Premier of the colony in 1967, and in 1968 the title was changed to Prime Minister. Independent Bahamas The Bahamas achieved full independence as a Commonwealth realm within the Commonwealth of Nations on 10 July 1973. Sir Milo Butler was appointed the first Governor-General of the Bahamas (the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II) shortly after independence. Pindling was prime minister until 1992. He was succeeded by Hubert Ingraham, leader of the Free National Movement, who was prime minister until 2002. The College of the Bahamas was founded in 1974 and provided the nation's higher or tertiary education. The college was chartered in 2016 as the University of the Bahamas, offering baccalaureate, masters and associate degrees, on three campuses and teaching and research centres throughout the Bahamas. Based on the twin pillars of tourism and offshore finance, the Bahamian economy has prospered since the 1950s. However, there remain significant challenges in areas such as education, health care, housing, international narcotics trafficking and illegal immigration from Haiti. In the 2002 Bahamian general election, the PLP returned to power under Perry Christie. Ingraham returned to power from 2007 to 2012, followed by Christie again from 2012 to 2017. With economic growth faltering, Bahamians re-elected the FNM in 2017, with Hubert Minnis becoming the fourth prime minister. In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian struck the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama at Category 5 intensity, devastating the northwestern Bahamas. The storm inflicted at least US$7 billion in damages and killed more than 50 people, with 1,300 people still missing. In September 2021, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis lost in a snap election as the economy struggles to recover from its deepest crash since at least 1971. Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won 32 of the 39 seats in the House of Assembly. Free National Movement (FNM), led by Minnis, took the remaining seats. On 17 September 2021, the chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Phillip “Brave” Davis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the Bahamas. See also British colonisation of the Americas History of the British West Indies History of the Caribbean Politics of the Bahamas Notes References Albury, Paul. (1975) The Story of the Bahamas. MacMillan Caribbean. Carr, J. Revell. (2008) Seeds of Discontent: The Deep Roots of the American Revolution 1659–1750. Walker & Company. Craton, Michael, and Gail Saunders. A history of the Bahamian people: From the ending of slavery to