History

Historically, the island was used as a last stop for the Spanish treasure fleet returning to Europe and Iberian Peninsula. Spanish galleons and Spain's medieval ships refilled their water supply from wells created for this purpose - thus the English name of the settlement: Spanish Wells.

The first British colonists were the Eleutheran adventurers from Bermuda (intending to be some of the first settlers of Eleuthera), who suffered shipwreck on a reef, known as the "Devil's Backbone" off Eleuthera in 1647. After living in a cave known as "Preacher's Cave" on Eleuthera, they ended up at Spanish Wells. Among other, later, groups of settlers were Crown loyalists, who left the United States after the American Revolutionary War.

Economy

In the late 1970s and early 1980s an illegal drug trade in the Bahamas had a prevalence, Spanish Wells served as a transshipment point for illicit recreational drugs being shipped from Latin America to North America as part of the transoceanic illegal drug trade.

Commencing in 2006, Spanish Wells developed as a centre for lobster fishing and tourism in Bahamas.

Demographics

Spanish Wells is populated primarily by White Bahamians, who constitute 81.95% of the district's population. Afro-Bahamians constitute a further 15.48% of the population. As of the 2010 census, the district is home to 1,551 residents.^[6]

Tropical Storms of Late 20th Century

The area suffered extensive property damage during a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Floyd in 1999.