What is now known as Bermuda, sometimes called the Bermudas and at one time known as Somers Islands, is a group of islands said to be over three hundred in actual number, lying in the Atlantic some seven hundred miles southeast from New York, the nearest point on the mainland being Cape Hatteras, in North Carolina, five hundred and seventy miles west. Of these three hundred odd islands, the eight principal ones, totalling in area less than twenty square miles, lie close together and are now connected by bridges, causeways and ferries. A glance at the map of Bermuda shows its general form, with its three almost enclosed bodies of water, the Great Sound, Harrington Sound and Castle Harbor, and nautical charts with soundings marked would show its form extending as reefs under water into a great oval connecting the two ends. These reefs made actual landing difficult, giving the island an evil reputation before its settlement, and no doubt were the cause of many shipwrecks.

The islands were known to exist as early as 1511, as they were noted on a map of that date. They received their name, however, from Juan de Bermudez, who came to Spain with an account of them a few years later, although there is apparently no evidence to show that the Spaniards or Portuguese ever occupied the islands or even landed there.

In 1593, Henry May, an Englishman, was cast away there with others and, eventually making his way back to England, he published an account of his adventures and a description of the group of Islands. Bermuda thus became known to the English. In 1609, the "Sea Venture" which was one of nine ships bound for the infant plantation of Virginia, with a party of "adventurers" ran ashore on Bermuda in a hurricane. The admiral of this fleet, Sir George Somers, with Sir Thomas Gates sent out to govern Virginia, and the entire company and crew of the "Sea Venture," said to number 149 men and women, were landed. With the ship stores saved from the wreck and what the island gave them, this company subsisted there for some ten months. During this time and in spite of mutiny among his charges, two ships were built under Somers' direction, and in May, 1610, the Company proceeded to the original destination, the colony of Virginia.

The Virginia colonists were in straits through lack of food, and Somers returned to Bermuda for provisions for the colony, having found hogs and fish plentiful on the islands. He died there in 1611, and his followers returned to England soon after.

The glowing and exaggerated accounts of the richness of the islands brought back by these colonists excited the cupidity of the organizers of the Virginia Company, who enlarged their original charter to include Bermuda and established a Colony there under Governor Moore in 1612. The shipment home of ambergris by Moore seemed to confirm the reported wealth of the islands, so that, following a method not unknown to more modern exploiters, members of the Virginia Company soon formed a new sub-company which took over the title to Bermuda as a separate proprietary colony, under the name of "The Governor and Company of the City of London, for the Plantation of the Somers Islands."

In 1616, Daniel Tucker was sent out by this company as the first Governor under the new charter. He caused the islands to be surveyed, dividing them into eight tribes, and public lands. These tribes, or proportional parts, assigned to each charter member, were for the most part what are the present-day parishes, being Sandys, to Sir Edwin Sandys; Southampton, to the Earl of Southampton; Paget, to William, Lord Paget; Smith's, to Sir Thomas Smith; Pembroke, to the Earl of Pembroke; Bedford, now Hamilton Parish, to the Countess of Bedford; Cavendish, now Devonshire, to Lord William Cavendish; Mansils', now Warwick, to Sir Robert Mansil. St. George's, St. David's and adjacent small islands were public lands. The tribes were subdivided into fifty shares of twenty-five acres each. Norwood's second map showing these tribes and shares is the basis of land titles in Bermuda today.

Governor Tucker's rule was harsh. The colonists included many criminals and convicts from English jails, so a merciless discipline seemed to him necessary. The severest penalties were enforced, executions, brandings and whippings were frequent. Negro slaves were introduced from Virginia in the endeavor to make money for the proprietors, with the resultant vices leaving their trail to this day. Progress was made in building the town of St. George. Roads and fortifications were constructed and the land planted with tobacco and semi-tropical fruits.

Tucker was replaced by Nathaniel Butler in 1619, but after securing his title to property rather doubtfully acquired, returned to Bermuda where he died in 1632. It was probably during Butler's term that the first stone dwellings began to appear, replacing the earlier thatched roofed cedar houses.

"The history of the colony from 1620, when the first Assembly met, until 1684, or 1685, when the Company was ousted of its charter by quo warranto in the King's Bench in England, is made up of the struggles of the Company in London to make as much out of the colonists as possible; of the struggles of the colonists to remove restrictions on trade with others than the Company, imposed upon them by the proprietaries; and of the efforts of the Governors sent out to the islands to maintain order, enforce the rules of the Company and defend their authority and exercise too often arbitrary power."—(William Howard Taft.)

From 1685 on, the island became self-governing and was largely left to its own devices by England. Agriculture was neglected or left in the hands of ignorant slaves, while the white islanders were occupied in such maritime pursuits as whaling, fishing and shipbuilding, and were dependent to a great extent on the mainland of America, with which they were in constant contact.

The outbreak of the American Revolution brought divided opinion on the islands as on the mainland. There is, however, little doubt but that there was great sympathy for the cause of freedom in the American colonies. Secret aid was given and commercial relations were resumed with America before the close of the war. If the Continental Congress had possessed a considerable navy, or if the islands had lain closer to the mainland, they might this day have been part of the United States. As it was, they remained ostensibly loyal to the mother country.

The War of 1812 brought changes to Bermuda. She became a port for prizes taken by the British navy and later was intermediary port for trade between America and the West Indies with the result that Bermudians prospered in the shipping trade. To the English, this war called attention to Bermuda's strategic position, and a naval station was established there. Convict labor from England was used to build dock yards, fortifications and roads, to the general benefit of the whole island. Slavery was abolished in 1834, an act which, though a general advantage, hurt Bermudian shipping, compelling, as it did, the employment at pay of sailors. With this decline of shipping attention was again turned to agriculture.

The Civil War brought a great period of activity and prosperity to Bermuda. Through ties of blood and trade, sympathy was entirely with the South and the ports were full of blockade runners bringing cotton from the South for trans-shipment to England. The crews spent much of their high wages on the islands and the Bermudians also engaged in the gamble of blockade running. The end of the war brought losses to many, and Bermuda again settled down to its normal activities, agriculture and fishing.

In later years a new source of revenue to Bermuda has arisen, known there as the "tourist trade," and consisting in providing for the needs and desires of visitors to the island. This has grown to important size and promises a still further increase. The mild climate and charm of beautiful surroundings, excellent steamship service and luxurious modern hotels, attract thousands each year. Building is being revived and Bermuda's commercial future seems assured.