The Bahamas were first inhabited by the Taino, Arawak people who migrated from South America, and arrived in the islands as far back as the year 500, first stopping on Hispaniola before reaching the Bahamas. The Lucayan tribe of Tainos flourished in the Caribbean and expanded across many islands of the Bahamas over the next several centuries.
European explorers arrived in the 15th century, with the Spanish voyage of Christopher Columbus, which reached the Bahamas in 1492, and effectively initiated the discovery of the New World. Though the Spanish did not settle the Bahamas, because of the lack of gold and resources, they did transport many of the Lucayans to other islands as slaves, depopulating the islands. Some English explorers fled from Bermuda and established an unofficial colony of Eleuthera, which survived on salvaging shipwrecks, but struggled. The other settlement by Bermudans was the New Providence settlement. These settlers came into conflict with the Spanish, who were the target of most of the shipwrecks. The Spanish teamed up with the Spanish to attack the British colonists in the early 1700s. Without government, the islands were taken over by pirates.