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Grand Bahama is one of the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, lying just 55 miles (90 km) of the coast of Florida, USA.
The island was claimed by Spain shortly after the discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492, and its name in Spanish: Gran Bajamar - 'Great Shallows' was the basis for the name later transferred to the whole island group.
The Spaniards took look interest in the island after enslaving the native Lucayan inhabitants, and the islands were claimed by Britain in 1670.
The towns of Pinder’s Point, Russell Town and Williams Town were established by former Bahaman slaves after the abolition of slavery in the British empire in 1834. The island was still little developed until a brief boom in economic activity during the American Civil War when it was a center for blockade-runners smuggling goods to the Confereracy. A second smuggling boom occurred during the years of prohibition in the USA.
In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier arranged terms with the Bahamian government to build the city of Freeport, which grew to be the second most populated city in the islands (over 50,000 in 2004). The tourists that it attracts are now the mainstay of the island's economy.
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