Bahamas Factoid: Christopher Columbus landed on San Salvador Island on October 12, 1492. The British settled in the Bahamas in the 1600's. The British tried to hunt and fish on the island, but they were unsuccessful. The British claimed it as a colony in 1717. When the Revolutionary War was over, British loyalists came to the Bahamas from America. The British said the Bahamas could have an independent government in 1964.