to find the colony's population almost annihilated by the Starving Time

Starving Time (Jamestown)

The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610....

, which had left only 60 survivors out of the 500 who had preceded them, and most of these survivors were sick or dying. The food the Sea Venture survivors brought with them was woefully insufficient, and the colony seemed unviable. It was decided to abandon it, and to return everyone to England. Loaded aboard the two ships, they were prevented from making this evacuation by the timely arrival of another relief fleet, bearing Governor Lord De La Warre

Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr

Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....

, among others. The Sea Venture survivors had brought pork from the pigs that had been found wild on the island, which had presumably been left by previous visitors. This led the Jamestown colonists to refer to "Bemuda Hogs" as a form of currency. Somers returned to Bermuda with the Patience to obtain more food supplies, but died there from a surfeit of pork. The Patience, captained by his nephew, Matthew Somers, returned to England, instead of Virginia. Somers left three volunteers – Carter, Chard and Waters – behind on Bermuda (two when the Deliverance and Patience had departed, and the third following the Patience's return) to maintain the claim of the island for the England, leaving the Virginia Company in possession of the island. As a result, Bermuda has been continuously inhabited since the wrecking of the Sea Venture, and claims its origin from that date, and not the official settlement of 1612.

Returning to Somers' hometown of Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset-Devon border...

, in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, his body (which had been pickled in a barrel) was landed via The Cobb, the notable breakwater which protects town's harbour. His heart, however, was left buried on what would subsequently also be known as The Somers Isles. After reaching England, the reports of the survivors of the Sea Venture aroused great interest about Bermuda. Accounts were published by two survivors, William Strachey

William Strachey

William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...

and Sylvester Jordain. Two years later, in 1612, the Virginia Company's Royal Charter was officially extended to include the island, and a party of 60 settlers was sent, under the command of Sir Richard Moore, the island's first governor. Joining the three men left behind by the Deliverance and the Patience (who had taken up residence on Smith's Island), they founded and commenced construction of the town of St. George.

Bermuda struggled throughout the following seven decades to develop a viable economy. The Virginia Company, finding the colony unprofitable, briefly handed its administration to the Crown in 1614. The following year, 1615, King James I

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

granted a charter to a new company, the Somers Isles Company

Somers Isles Company

The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles, also known as Bermuda, as a commercial venture. It held a royal charter for Bermuda until 1684, when it was dissolved, and the Crown assumed responsibility for the administration of Bermuda as a royal...

, formed by the same shareholders, which ran the colony until it was dissolved in 1684 (The Virginia Company itself was dissolved after its charter was revoked in 1624). Representative government was introduced to Bermuda in 1620, when its House of Assembly

House of Assembly of Bermuda

The House of Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Bermuda. The house has 36 members, each elected for a five year term in a single seat constituencies....

held its first session, and it became a self-governing colony.

Early colony

Bermuda was divided into nine equally-sized administrative areas. These comprised one public territory (today known as St. George's) and eight "tribes" (today known as "parishes"). These "tribes" were areas of land partitioned off to the "adventurers" (investors) of the Company – Devonshire, Hamilton, Paget, Pembroke, Sandys, Smith's, Southampton and Warwick (thus far, this usage of the word "tribes" is unique to the Bermuda example).

Initially, the colony grew tobacco as its only crop. The Company repeatedly advised more variety, not only because of the risks involved in a single-crop economy, but also because the Bermuda-grown tobacco was of particularly low quality (the Company was frequently forced to burn the supply that arrived back in England). It would take Bermuda some time to move away from this, especially as tobacco was the main form of currency.

Agriculture was not a profitable business for Bermudians in any case. The land area under cultivation was so small (especially by comparison to the plots granted settlers in Virginia), that fields could not be allowed to lie fallow, and farmers attempted to produce three crops each year. Islanders quickly turned to shipbuilding and maritime trades, but the Company, which gained its profits only from the land under cultivation, forbade the construction of any vessels without its license. Its interference in Bermudians livelihood would lead to its dissolution in 1684.

Bermuda

The first slaves were brought to Bermuda soon after the colony was established. Despite this, Bermuda's 17th Century agricultural economy did not become dependent on slavery as, unlike in the plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

economies that developed in English colonies in the southeast region of North America and in the West Indies, the system of indentured servitude, which lasted in Bermuda until 1684, ensured a large supply of cheap labour. As a result, Bermuda's 'white Anglo-Saxon

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...

' population remained the majority into the 18th Century despite a continuous influx of Latin American

Afro-Latin American

An Afro-Latin American is a Latin American person of at least partial Black African ancestry; the term may also refer to historical or cultural elements in Latin America thought to emanate from this community...

and African Blacks, Native Americans, Irish and Scots. The first Blacks to come to Bermuda in numbers were free West Indians, who emigrated from territories taken from Spain. They worked under seven years indenture, as did most English settlers, to repay the Company for the cost of their transport. As the size of the Black population grew, however, many attempts were made to reduce it. The terms of indenture for Blacks were successively raised to 99 years. Many of the Black slaves brought to Bermuda arrived as part of the cargoes seized by Bermudian privateers.

Slaves could be obtained by sale or purchase, auction debt, legal seizure or by gift. The price of a slave depended on demand. Throughout the 17th century Black children sold for £8, women from £10 to £20, and able bodied Black and Indian men for around £26. Blacks and Indians never willingly accepted their status as slaves and seized any available opportunity to escape or rebel. It was not easy to escape because of the size of the island and the nearest land being more than 700 miles (1,126.5 km) away, but still slaves ran off from their masters and hid in the caves along Bermuda's coast. Others sought to plot against their masters. One such plot occurred in 1656 when a dozen Black men, led by William Force, a free Black man plotted to murder their English masters. As the appointed night arrived for the uprising, two of the slaves lost their nerve and reported the conspiracy to authorities. The conspirators were rounded up and tried by court martial. Two were hung and Force was later sent to the Bahamas with most of the island's other free blacks. In 1673 15 Blacks conspired to kill their masters, Again, one of the conspirators lost his nerve and reported the conspiracy. He was granted his freedom, five were branded, had their noses slit, and were whipped before being executed. The other conspirators were branded and whipped. This conspiracy resulted in the passage, in 1674, of more stringent laws effecting a slave's freedom of movement. A slave found off his estate without a ticket from his owner could be beaten with a rod or whip. A second offense would result in an ear being cut off. Offending for a third time resulted in being whipped until the skin was broken and being branded.

The local government attempted to legislate the emigration of free blacks, and during times of war, with food supplies scarce, it was considered patriotic to export horses and slaves. The first two slaves brought into the Island, a Black and a Native American, had been sought for their skills in pearl diving, but Bermuda proved to have no pearls. Slaves were also brought directly from Africa, and in large numbers from North America, especially from New England, where various Algonquian

Algonquian peoples

The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...

peoples were falling victim to English expansion. Native American slaves were brought in large numbers possibly from as far as Mexico. Native American slaves were reportedly preferred as house servants as they proved less troublesome than the Blacks and Irish, who were constantly fomenting rebellion.

Bermuda had actually tended towards the Royalist side in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, but largely escaped the effects of the conflict, and the aftermath of the Parliamentary forces' victory. However, in the 1650s, following Cromwell's

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

adventures in Ireland, and his attempt to force his protectorship on independent Scotland, Irish prisoners-of-war (POW) and ethnically-cleansed civilians, and smaller numbers of Scots POWs, were also sent to Bermuda. After the uncovering of a coup-plot by Irish and Black slaves, however, the import of further Irish slaves was banned. The slave trade would be outlawed in Bermuda in 1807, and all slaves were freed in 1834. At the end of the 17th century, whites, whether free or enslaved, composed the majority of Bermuda's population. Blacks and Native Americans were both small minorities. They combined, however, absorbing the Irish and Scots, and no small part of the White English bloodline, to be described as a single demographic group a century later, with the Bermuda's population being divided into White and Black Bermudians. As 10,000 Bermudians had emigrated, prior to American independence, most of them White, this left Blacks with a slight majority. Portuguese immigration, which began with a shipload of Madeiran families in the 1840s has been offset by sustained immigration from the West Indies which began at the end of the 19th century. Today, about 60% of Bermudians are described as being of African descent, although many may have greater European ancestry, and almost all Bermudians would be able to easily find ancestors and relatives of either African or European descent.

As Bermuda's primary industry became maritime, following the 1684 removal of the impediments placed by the Somers Isles Company, most Bermudian slaves worked in shipbuilding and seafaring, or, in the case of the most unfortunate, in raking salt in the Turks Islands

History of the Turks and Caicos Islands

The official Turks and Caicos tourism website claims Columbus set foot on the island in 1492.The history of the Turks and Caicos Islands can be traced back to early European explorations of the Americas. The first recorded sighting of the islands now known as the Turks and Caicos Islands occurred...

Bermuda, Salt and The Turks Islands

After the elimination of their indigenous population by Spanish slavers, the Turks Islands, or Salt Islands, were not fully colonised until 1681, when salt collectors from Bermuda built the first permanent settlement on Grand Turk Island. The salt collectors were drawn by the shallow waters around the islands that made salt mining a much easier process than in Bermuda. They occupied the Turks only seasonally, for six months a year, however, returning to Bermuda when it was no longer viable to rake salt. Their colonization established the English (subsequently, British) dominance of the archipelago that has lasted to the present day. The Bermudians destroyed the local habitat in order to develop the salt industry that became the central pillar of Bermuda's economy, felling huge numbers of trees to discourage rainfall that would adversely affect their operation. This deforestation, a foretaste of the deforestation of Bermuda by shipbuilding a century before the cedar blight, has yet to be repaired. Most of the salt mined in the Turks and Caicos Islands was sold through Bermudian merchant houses on the American seaboard, including in New England and Newfoundland where it was used for preserving cod. Bermudian vessels carried salted cod on their returns to Bermuda, establishing it as a traditional part of the Bermudian diet (at least on Sundays).

Bermuda spent much of the 18th century in a protracted legal battle with the Bahamas (which had itself been colonised by Bermudians in 1647) over the Turks Islands. Under British law, no colony could hold colonies of its own. The Turks Islands were not recognised by Britain either as a colony in its own right, or as a part of Bermuda. They were held to be, like rivers in Britain, for the common use. As a result, there was a great deal of political turmoil surrounding the ownership of the Turks (and Caicos).

Spanish and French forces seized the Turks in 1706, but Bermudian forces expelled them four years later in what was probably Bermuda's only independent military operation. For many years, the Bahamas (itself originally settled by Bermudian puritans in 1647) and Bermuda fought for control of the archipelago.

The struggle began in 1766, when the King's representative in the Bahamas, Mr Symmer, on his own authority, wrote a constitution which legislated for and taxed the Bermudians on the Turks. The Secretary of State

Secretary of State for the Colonies

The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....

, Lord Hillsborough

Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire

Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire PC , known as the Viscount Hillsborough from 1742 to 1751 and as the Earl of Hillsborough from 1751 to 1789, was a British politician of the Georgian era...

, for the Crown, issued orders that the Bermudian activities on the Turks should not be obstructed or restrained in any way. As a result of this order, Symmer's constitution was dissolved. The Bermudians on the Turks appointed commissioners to govern themselves, with the assent of the King's local agent. They drew up regulations for good government, but the Bahamian governor, William Shirley

William Shirley

William Shirley was a British colonial administrator who served twice as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and as Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s...

, drew up his own regulations for the Turks and ordered that no one might work at salt raking who had not signed assent to his regulations.

Following this, a raker was arrested and the salt pans were seized and divided by force. The Bahamas government attempted to appoint judicial authorities for the Turks in 1768, but these were refused by the Bermudians. In 1773 the Bahamian government passed an act attempting to tax the salt produced in the Turks, but the Bermudians refused to pay it. In 1774, the Bahamians passed another, similar act, and this they submitted for the Crown's assent. The Crown passed this act on to the Bermudian government which objected to it, and which rejected Bahamian jurisdiction over the Turks. The Crown, as a consequence, refused assent of the Act as applied to include the Turks, and, in the form in which it finally passed, the Bahamas, but not the Turks, were included.

The Bermudians on the Turks continued to be governed under their own regulations, with the assent of the royal agent, until 1780, when a more formal version of those regulations was submitted for the assent of the Crown, which was given. Those regulations, issued as a royal order, stated that all British subjects had the right ("free liberty") to rake and gather salt on the Turks, providing that they conformed to the regulations, which expressly rejected Bahamian jurisdiction over the Turks. Despite this refutation by a higher authority of their right to impinge upon Bermudian activities on the Turks, the Bahamian government continued to harass the Bermudians (unsurprisingly, given the lucrativeness of the Turks salt trade).

Although the salt industry on the Turks had largely been a Bermudian preserve, it had been seen throughout the 17th century as the right of all British subjects to rake there, and small numbers of Bahamians had been involved. In 1783, the French had landed a force on Grand Turk which a British force of 100 men, under then-Captain Horatio Nelson, had been unable to dislodge, but which was soon withdrawn.

Following this, the Bahamians were slow to return to the Turks, while the Bermudians quickly resumed salt production, sending sixty to seventy-five ships to the Turks each year, during the six months that salt could be raked. Nearly a thousand Bermudians spent part of the year on the Turks engaged in salt production, and the industry became more productive.

The Bahamas, meanwhile, was incurring considerable expense in absorbing loyalist refugees from the now-independent American colonies, and returned to the idea of taxing Turks salt for the needed funds. The Bahamian government ordered that all ships bound for the Turk Islands obtain a license at Nassau first. The Bermudians refused to do this. Following this, Bahamian authorities seized the Bermuda sloop

Bermuda sloop

The Bermuda sloop is a type of fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel developed on the islands of Bermuda in the 17th century. In its purest form, it is single-masted, although ships with such rigging were built with as many as three masts, which are then referred to as schooners...

s Friendship and Fanny in 1786. Shortly after, three Bermudian vessels were seized at Grand Caicos, with $35,000 worth of goods salvaged from a French ship. French privateers were becoming a menace to Bermudian operations in the area, at the time, but the Bahamians were their primary concern.

The Bahamian government re-introduced a tax on salt from the Turks, annexed them to the Bahamas, and created a seat in the Bahamian parliament to represent them. The Bermudians refused these efforts also, but the continual pressure from the Bahamaians had a degrative effect on the salt industry. In 1806, the Bermudian customs authorities went some way toward acknowledging the Bahamian annexation when it ceased to allow free exchange between the Turks and Bermuda (this affected many enslaved Bermudians, who, like the free ones, had occupied the Turks only seasonally, returning to their homes in Bermuda after the year's raking had finished).

That same year, French privateers attacked the Turks, burning ships and absconding with a large sloop. The Bahamians refused to help, and the Admiralty in Jamaica claimed the Turks were beyond his jurisdiction. Two hurricanes, the first in August 1813, the second in October 1815, destroyed more than two-hundred buildings, significant salt stores, and sank many vessels. By 1815, the United States, the primary client for Turks salt, had been at war with Britain (and hence Bermuda) for three years, and had established other sources of salt.

With the destruction wrought by the storm, and the loss of market, many Bermudians abandoned the Turks, and those remaining were so distraught that they welcomed the visit of the Bahamian governor in 1819. The British government eventually assigned political control to the Bahamas, which the Turks and Caicos remained a part of until the 1840s.

One Bermudian salt raker, Mary Prince

Mary Prince

Mary Prince was a Bermudian woman, born into slavery in Brackish Pond, now known as Devonshire Marsh, in Devonshire Parish, Bermuda. Her autobiography, 'The History of Mary Prince', was the first account of the life of a black woman to be published in the United Kingdom...

, however, was to leave a scathing record of Bermuda's activities there in The History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

of Mary Prince, a book which helped to propel the abolitionist

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

cause to the 1834 emancipation of slaves throughout the Empire.

Shipbuilding and the maritime economy

Due to the islands' isolation, for many years Bermuda remained an outpost of 17th-century British civilization, with an economy based on the use of the islands' Bermuda cedar

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...

(Juniperus bermudiana) trees for shipbuilding, and Bermudians' control of the Turks Islands, and their salt trade. Especially as its control of the Turks became threatened, Bermuda's mariners also diversified their trade to include activities such as whaling and privateering.

Privateering

Bermudians turned from their failed agricultural economy to the sea after the 1684 dissolution of the Somers Isles Company

Somers Isles Company

. With a total landmass of 21 square miles (54.4 km²), and lacking any natural resources, other than the Bermuda cedar, the colonists applied themselves fully to the maritime trades, developing the speedy Bermuda sloop

Bermuda sloop

, which was well suited both to commerce and to commerce raiding. Bermudian merchant vessels turned to privateering at every opportunity, during the 18th Century, preying on the shipping of Spain, France and other nations during a series of wars. They typically left Bermuda with very large crews. This advantage in manpower was vital in seizing larger vessels, which themselves often lacked enough crewmembers to put up a strong defence. The extra crew men were also useful as prize crews for returning captured vessels. Despite close links to the American colonies (and the material aid provided the continental rebels in the form of a hundred barrels of stolen gunpowder), Bermudian privateers turned as aggressively on American shipping during the American War of Independence. An American naval captain, ordered to take his ship out of Boston Harbour to eliminate a pair of Bermudian privateering vessels, which had been picking off vessels missed by the Royal Navy, returned frustrated, saying the Bermudians sailed their ships two feet for every one of ours. The only attack on Bermuda during the war was carried out by two sloops captained by a pair of Bermudian-born brothers (they damaged a fort and spiked its guns before retreating). It greatly surprised the Americans to discover that the crews of Bermudian privateers included Black slaves, as, with limited manpower, Bermuda had legislated that a part of all Bermudian crews must be made up of Blacks. In fact, when the Bermudian privateer Regulator was captured, virtually all of her crew were found to be Black slaves. Authorities in Boston offered these men their freedom, but all 70 elected to be treated as Prisoners of War

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

. Sent to New York on the sloop Duxbury, they seized the vessel and sailed it back to Bermuda. http://www.amistadamerica.org/files/Files/Visit/Evocative%20Historical%20Narratives.pdf The American War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

was to be the encore of Bermudian privateering, which had died out after the 1790s, due partly to the build up of the naval base in Bermuda

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609...

, which reduced the Admiralty's reliance on privateers in the western Atlantic, and partly to successful American legal suits, and claims for damages pressed against British privateers, a large portion of which were aimed squarely at the Bermudians. During the course of the American War of 1812, Bermudian privateers were to capture 298 ships (the total captures by all British naval and privateering vessels between the Great Lakes and the West Indies was 1,593 vessels).

Naval and military base

Following the loss of Britain's ports in thirteen of its former continental colonies, Bermuda was also used as a stop-over point between Canada and Britain's Caribbean possessions, and assumed a new strategic prominence for the Royal Navy. Hamilton

Hamilton, Bermuda

Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...

, a centrally located port founded in 1790, became the seat of government in 1815. This was partly resultant from the Royal Navy having invested twelve years, following American independence, in charting Bermuda's reefs. It did this in order to locate the deepwater channel by which shipping might reach the islands in, and at the West of, the Great Sound, which it had begun acquiring with a view to building a naval base

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

. However, that channel also gave access to Hamilton Harbour.

With the buildup of the Royal Naval establishment in the first decades of the 19th century, a large number of military fortifications and batteries were constructed, and the numbers of regular infantry, artillery, and support units that composed the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

garrison were steadily increased. The investment into military infrastructure by the War Office proved unsustainable, and poorly thought-out, with far too few artillery men available to man the hundreds of guns emplaced. Many of the forts were abandoned, or removed from use, soon after construction. Following the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, the trend was towards reducing military garrisons in colonies like Bermuda, partly for economic reasons, and partly as it became recognised that the Royal Navy's own ships could provide a better defence for the Dockyard, and Bermuda. Still, the important strategic location of Bermuda meant that the withdrawal, which began, at least in intent, in the 1870s, was carried out very slowly over several decades, continuing until after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. The last Regular Army units were not withdrawn until the Dockyard itself closed in the 1950s. In the 1860s, however, the major build-up of naval and military infrastructure brought vital money into Bermuda at a time when its traditional maritime industries were giving way under the assault of steel hulls and steam propulsion. The American Civil War, also, briefly, provided a shot-in-the-arm to the local economy. Tourism and agricultural industries would develop in the latter half of the 19th century. However, it was defence infrastructure that formed the central platform of the economy into the 20th century.

Tourism

Tourism in Bermuda first developed in Victorian times, catering to a wealthy elite seeking to escape North American winters. Many also came hoping to find young noblemen among the officers of the Garrison and Naval base to whom they might marry their daughters. Local hoteliers were quick to exploit this, organising many dances and gatherings during the 'season', to which military and naval officers were given a blanket invitation.

Due historically to a third of Bermuda's manpower being at sea at any one time, and to many of those seamen ultimately settling elsewhere, especially as the Bermudian maritime industry began to suffer, Bermuda was noted for having a high number of aging spinsters well into the 20th century. Many Bermudian women had wed to naval or military officers, but, with the arrival of tourism, Bermudian women found themselves in competition with American girls. Most Bermudian women who married officers left Bermuda when their husbands were stationed elsewhere. It was also common, however, for enlisted men to marry Bermudians, and many of those remained in Bermuda, leaving the Army.

In the early 20th century, as modern transportation and communication systems developed, Bermuda's tourism industry began to develop and thrive, and Bermuda became a popular destination for a broader spectrum of wealthy US, Canadian, and British tourists. In addition, the tariff enacted by the United States against its trading partners in 1930 cut off Bermuda's once-thriving agricultural export trade—primarily fresh vegetables to the US—spurring the island to pour more of its efforts into the development of its tourism industry,

Although Imperial Airways

Imperial Airways

Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...

and Pan-American World Airways both began flying to Bermuda in the 1930s (by which time the summer had become more important for tourists making briefer visits), it wasn't until after the Second World War, when the first airport for landplanes was built, and the advent of the Jet Age

Jet age

The Jet Age is a period of history defined by the social change brought about by the advent of large aircraft powered by turbine engines. These aircraft are able to fly much higher, faster, and farther than older piston-powered propliners, making transcontinental and inter-continental travel...

that tourism really realised its potential.

World Wars

During World War II, Bermuda's importantance as a military base increased because of its location on the major trans-Atlantic shipping route. The Royal Naval dockyard

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

on Ireland Island played a role similar to that it had during World War I

World War I

, overseeing the formation of trans-Atlantic convoys composed of hundreds of ships. The military garrison, which included four local territorial units

Bermuda Volunteer/Territorial Army Units 1895-1965

The Volunteer Army units raised in Bermuda were created as part of an Imperial military garrison that existed primarily to protect the Royal Naval base, centred about the HM Dockyard on Ireland Island....

, maintained a guard against potential enemy attacks on the Island itself.

In 1941, the United States signed a lend-lease agreement with the United Kingdom, giving the British surplus U.S. Navy destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s in exchange for 99-year lease rights to establish naval and air bases in certain British territories. Although not included in this trade, Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

granted the US similar 99-year leases "freely and without consideration" in both Bermuda and Newfoundland. (The commonly held belief that the Bermudian bases

Military of Bermuda

The defence of Bermuda remains the responsibility of the National Government, rather than of the Bermudian Government, which is effectively a local authority. Despite this, the Bermuda Government was historically responsible for maintaining Militia for the defence of the Colony...

were part of the trade is not correct.) The advantage for Britain of granting these base rights was that the neutral US effectively took responsibility for the security of these territories, freeing British forces to be deployed to the sharper ends of the War. The terms of the base rights granted for Bermuda also included that the airfield constructed by the US would be used jointly with the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

(RAF).
The Bermuda bases consisted of 5.8 square kilometres (2.25 sq. mi.) of land, largely reclaimed from the sea. The USAAF

United States Army Air Forces

The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

airfield, Fort Bell (later, US Air Force Base Kindley Field

Kindley Air Force Base

Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Force as Kindley Field.-World War II:...

, and, later still, US Naval Air Station Bermuda) was on St. David's Island, while the Naval Operations Base

USN NAS Bermuda/NAS Annex, Morgans Point, 1941-1995

The United States Navy's Naval Operating Base, was a seaplane base in Bermuda, the original Naval Air Station Bermuda. Following the US Navy's take over of Kindley Air Force Base , the base was adopted to other uses as an annex to the new NAS Bermuda, the NAS Annex...

, a Naval Air Station for maritime patrol flying boats, (which became the Naval Air Station Annex after US Naval air operations relocated to ) was at the western end of the island in the Great Sound. These joined two other air stations already operating on Bermuda, the pre-war civil airport on Darrell's Island

Royal Air Force, Bermuda, 1939-1945

The Royal Air Force operated from two locations in Bermuda during the Second World War. Bermuda's location had made it an important naval station since US independence, and, with the advent of the aeroplane, had made it as important to trans-Atlantic aviation in the decades before the Jet Age...

, which had been taken over by the RAF, and the Fleet Air Arm's

Fleet Air Arm

The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

Royal Naval Air Station, HMS Malabar, on Boaz Island

Boaz Island, Bermuda

Boaz Island, formerly known as Gate's Island or Yates Island, is one of the six main islands of Bermuda. It is part of a chain of islands in the west of the country that make up Sandys Parish, lying between the larger Ireland Island and Somerset Island, and is connected to both by bridges. Its east...

Recent history

Bermuda has prospered economically since World War II, developing into a highly successful offshore financial centre

Offshore financial centre

An offshore financial centre , though not precisely defined, is usually a small, low-tax jurisdiction specializing in providing corporate and commercial services to non-resident offshore companies, and for the investment of offshore funds....

. Although tourism remains important to Bermuda's economy, it has for three decades been second to international business in terms of economic importance to the island.

On 10 March 1973, the Governor of the island Sir Richard Sharples

Richard Sharples

Major Sir Richard Christopher Sharples KCMG OBE MC , St. George, Bermuda) was a British politician and Governor of Bermuda from late 1972 to 10 March 1973 when he was shot dead by assassins linked to the militant Black Beret Cadre, a small Bermudian Black Power group.-Career:Sharples passed out...

was assassinated, along with his aide-de-camp

Aide-de-camp

An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

and his dog. Erskine Burrows was found guilty of this assassination. His hanging, on 2 December 1977 was followed by three days of riots.

Though Bermuda has been classified as a self-governed colony since 1620, internal self-government was bolstered by the establishment of a formal constitution in 1968, and the introduction of universal adult suffrage; debate about independence has ensued, although a 1995 independence referendum was soundly defeated. For many, Bermudian independence would mean little other than the obligation to staff foreign missions and embassies around the world, which would be a heavy obligation for Bermuda's small population, and the loss of British passports (which could severely restrict travel, as few enough countries have even heard of little Bermuda, and could regard travellers with suspicion). Another concern, which raised its head during the 1991 Gulf War

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

, was the loss of the protection provided by the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, especially, to the large number of merchant vessels on Bermuda's shipping register. The Bermuda government is unlikely to be able to provide naval protection to oil tankers plying the Persian Gulf, or other potentially dangerous waters. At present, Bermuda is able to take advantage of its status as part of the United Kingdom to attract overseas shipping operators to its register, although it does not contribute to the navy's budget. With independence, it was feared, a large chunk of the money currently flowing into the Bermuda Government's coffers would disappear. The current government is promoting independence – by means of a general election (that is, the government of the day would have the power to decide whether to go independent or not) as opposed to a referendum (a direct vote by the people) – by establishing a committee to investigate (though the committee is notably staffed with party members, and without representation by the opposition party). This stance is being supported by the UN, who have sent delegations to the island claiming that Bermuda is being suppressed by the British.

Effective 1 September 1995, both US military bases were closed; British and Canadian bases on the island closed at about the same time. Unresolved issues concerning the 1995 withdrawal of US forces—primarily related to environmental factors—delayed the formal return of the base lands to the Government of Bermuda. The United States formally returned the base lands in 2002.

It was hit by Hurricane Bertha in July 2008

External links

Bermuda History Blog – Bermuda History Blog
Bermuda Island.net – Detailed Bermuda History
Bermuda 4U – Timeline showing Bermuda's history
Rulers.org—Bermuda List of Bermuda's Governors
Bermuda Maritime Museum, a maritime museum
Maritime museum
A maritime museum is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water...

housed in the historic Dockyard, dedicated to public education and historical, archaeological and heritage research.
Roots Web: Ships of Bermuda (genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

resource)
The Daily Republican: Short Sweet Life of The Virginia Company
Genealogy Magazine: Bermudian settlers of the American colonies
Bermuda National Trust, a body dedicated to the preservation of historic and environmental sites of interest, including several museums.
Bermuda's role in the War of 1812, chronicles Bermuda's little-known role in the American War of 1812
Cape Cod Online: Worlds Rejoined.
Genealogy.com: Massasoit
The Royal Gazette: Bermudians (Mohegans) and Pequots Reconnect

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Initial discovery

Early colony

Bermuda

Bermuda, Salt and The Turks Islands

Shipbuilding and the maritime economy

Privateering

Naval and military base

Tourism

World Wars

Recent history

See also

Basic history

Specific topics

External links