North & Central America and Caribbean

Bermuda (British Overseas Territory)
Last reviewed: 20 November 2009

Country information

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History

The Bermudas were visited in about 1505 by a Spanish sailor, Juan de Bermudez, and had been given the name 'La Bermuda' by 1510. Ferdinand d'Orviedo (also Spanish) sighted them in 1515. They remained uninhabited until 1609, when The Sea Venture, commanded by Sir George Somers on its way to Virginia with British settlers, was wrecked on reefs close to the eastern shores. The survivors were able to build 2 ships and continue their journey to Jamestown - bringing with them much needed supplies for Bermuda. News spread of the beauty and fertility of the islands, and in 1612 King James I and VI extended the charter of the Virginia Company to include them. The first emigrants went out in that year; others followed, and enslaved Africans were brought with them as house servants. The islands, which became known as Somers Islands, were bought about 1615 by some entrepreneurs from the City of London. The settlers became weary of the restrictions imposed on them by the Virginia Company and its successor the Bermuda Company. They took their case to London and in 1684 the company's charter was annulled, and government passed to the Crown. As elsewhere in the British Empire, slavery was abolished in Bermuda in August 1834.