Bahamas

Friday, June 10, 1859

British Colony

Caribbean


	Bahamas Scott #1

Imperforate, no watermark, engraved.
Printed by Perkins Bacon, London

Description	Paper	Scott	SG
Imperforate. June 10, 1859.
1 penny reddish lake	Thick, opaque	1a	1
Imperforate. April , 1860.
1 penny dull lake	Thin	1	2
Clean cut perforations 14 to 16. October 1, 1860
1 penny lake		2a	3
Rough perforations 14 to 16. June 1, 1861
1 penny lake		2	4
4 pence dull rose		3	5
6 pence gray lilac		4	6

Wikipedia describes the interesting history of the Bahamas, originally inhabited by the Lucayan, it was the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492, but not colonised by the Spanish. It became a British Crown colony in 1718 as part of an anti-piracy initiative. Wikipedia continues,

"After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas; they brought their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants. Africans constituted the majority of the population from this period. The Bahamas became a haven for freed African slaves: the Royal Navy resettled Africans here liberated from illegal slave ships; American slaves and Seminoles escaped here from Florida; and the government freed American slaves carried on United States domestic ships that had reached the Bahamas due to weather. Slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834. Today the descendants of slaves and free Africans make up nearly 90% of the population; issues related to the slavery years are part of society."

Changes of odministration
The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973. It issued stamps to commemorate a new contstitution in 1964 and its new status in 1973.


New constitution	Independence MS
Sc SG	Sc SG

Sources:
Wikipedia
James Mackay, The World of Classic Stamps, 1972
Gibbons Commonwealth and British Empire Stamps 1840-52, 106th edn., 2003
Scott Classic, 10th edn., 2003

Images from David Olson and ebay.

FI ref: 81

Page credit: NB

Page created 19 Feb 2014

Page updated 04-Jul-2021