(Spanish: Santo Tomás; Dutch: Sint-Thomas; Danish: Sankt Thomas)
is one of the US Virgin Islands ithe caribben sea and, together with St. John and Water Island, forms one of the Districts of the United of the United States Virgin Islands(USVI).
Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie. As of the 2010 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,634.The district has a land area of 31.24 square miles (80.9 km2).
Pre Colonial History
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
Colonial History
The Dutch West India Company established a post on Saint Thomas in 1657. The first congregation was the St.Thomas Reformed Church, which was established in 1660 and was associated with the Dutch Reformed Church.
The Danish conquered the island in 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 sugarcane production became the primary economic activity. As a result, the economies of Saint Thomas and the neighboring islands of Saint John and Saint Croix became highly dependent on slave labor and the slave trade. In 1685, the Brandenburgisch-Africanische Compagnie 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's fine natural harbor became known as "Taphus" for the drinking establishments located nearby. ("Tap Hus" translates as "rum shop" or "tap house" referring to the drinking establishments. 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 Frederick V.
American Acquisition
In 1917, St. Thomas was purchased (along with Saint John and Saint Croix) by the United States for $25 million in gold, as part of a defensive strategy to maintain control over the Caribbean and the Panama Canal during the First World War. The transfer occurred on March 31, 1917, behind Fort Christian before the barracks that now house the Legislature of the U.S Virgin Islands. The baccalaureate service for the transfer was held at the St. Thomas Reformed Church as it was identified as the American church in the Danish West Indies.
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.
Transportation
The island is served by numerous Major, Regional and Commuter Airlines at Cyril E. King Airport.
Air Sunshine has flights to and from St. Croix, St,Thomas(STT),San Juan ( SJU), St.Maarten (SXM), Anguilla(AXA),Tortola(EIS),Virgin Gorda(VIJ) , Dominica(DOM),Nevis(NEV), St. Kitts ( SKB), St. Lucia ( SLU ) and Vieques(VQS) on a reular basis and the destination of your choice on demand.
The United States Virgin Islands is the only place under United States jurisdiction where the rule of the road is to drive on the left.
This was inherited from what was the then-current Danish practice at the time of the American acquisition in 1917. However, because St. Thomas is a U.S. territory, most cars are imported from the mainland United States and therefore the steering column is located on the left side of the vehicle.
Points of interest
SAINT CROIX
St. Croix or Santa Cruz ( Spanish) is the largest of the islands in the territory.
As of the 2010 United States Census, St. Croix's population was 50,601, its highest point is Mount Eagle, at 355 metres (1,165 ft). St. Croix's two towns on opposite ends of the island are Christiansted on the eastern end and Frederiksted on the western end.
Geography
St. Croix lies at 17°45′N 64°45′W: Point Udall is the easternmost point in the United States of America (as measured from the center of the continental United States. The island has an area of 214.66 km2 (82.88 sq mi). The terrain is rugged, though not extremely so.
Climate
The trade wind blows more or less along the length of the island. The hills of the western part of the island receive a good deal more rain than the east end; annual rainfall is on the whole extremely variable, averaging perhaps 40 inches (1,000 mm) a year. The east end of the island is a dry desert range with a substantial amount of cactus, while the west end has lush vegetation and palm trees. The island has multiple ecosystems in a small geographic area.
Pre- Colonial History
The island was inhabited by various indigenous groups during its prehistory. Christopher Columbus landed on Santa Cruz, as he called it, on November 14, 1493, and immediately was attacked by the Kalinago, who lived at Salt River on the north shore. This is the first recorded fight between the Spanish and a New World native population, although the Spanish never colonized the Islands but most or all of the native population was eventually dispersed or killed. By the end of the 16th century, the islands were said to be uninhabited.
Colonial History
Dutch and English settlers landed St. Croix in 1625, joined by some French refugees from St. Kitts. However, the English expelled the settlers, before they themselves were evicted by a Spanish invasion in August 1650. The Spanish occupation was short lived, since a French force of 166 men attacked, and in the following year 1651 had established a colony of 300 on the island. From 1651 until 1664, the Knights of Malta ruled the island in the name of Louis XIV. The island then passed to the French West India Company.
In 1725, St. Thomas Governor Frederick Moth encouraged the Danish West Indies Company's directors to consider purchasing Santa Cruz (St. Croix). On June 15, 1733, France and Denmark-Norway concluded a treaty by which the Danish West India Company bought St. Croix for 750,000 livres.
Alexander Hamilton one of the Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system lived with his brother and their mother Rachel Faucette on St. Croix, after she returned to the island in 1765. Their residence was in the upper floor of a house at 34 Company Street, while Rachel used the lower floor as a shop selling food items. Within two years, however, Hamilton lost his father, James Hamilton, by abandonment, and his mother to death. Official documents from the island, a 1768 probate court testimony from his uncle, established Alexander's age at 13. By 1769, Hamilton's cousin, aunt, uncle, and grandmother had also died. His brother James became an apprentice carpenter, and Alexander Hamilton became the ward of Thomas Stevens, a merchant on King Street. Hamilton was soon clerking in the export-import business of Beekman and Cruger, at the intersection of King and King's Cross Streets. In 1772, local businessmen funded Hamilton's further education in New York and the rest is History !
Current History
For nearly 200 years, St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John were known as the Danish West Indies.
In 1917, Denmark sold St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John to the United States, formalizing the transfer in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, in exchange for a sum of US$25 million in gold. In a national referendum on the issue, 64.2% of Danish voters approved the sale. An unofficial referendum held in the islands resulted in 99.83% vote in favor of the purchase. Formal transfer of the islands to the U.S. took place on April 1, 1917.
Demographics
Inhabitants are called Crucians /ˈkruːʒən/ (frequently written as "Cruzans").
Ancestral native Crucians (approximately one-fourth to one-third of St. Croix's population) largely consist of the descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the island by Europeans during the 17th,18th and 19th centuries. As on other Caribbean islands, many ancestral natives are also descended from European settlers and planters that migrated to the West Indies during these periods. However, there are also a handful of ancestral families on the island (traditionally known as bukra) of full European ancestry.
Puerto Rican migration was prevalent in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, when many Puerto Ricans relocated to St. Croix for work after the collapse of the sugar industry. In addition, the U.S. Navy purchase of the two-thirds of the nearby Puerto Rican island of Vieques during World War II resulted in the displacement of thousands of Viequenses, many of whom relocated to St. Croix because of its similar size and geography. The local holiday, Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands Friendship Day, has been celebrated since the 1960s on the second Monday of October, which is also the same date as Columbus Day. Puerto Ricans in St. Croix, most of whom have lived on the island for more than a generation, have kept their culture alive while integrating it into the native Crucian culture and society.
Migration from "down-island" (a Virgin Islander colloquial term for Caribbean islands east and south of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands), occurred mainly throughout the 1960s and 70s. In that period, agriculture declined as the major industry in St. Croix and was replaced by tourism, alumina production, and oil refining. Jobs were plentiful in these industries and down-islanders came to St. Croix by the thousands.
Most down-islanders came from St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, St. Lucia and Dominica, although people from every Anglophone Caribbean nation can be easily found on St. Croix.
Although down-island migration to St. Croix is most commonly thought of as a mid-20th century phenomenon brought upon by American immigration policy, it is important to note that persons of both European and African descent from the nearby islands of Anguilla, St. Martin, Statia, Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, and Montserrat have been migrating to St. Croix since the 1600s.
Continental Americans, although small in number in comparison with Caribbean immigrants, have also been part of the St. Croix community.
Arab Palestinians have been an influential part of the local economy since the 1960s, when they first started to migrate to St. Croix to set up shops, supermarkets and gas stations.
In 2009, the proposed U.S. Virgin Islands Constitution voted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention established three definitions of U.S. Virgin Islanders: "Ancestral Native Virgin Islander" – those with ancestral ties (and their descendants); "Native Virgin Islander" – those born on the island (and their descendants); and "Virgin Islander" – any United States citizen who has resided in the territory for five years. The proposed constitution was rejected by the United States Congress in 2010 for violating the principle of equal rights for all citizens of the territory, "native" or not, and was sent back to the convention for further consideration.
Transportation
The island is served by numerous Major, Regional and Commuter Airlines at Henry E. RohlsenAirport.
Air Sunshine has flights to and from St. Croix, St,Thomas(STT),San Juan ( SJU), St.Maarten (SXM), Anguilla(AXA),Tortola(EIS),Virgin Gorda(VIJ) , Dominica(DOM),Nevis(NEV), St. Kitts ( SKB), St. Lucia ( SLU ) and Vieques(VQS) on a reular basis and the destination of your choice on demand
The United States Virgin Islands is the only place under United States jurisdiction where the rule of the road is to drive on the left.
This was inherited from what was the then-current Danish practice at the time of the American acquisition in 1917. However, because St. Croix is a U.S. territory, most cars are imported from the mainland United States and therefore the steering column is located on the left side of the vehicle.
 |
 |
 |
| Buck Island Reef National Manument | Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge | Estate Mount National Plantation |
 |
 |
 |
| Old Danish School | Frederiksted | St. George Botanic Garden |