History
In 1825, an imperial Order-in-Council was passed for the purposes of introducing the British coinage into all the British colonies. It wasn't immediately very effective due to unrealistic ratings, and it required a further Order-in-Council to be passed in 1838. By the middle of the nineteenth century, British coinage had replaced the Spanish dollar throughout all of the British West Indies. But it was only in the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Jamaica that the pound unit of account was used. In the Eastern Caribbean territories and in British Guiana, the dollar unit of account was retained in conjunction with the British coinage at a fixed rate of one dollar equal to four shillings and two pence. Unlike in Bermuda, the US dollar circulated freely alongside the British sterling coinage in the Bahamas.
The pound was replaced by the dollar in 1966, at a rate of 7 shillings = 1 dollar (1 pound = 2.86 dollars). This rate meant that the new Bahamas dollar was at a slight discount to the US dollar.
For a wider outline of the history of currency in the region, see currencies of the British West Indies.
Read more about this topic: Bahamian Pound
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