Eleutheran Adventurers

The Eleutheran Adventurers refer to a group of English religious dissidents who left Bermuda, which was then under the rule of the Anglican Church, in 1648. The group represents the first European effort to colonize the Bahamas, no effort was made while the islands were under Spanish dominion. This was in a period of constant religious turmoil in England and in Europe. The small group of settlers, led by a man called William Sayle, set out to found a new colony in which they could freely practice their faith. Sailing south they made landfall on the island called Cigateo in the Bahamas. The island was renamed Eleutheria after the group. It was later renamed Eleuthera, meaning "Freedom" in Greek.

The colony was not a success. The soil yielded little production of any kind, and the settlers barely got by. A very resourceful man, Sayle secured a number of supplies from the mainland colonies. Despite this, the colony did not do much better in the following years, and in the end only a few hard-core settlers from the original Eleutherans were left. Sayle himself went on to become Governor of Bermuda, but continued to have an interest in Eleuthera, and used his influence as Governor of Bermuda to secure some trade for the island.