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New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas.

While the first European visitors to the Bahama Islands were Bermudan salt rakers gathering sea salt in Grand Turk and Inagua after 1670, the first lasting occupation was on Eleuthera and then New Providence shortly thereafter. The attraction of New Providence was one of the best sheltered natural small vessel harbors in the West Indies.

Because of the harbor, and near adjacence to the Florida Strait, New Providence became a nest of pirates preying on mainly Spanish shipping returning to Spain with gold, silver, and other wealth. The apex of piratical activity there was from 1715Events September 1 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, leaving the throne of his exhausted and indebted country to his great-grandson Louis XV. Regent for the new, five years old monarch is Philippe d'Orleans, nephew of Louis XIV. to 1725Events February 8 Catherine I became empress of Russia February 20 The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony. March 2 In London, night watchman finds a severed head by the Thames; it is later recogn, after which the British government established a formal colony and military headquarters centered on the small city of NassauNassau is the capital city of the Bahamas. It is the commercial and cultural centre of the Bahamas, and with a population of 180,000, its largest city. Located on New Providence island, Nassau has an attractive harbour and a busy port. The tropical climat fronting the New Providence harbor.

After the American RevolutionThe American Revolution refers to the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary, several thousand Tories and their slaves emigrated to New Providence and nearby islands, hoping to re-establish plantationA Plantation is a deliberately cultivated area, for example: a large farm, growing one species of plant only, eg. Pine plantations produce raw material for paper-making. Tobacco and coffee also grow on plantations. During the 1800s, Slave labour typically agriculture. The shallow soils and sparse rainfall doomed this activity to failure, and by the early 19th century the Bahamas had become a nearly vacant archipelagoAn archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. Archipelagoes usually occur in the open sea; less commonly a large land mass may neighbour them. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along ocean ridges or hot spots, but th. Salt raking continued here and there, wreck gleaning was profitable in Grand Bahama, but New Providence was the only island with any prosperity because of the large British military establishment. The fortresses began to crumble and were abandoned by 1850. New Providence had two periods of high economic success during the American Civil War and during Prohibition, when it was a smuggling center.

Since 1960, New Providence has become an American vacation destination with many tourist facilities, including deepened harbor for short visit cruise ship visitors and hotels featuring gambling activity. Two-thirds of the 300,000 Bahamians live on New Providence, although this proportion has fallen somewhat with the development of Freeport on Grand Bahama.