The British Bahamas were a British colony that existed from 1648 until 1973, when it became an independent nation. It is also referred to as the British Administered Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, or the Crown Colony of the Bahamas. The colony changed hands between private settlers, English lords, and the British Crown of the United Kingdom during the 325 years it was a colony. The Bahamas territory is an archipelago of approximately 700 islands and 30 reefs located in the Atlantic Ocean in the region of the Caribbean. The nation was dissolved in 1973 during Bahamian independence.

In 1629, King Charles I granted the territories of "Bahama and all other Isles and Islands lying southerly there or neare upon the foresayd continent" to Sir Robert Heath, the Attorney General in London. No effort to explore or settle the islands would ever be made on the part of Heath, and Englishmen would not arrive there in earnest for another decade.

The arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century largely destroyed the Indigenous Lucayan population, who were enslaved and transported to other colonies, leaving the islands relatively uninhabited by the mid-16th century.

British interest in the Bahamas emerged in 1647. Captain William Sayle, who had twice been governor of Bermuda, took the leadership of seeking a colony that would be a haven for religious freedom. Sayle and about 70 settlers, consisting of Bermudan religious independents sailed from Bermuda for the Bahamas by October 1648.

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The settlers from Bermuda established a colony called Eleuthera in 1648, naming it after the Greek word for freedom. These settlers were known as the Eleutheran Adventurers and sought religious liberty and economic opportunity. Their initial attempts to establish a sustainable colony faced challenges, including scarce resources and conflicts with the Spanish. Settlers anticipated to establish a plantation colony for sugar and tobacco, but found the soil relatively unproductive. Sayle, along with a number of the initial settlers, returned to Bermuda. The remaining settlers founded communities on Harbour Island and Saint George's Cay (Spanish Wells) at the north end of Eleuthera. In 1670 about 20 families lived in the Eleuthera communities.

In 1666, a new wave of settlers arrived from Bermuda and established the city of New Providence. Charlestowne, named for Charles II, was established as well. Charlestowne was later renamed to Nassau, after King William III assumed the throne, with the German region of Nassau being in his family's possession. Lords proprietors, whom King Charles II had granted the colony of South Carolina on the American mainland, grew interested in the prospects of the Bahamas. They appointed Sayle as governor over South Carolina. In 1670, The Duke of Albemarle and five other lords were given a grant to establish a civil government in the Bahamas. New Providence was made the seat of government. There was no formal governor of the territories until the return of the islands to the crown in the 18th century.

This settlement laid the groundwork for future British expansion in the region.