U.S. Virgin Islands - History
On November 4, 1493, Christopher Columbus, with a fleet of 17 ships, discovered the Lesser Antilles. By mid-November he had found an island he named Santa Cruz or St. Croix. A few leagues northward the Italian explorer then charted a chain of green, mountainous islands that he christened Las Once Mille Virgines — the "Eleven Thousand Virgins" Islands. The Spanish claims resulting from Columbus' voyages began two centuries of international wars for supremacy of the West Indies.
When Christopher Columbus landed on St. Croix in 1493, the native Carib Indians occupied the islands. Sadly, by the time Europeans began to settle there in the 1600s, most of the native population had died from diseases introduced by early explorers.
After Columbus’ arrival, the Virgin Islands' became one of the first melting pots, made up of many cultures from around the world. European powers competed for strategic and economic control. They brought enslaved workers from Africa. Historic landscapes and architectural remains of hundreds structures from plantation estates are found throughout the park. Ruins include windmills, animal mills, factories, great houses, terrace walls, and warehouses. In addition to these plantations are at least two thousand house sites that were occupied by the enslaved workers and their graveyards.
The islands went back and forth between Spanish and French rule. Danish settlers arrived and began growing sugarcane using convicted criminals and, after 1678, African slaves, for labor. Over time, St. Thomas became a major Caribbean slave market. Against this background, the island of St. John slowly awakened to the visits of occasional freebooters, run-away slaves, castaways, and Dutch timber cutters.
In 1717, Denmark took control, initiating a period of prosperity during which slave labor built many sugar and cotton plantations. After the French sold the islands to Denmark in 1733, the Danish military took up residence on St. Croix and, using the captured leaders of a local black slave revolt, began work on a fortification. Later they built a permanent masonry fort and named it Fort Christiansvaern ("Christian's Defense"), in honor of King Christian VI of Denmark-Norway. Denmark's policy during the American Revolution was not to take sides. However, special interests in both Denmark and the West Indies often caused that policy to be violated. According to a 1988 report by the Department of the Interior, there was also at least one incident of smuggling on the islands during the Revolution.
Even though Denmark was an officially neutral country during the American Revolution (it was neither on the side of the Colonies nor the British), there was one case of arms and supplies smuggled to the Americans from the island of St. Croix. The Interior Department report states that, as the supplies were being passed, salutes were exchanged "between a merchantman flying the Grand Union flag [America's flag] and Fort Frederik at the west end of St. Croix." Their salute was "the first acknowledgment of the American flag from foreign soil."
The Caribbean island chain known as the Virgin Islands was divided into two parts in the 17th century, one English and the other Danish. The Danish part had been in economic decline for quite some time, owing to losses in sugarcane production after slavery was abolished in 1848. With the abolition of slavery, St. John gradually reverted to its former quiet existence.
In 1917, the United States purchased the Danish part for $25 million, mainly for strategic reasons to assure tranquility in the Caribbean Ocean. The U.S. chose the name "Virgin Islands" when it took formal possession of the Danish West Indies on March 31, 1917. The U.S. bought the islands from Denmark for $25 million.
U.S. citizenship was conferred on U.S. Virgin Islanders in 1927. Federal authority over the new U.S. territory was placed in the Department of the Interior in 1931, where it resides. The Organic Act of 1936 laid the foundation for self-government and a more elaborate governmental structure emerged from the revised Organic Act of 1954. The first elections for constitutional officers were held in 1970.
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