Conch (/ˈkɒŋk/)[1] was originally aslang term forBahamians of European descent.[2]
After theAmerican Revolution, manyloyalists migrated to theBahamas. Some of the loyalists looked down on the original white Bahamians and called them Conchs,[3] possibly because shellfish was a prominent part of their diet.[4]
Some other theories that have been proposed for the origin of the term are:
By extension, the termConch has also been applied to the descendants of Bahamian immigrants inFlorida. Bahamians began visiting theFlorida Keys in the 18th century to catch turtles, cut timber, and salvage wrecks. During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, most of the permanent residents in theFlorida Keys outside ofKey West, and many in Key West, were Bahamian in origin.Conch was reported to be a term of distinction for Bahamians in Key West in the 1880s.[5]
The white Bahamians in the keys continued to be known as Conchs. The 1939WPA Guide to Florida[a] produced by theWorks Progress Administration (WPA) noted that both Conchs and black Bahamians in Key West spoke with a "Cockney accent".[7] Other residents of the Florida Keys, especially in Key West, began calling themselves Conchs, and the term is now applied generally to persons born in Key West. The term is also used for theConch Republic.[2][8] To distinguish between natives and non-natives, the terms "Salt Water Conch" (native) and "Fresh Water Conch" (non-native) have been used.[1] Newcomers become "Fresh Water Conchs" after seven years.[2]
Riviera Beach, Florida, was known as "Conchtown" in the first half of the 20th century because of the number of Bahamian immigrants who settled there. Unlike the situation in Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys, where being Conch became a matter of pride and community identification,Conch was used by outsiders (in particular the residents ofWest Palm Beach) in a pejorative manner to describe the Bahamian community in Riviera Beach. The usage there also carried the connotation that at least some of the Conchs were of mixed racial heritage. As a result, some of the Bahamians in Riviera Beach denied being Conchs when interviewed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Florida Writers Project in the late 1930s. WPA worker Veronica Huss (with assistance fromStetson Kennedy) and photographer Charles Foster wrote a book on the Conchs and their culture entitledConch Town, but the WPA chose not to publish it (Foster eventually published an edited version in 1991).[4][9] Many Bahamians also settled inMiami, particularly in theCoconut Grove neighborhood, and inTarpon Springs.[10]
The termConchy Joe orConky Joe can be a pejorative or affectionate term used to refer to a native Bahamian of primarily European descent.[11]
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