Long Island is an island in The Bahamas that is split by the Tropic of Cancer. Its capital is Clarence Town.
Archaeological evidence shows that the Lucayan Taíno tribe settled on Long Island, probably in the island’s cave system. After the demise of the Lucayans, who were taken as slaves to Hispaniola and Cuba, there was no large settlement until the arrival of the Simms family in 1720 who originally arrived in The Bahamas in the 1640s.
The original Loyalists were mainly from New England and New Jersey and arrived on Long Island after fleeing the American Revolution. These families started the first farms, primarily raising cattle and sheep. By the 1790s, settlers began to arrive from the Carolinas and proceeded to set up cotton plantations. The plantations flourished for only a few years and, by the time of the abolition of slavery in 1834, most had collapsed and been abandoned.
