History
The Danes were the first who established a settlement on St. Thomas in 1672. They later expanded to St. John in 1694. St. Croix was added to the Danish West India Company in 1733. Plantations soon began to appear all over the island. A treaty with the Dutch of Brandenburg in 1685 established St. Thomas as a slave-trading post. More than 200,000 slaves were forcibly shipped to the islands for backbreaking work.
St. John and St. Croix maintained a plantation economy, while St. Thomas developed as a trade center. Fed up with the harsh conditions, in 1733 slaves attacked St. John’s Fort Frederiksvaern in Coral Bay, this crippled operations for six months. In 1792 Denmark announced the end of trading slaves. Freedom was not granted to slaves until 1848, when Moses “Buddhoe” Gottlieb led a revolution on St. Croix.
Little was heard of the islands until World War I, when the United States negotiated the purchase of the islands from Denmark for $25 million in gold. Although the islands were purchased in 1917, it wasn’t until 1927 that citizenship was granted to Virgin Islanders. The Organic Act of 1936 allowed for the creation of a senate, and from there the political process evolved. In 1970, the U.S. Virgin Islands elected its first governor, Melvin H. Evans.
The Danes were the first who established a settlement on St. Thomas in 1672. They later expanded to St. John in 1694. St. Croix was added to the Danish West India Company in 1733. Plantations soon began to appear all over the island. A treaty with the Dutch of Brandenburg in 1685 established St. Thomas as a slave-trading post. More than 200,000 slaves were forcibly shipped to the islands for backbreaking work.
St. John and St. Croix maintained a plantation economy, while St. Thomas developed as a trade center. Fed up with the harsh conditions, in 1733 slaves attacked St. John’s Fort Frederiksvaern in Coral Bay, this crippled operations for six months. In 1792 Denmark announced the end of trading slaves. Freedom was not granted to slaves until 1848, when Moses “Buddhoe” Gottlieb led a revolution on St. Croix.
Little was heard of the islands until World War I, when the United States negotiated the purchase of the islands from Denmark for $25 million in gold. Although the islands were purchased in 1917, it wasn’t until 1927 that citizenship was granted to Virgin Islanders. The Organic Act of 1936 allowed for the creation of a senate, and from there the political process evolved. In 1970, the U.S. Virgin Islands elected its first governor, Melvin H. Evans.
Fort Christian, St. Thomas