This is a list of colonial heads of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on Eleuthera. In 1670, the king gave the Bahamas to the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, but the islands were left alone. The local pirates proclaimed a 'Privateers' Republic' with Edward Teach ("Blackbeard") as chief magistrate in 1703. In 1717, the Bahamas became a British crown colony, and the pirates were moved out.