From the Archive: Bahamas joins the Commonwealth

Exactly 36 years ago this week the Bahamas joined the Commonwealth following independence from the United Kingdom.

In a letter to Prime Minister Lyndon Pindling, then Commonwealth Secretary-General Arnold Smith congratulated the new Caribbean state on joining the member organisation on 10 July 1973.

“Allow me to say again how much pleasure it gives me to welcome the Bahamas’ membership of the Commonwealth as an independent and sovereign state,” he wrote.

“With my colleagues at the [Commonwealth] Secretariat I look forward to continuing and strengthening the excellent relationship which we have always had with the people of the Bahamas, and to continuing to benefit from the experience and talent which they bring to the Commonwealth.”

Mr Smith had first announced the news that the Bahamas would join the Commonwealth back in April of that year following the universal agreement of Commonwealth heads of government.

The proposal for an independent Bahamas, known previously as the Bahama Islands, had first been outlined by the government of Bahamas in March 1972. A white paper was presented to the Bahamas Parliament in October that year and was passed in November.

This vote was followed at the end of the year with a conference on independence with the United Kingdom at Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Secretariat Links:

• Country Profile: The Bahamas