Apologies to any Bahamians in advance.
Just read a book on Bahamian history. Seems that once the Pirates were cleared out the only time it was relevant, for lack of a more delicate term, was during the ACW and Prohibition until tourism kicked in. Otherwise it appears to have largely been a poor, unimportant island chain.
Was this because England didn't know what to do with it or were the islands just not able to be a more productive colony? Also, what could have been done to improve its standing?