Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Thomas is an
island in the
Caribbean Sea and a constituent
district of the
United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the
United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of
Charlotte Amalie. As of the
2000 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,181 [
1], about 47 percent of the U.S. Virgin Islands total. The district has a land area of 80.9 km² (31.24 sq mi).
The island was originally settled around
1500 BC by the
Ciboney people. They were later replaced by the
Arawaks and then the
Caribs.
Christopher Columbus sighted the island in
1493 on his second voyage to the "
New World". The Caribs seem not to have survived the first decades of contact with Europeans, either due to disease or deportation and extermination.
Pirates likely made use of the island as an occasional base in the next 150 years.
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Map of U.S. Virgin Islands |
The
Danish established a presence on Saint Thomas as early as
1666, and by
1672 had established control over the entire island through the
Danish West India and Guinea Company. The land was divided into
plantations and
sugar cane production became the primary economic activity. As a result, Saint Thomas and neighboring islands of
Saint John and
Saint Croix became highly dependent on
slave labor. In
1685 the
Brandenburg American Company took control of the slave trade on Saint Thomas, and for some time the largest slave auctions in the world were held there. Saint Thomas boasted a fine natural
harbor, known as "Taphus" for the drinking establishments located nearby. In
1691 the primary settlement there was renamed
Charlotte Amalie in honor of the wife of Denmark's King
Christian V. It was later declared a
free port by
King Frederick V.
While the sugar trade had brought prosperity to the island's free citizens, by the early
19th century Saint Thomas was in decline. The continued export of sugar was threatened by hurricanes, drought, and
American competition. In
1848, slavery was abolished and the resulting rise in labour costs further weakened the position of Saint Thomas' sugar producers. Given its harbors and fortifications, Saint Thomas still retained a strategic importance, and thus in the 1860s the United States government considered buying the island and its neighbors from Denmark for $7.5 million, but failed to find domestic legislative support for the bid.
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"Beautiful Harbor of St. Thomas, West Indies", stereoptical view, c. 1900 |
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St. Thomas street sign letting drivers know that they are supposed to drive on the left hand side of the road, even though they are using US-spec left hand drive vehicles. |
In
1917 St. Thomas was purchased (along with Saint John and Saint Croix) by the
United States for $25 million, as part of a defensive strategy to maintain control over the Caribbean and the
Panama Canal during the
First World War. P.W. Sparks, a U.S. Naval officer, designed the flag that now represents the United States Virgin Islands. Sparks married a local Virgin Island woman, Grace Joseph Sparks; when Sparks' superior, Rear Adm. Kitelle, commissioned the design for the flag, P.W. Sparks asked his wife and her sister, Blanche Joseph (later Sasso) to sew the first flag. That flag was used until such time as a factory produced flag could be acquired. The flag's inspiration came from the U.S. Presidential seal. Sparks decided to have the eagle facing the olive branches (which represented peace) rather than the arrows (which represented the three islands: St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John). (At the request of the Sparks family, this piece of history was entered into the Congressional Record in Washington, D.C., on April 30th, 1986, vol.132, No.56, by the congressional delegate, Ron de Lugo.)
U.S. citizenship was granted to the residents in
1927. The
U.S. Department of the Interior took over administrative duties in
1931. American forces were based on the island during the
Second World War. In
1954, passage of the U.S. Virgin Islands
Organic Act officially granted territorial status to the three islands, and allowed for the formation of a local senate with politics dominated by the American
Republican and
Democratic parties. Full
home rule was achieved in
1970.
The post-war era also saw the rise of tourism on the island. With relatively cheap air travel and the American
embargo on
Cuba, the numbers of visitors greatly increased. Despite natural disasters such as
Hurricane Hugo (
1989) and Hurricanes
Luis and
Marilyn (
1995), the island's infrastructure continues to improve as the flow of visitors continues.
The island is serviced by
Cyril E. King Airport.Like Great Britain, cars travel on the left side of the road. However, unlike Great Britain, the steering column is located on the left side of the vehicle.
*World champion boxer
Julian Jackson was born in St. Thomas
*Actor / Director / Producer
Kelsey Grammer was born on the island in St. Thomas
*Hip hop musician
Doug E. Fresh was born in St. Thomas
*Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) born July 10th on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, Danish West Indies; to Abraham Gabriel Pissarro, of Sephardic (or "Morrano") Jewish ancestry, and Rachel Manzano-Pomiace, a Dominican of Spanish descent. Pissarro was a key member of the French Impressionist group of painters. The Pissarro family, French and Jewish in origin, had settled in the Danish colony of St. Thomas.
*Denmark Vesey : Leader of Planned Slave Uprising in Charleston, South Carolina
*
Elrod Hendricks, professional
baseball player,
Baltimore Orioles*
Danish West Indies*
Danish colonization of the Americas*
Virgin Islands Creole*
Districts of the United States Virgin Islands, United States Census Bureau*
"US Virgin Islands" at Lonely Planet*
"St. Thomas Newspaper"*
St.Thomas at WhereToStay.com
