Page 66 - The British Big Four

Key Historical Dates and Events

1789 Completion of the main portion of Fort Charlotte overlooking the western entrance to Nassau Harbor.
1793 Fort Fincastle was built at New Providence Island’s highest point.
1838 Slavery is abolished in the Bahamas. Wrecking, controlled by licenses, flourished until lighthouses are built on
the major islands.
1861-1865 The American Civil War brought great wealth to Nassau, a major supply base for the Confederacy (which
was fighting for slavery!).
1892 The first telegraph underwater cable is laid from Florida to Nassau.
1914 John Ernest Williamson shoots the first underwater motion picture in the Bahamas.
1920 The American prohibition of liquor brings an economic boom to the Bahamian economy, where liquor was
legal and plentiful.
1930s Famous writers come to live and work in the Bahamas, such as Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck.
1950s Nassau becomes a hot spot for the jet-set rich and famous.
1953 In 1953, Bahamians dissatisfied with UBP rule formed the opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).