On Grand Bahama Island, the sea has always provided. The earliest settlers, the Siboney Indians, were a people who lived off conch and fishing, and the shells and jewelry they left behind form the majority of what we know about them. Their remains suggest that they were here as early as 7,000 years ago, but disappeared after they were superceded by another Caribbean group, the Lucayans.

The Lucayans (also called Arawaks) were a broad group of tribes who worked their way up the Caribbean from South America's Amazon between 5 and 7,000 years ago. When Christopher Columbus sighted San Salvador on his first crossing in 1492, there were an estimated 40,000 of them living in The Islands of The Bahamas, with a population of about 4,000 on Grand Bahama Island. Surprisingly little is known about the Lucayans, a fact that comes from their rapid extermination by the Spanish shortly after the arrival of Columbus. It is believed they had an advanced political and social structure, and lived in well-organized cities.

Skulls and artifacts have been found in the caves at Lucayan National Park, and a significant new archeological site recently discovered near Deadman's Reef has uncovered hearths, animal bones, pottery pieces, and shell beads.

After the Spanish claimed the island in 1492, there was barely a footprint to be seen on the beaches of Grand Bahama Island. The Lucayans were enslaved and transported to work the gold and silver mines of Hispanola and Cuba, and the pearl fisheries of Margarita, near Trinidad. The conquerers gave the island the name "Gran Bajamar" - great shallows - a term that eventually became the basis for The Islands of The Bahamas themselves.

After they stole away its inhabitants, however, the Spanish seemed to have completely ignored Grand Bahama Island. Once in great while, a ship would drop anchor, perhaps scavenge a few provisions, then sail off towards Europe or South America. More often than not, Grand Bahama Island was viewed as a perilous landfall, due to the treacherous shallow reefs surrounding it. So many ships would collide with the reefs that "wrecking" became a major livelihood of what few inhabitants there were, most of whom lived at West End. In hard times it wasn't unheard of for the townspeople to actually try and lure ships onto the reef with a well-placed lantern at night.>>