Grand Bahama Island is the northernmost island of all the Bahama Islands, and is only 55 miles east of the Florida coast. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, renowned for its luxury resorts, sport fishing, scuba diving, plenty of things to do in Freeport and picturesque tropical surroundings. It is also one of the most storied islands of the Bahamas.
The first known residents of Grand Bahama Island were the Siboney Indians, who lived during the Stone Age. The Taino Arawaks eventually canoed from South America and colonized the island and the rest of the Caribbean around 1000 B.C. The Arawaks on Grand Bahama Island were known as the Lucayans. When the Spanish arrived in 1492, there were some 4000 Lucayans, part of a well-organized social and political culture. After the Spanish occupation, the Lucayans died out quickly (likely due to diseases introduced by the Europeans).
The Spanish named the island Gran Bajamar, or "Great Swallows". The swallows were the perilous coral reef that surrounded the island, which ended up discouraging further Spanish occupation, but did manage to attract a lot of pirates.
The Bahamas were eventually claimed by Great Britain in 1670, and they brought the piracy under control. For the next few hundred years, Grand Bahama Island was a rather quiet island, with only a relative few residents living on the West End.
By the mid 20th century, Grand Bahama Islands was still the least developed of the Bahama Islands. In 1955 Wallace Groves, an investor from Virginia, saw the potential for turning the island into a playground for the wealthy elite, similar to Cuba. After negotiating with the Bahamian government, he began work on the construction of Freeport. Freeport grew quickly in popularity, especially with the addition of the harbour, and Port Lucaya was added in 1962.
Freeport is now the capital of Grand Bahama Island, and is the second most populated city in the Bahamas, after Nassau. Tourism is the foundation of the island's economy, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.