2017-10-03 Tue

The Governor General of Bahamas Dame Marguerite Pindling unveiled the latest Series 2017 CRISP Evolution One Dollar Banknote in the Gardens of LPIA on 27th September 2017. Other important personalities like the Governor of the Central Bank John Rolle, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest were present at the ceremony.

Bahamas is a lovely group of 700 islands located north of Cuba and Hispaniola; southeast of the US state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys. It was initially inhabited by the Lucayan which is a branch of Arawakan-speaking Taino people. Columbus discovered the New World for the first time when he landed here. Native Lucayans were shipped as slaves to Hispaniola by the Spanish. English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera from 1513 to 1648. It became a British Crown colony in 1718. After slavery was abolished in the Bahamas in 1834, freed African slaves started living here.

The government released notes for the first time in 1966 in denominations of ½, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. The Bahamas Monetary Authority took over this responsibility in 1968 and started issuing the same denomination notes. On 1st June 1974, The Central Bank of The Bahamas was established and started issuing notes. ½ and 3 dollar denominations were not released this time but they were reintroduced in 1984. The dollar has evolved over twenty years. The quincentennial of the landing of Christopher Columbus on a Bahamian island he named San Salvador was celebrated with the release of colourful notes.

The latest notes come with "Counterfeit Resistant Integrated Security Product", or CRISP technology to improve security features and control forgery. The new $10 banknote was released on 5th August 2005 and $20 banknote was released on 6th September 2006.

Earlier notes displayed a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II but the latest ones feature Bahamian politicians who have died. This policy has come back and the Queen's portrait is featured on the $10 note. The $100 features an older Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and the reverse features a jumping blue marlin which is also the national fish of The Bahamas. The note itself is called "a blue marlin" locally.