Which major political development occurred in The Bahamas in 1648?

• A. The Bahamas gained independence
• B. The capital was relocated
• C. A new trading charter was issued
• D. The first constitution was instituted

Answer: (D)

The moment being tested is when the Bahamas first formalized its political system with a written framework. In 1648, settlers from Bermuda on New Providence adopted the Fundamental Laws, regarded as the colony’s first constitution. This document put in place a basic structure for governance, creating a governor, a council, and an assembly representing the settlers, and it set rules for how laws would be made and how leaders would be chosen or constrained by the law. It marks the move toward self-government and rule-based authority rather than rule by a proprietor or ad hoc decisions.

Independence came much later, in 1973, and capital relocation or a trading charter in that year do not fit the historical record for that specific development.