Eleutheran Adventurers

The Eleutheran Adventurers were a group of English Puritans and religious Independents who left Bermuda to settle on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas in the late 1640s. The small group of Puritan settlers, led by William Sayle, were expelled from Bermuda for their failure to swear allegiance to the Crown and left in search of a place in which they could freely practice their faith. This group represented the first concerted European effort to colonize the Bahamas.

Background

The mid-17th century was a period of destruction and turmoil in England, culminating in the English Civil War. The first part of the conflict was fought between King Charles I and the Parliament of England and led ultimately to the Protectorship of the Puritan General Oliver Cromwell. This conflict spread to Bermuda, where a period of civil strife resulted in a victory for the supporters of the royalist party, known as Cavaliers. The struggle eventually led to the expulsion of the colony's Parliamentarian Puritans and independents to the Bahamas, which the English had laid claim to in 1629 but had not permanently settled. Earlier in 1644, the Bermudian independent Puritans had sent an expedition to explore these new islands.

Establishment of the colony

Sometime between spring 1646 and autumn 1648, Sayle took 70 people to settle in the Bahamas. They made landfall on the island called Cigateo, which they named Eleutheria, from the Greek word for "freedom", although the name later became Eleuthera.