This is a list of
Governors of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on
Eleuthera. In 1670, the king granted the Bahamas to the Lords Proprietors of the
Province of Carolina, but the islands were left to themselves. The local pirates proclaimed a '
Privateers' Republic' with
Edward Teach (
Blackbeard) as chief magistrate in 1703. In 1717, the Bahamas became a British crown colony, and the pirates were driven out.