Nassau was formerly known as Charles Town; it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684, but later rebuilt and renamed Nassau in 1695 in honor of the Dutch Stadtholder(stadhouder in Dutch) and later also King of England, Scotland and Ireland, William III from the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. In 1703 Spanish and French allied forces briefly occupied Nassau.
By 1713, the sparsely settled Bahamas had become a pirate haven for pirate chieftains Thomas Barrow and Benjamin Hornigold. They proclaimed Nassau a pirate republic, establishing themselves as "governors", and were joined by Charles Vane, Calico Jack Rackham, and the infamous Edward Teach, known as "Blackbeard", along with women pirates such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
In 1718, the British sought to regain control of the islands and appointed Captain Woodes Rogers as Royal governor. He successfully clamped down on the pirates, reformed the civil administration and restored commerce. Rogers cleaned up Nassau and rebuilt the fort, even going as far as using his own money to try to overcome problems. In 1720 the Spanish made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Nassau. In 1776 the Battle of Nassau resulted in a brief occupation by the Americans during the American War of Independence: in 1778 an overnight invasion saw the Americans leaving with ships, gunpowder and military stores after remaining in Nassau for only two days. In 1782 Spain captured Nassau for the last time when Don Juan de Cagigal, governor-general of Cuba attacked New Providence with 5000 men. An American loyalist named Andrew Deveaux set forth to recapture Nassau with only 220 men and 150 muskets to face a force of 600 trained soldiers. Deveaux forced the Spanish to surrender on April 17, 1783, without a single shot fired.
Lord Dunmore governed the colony from 1787 to 1796 and oversaw the construction of Fort Charlotte in Nassau.
During the American Civil War Nassau served as a port for blockade runners making
