|
Discover Places to Go and Things to Do
|
|
St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea, a county and 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 2001 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,181, about 47% of the US Virgin Islands total. The district has a land area of 80.9 km² (31.24 sq mi).
Saint Thomas is divided into the following subdistricts (with population as per the 2000 U.S. Census):
Charlotte Amalie (pop. 18,914) East End (pop. 7,672) Northside (pop. 8,712) Southside (pop. 5,467) Tutu (pop. 8,197) Water Island (pop. 161) West End (pop. 2,058)Pre-colonial historyThe island was originally settled around 1500 B.C. 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 over the next 150 years.
Saint Thomas is divided into the following subdistricts (with population as per the 2000 U.S. Census):
Charlotte Amalie (pop. 18,914) East End (pop. 7,672) Northside (pop. 8,712) Southside (pop. 5,467) Tutu (pop. 8,197) Water Island (pop. 161) West End (pop. 2,058)Pre-colonial historyThe island was originally settled around 1500 B.C. 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 over the next 150 years.
Danish colonial periodThe Dutch WIC established a post on Saint Thomas in 1657. 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 sugar cane production became the primary economic activity. As a result, the economies of Saint Thomas and neighboring islands of Saint John and Saint Croix became highly dependent on slave labor and the slave trade. 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 was known for its 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.
A small Jewish community was set up in Charlotte Amalie and set up a historic synagogue Beracha Veshalom Vegmiluth Hasidim the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the United States
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.
American acquisitionAfter being poorly managed by the Danish, a local islander, David Hamilton Jackson was instrumental in persuading the Danish to allow the USA to purchase the islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. In 1915, he traveled to Denmark and convinced the King of Denmark firstly to allow freedom of the press in the islands. He began the first newspaper in the islands known as The Herald Newspaper. After this he organized labor unions among the islanders for better working conditions. The islands now have an annual celebration to honor the legacy of labor leader, newspaper publisher and judge David Hamilton Jackson.
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.
Percival Wilson 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. Summer Ely Wetmore 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.) Every year Transfer Day is recognized as a holiday which celebrates the acquisition of the islands by the United States in 1917.
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.
Notable people World champion boxer Julian Jackson was born on St. Thomas. Actor / Director / Producer Kelsey Grammer was born on St. Thomas. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) born July 10th on St. Thomas, Danish West Indies; to Abraham Gabriel Pissarro, of Sephardic Jewish ancestry, and Rachel Manzano-Pomié, 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. Emile Griffith is a former boxer who won world championships in both the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions. Claude A. ("Bennie") Benjamin was a songwriter, often teaming with George David Weiss. Most famous for writing Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. Alton Augustus Adams, first African American band master for the United States Navy. Judah Benjamin, was an American politician and lawyer, who served as a representative in the Louisiana state legislature. Morris Simmonds (1855 - 1925), German physician, pathologist,described a syndrome of pituitary failure with emaciation
(Simmonds syndrome)
Denmark Vesey – leader of planned slave uprising in Charleston, South Carolina Elrod Hendricks – professional baseball player, Baltimore Orioles Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912), ambassador, an Igbo in Diaspora, is credited in some history books as having laid the foundation of West African nationalism and Pan-Africanism. Midre Cummings, baseball player David Levy Yulee (June 12, 1810–October 10, 1886) was an American politician and the first member of the United States Senate to have been, at one time, a practicing Jew. Frank Rudolph Crosswaith, union leader Rothschild Francis, union leader Elizabeth Anna Hendrickson, civil rights leader Roy Innis, civil rights leader Michael Toussaint,computer engineer J. Raymond Jones, political activist William Alexander Leidesdorff, entrepreneur Terence Todman, ambassador Christoph Mecklenbräucker, adventurer and resercher Corey Hodge, Football Player Ashley Graham, union leader Kitwana Rhymer, basketball player in China who also played at UMass Adam T. Siska, bassist for The Academy Is... Karrine Steffans, former hip hop music video performer and actress and the author of "Confessions of A Video Vixen."
See also
Points of interest Fort Christian Magens Bay Magens Bay Arboretum Blackbeard's CastleExternal links- Official sites
United States Virgin Islands - Official Website for the United States Virgin Islands Department of TourismDistricts of the United States Virgin Islands, United States Census Bureau- Map
St. Thomas USVI Google Map - Satellite Map of St. Thomas, USVI- Media and news
St. Thomas Source - Online news sourceThe Virgin Islands Daily News - Daily newspaper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
By Editor's Choice
7 days
I don't want to experience these islands as part of a day trip aboard a cruise ship (though I do LOVE cruises). I'd rather fly into St. Thomas & then explore St. John, Water Island, and St. Croix from there.
|
|
|
By Going Places user
7 days
Perfect weather...ah that amazing caribbean breeze. The ship was so much fun - I loved everything about it. The bed and pillows were the best of any hotel I've ever been in. The food was incredible, the service was great, the ship activities were well organized and the excursions were absolutely awesome. You can't go wrong with that gorgeous blue water. Would I go again? You better believe it!
|
|
|
|
13 people reviewed St. Thomas
|
Top
|
|
|
|
at 1:38AM June 27, 2008
I loved the white beaches. It was absolutely beautiful here!
|
|
at 1:38AM June 27, 2008
big jelly fish!!!! Good shopping though
|
|
at 1:38AM June 27, 2008
Popular cruise port so downtown (& some beaches) can get pretty crowded but there are very nice beaches.
|
|
|
at 12:21PM March 18, 2009
One of my favorite islands.
|
|
at 11:44AM January 9, 2009
Took a snorkeling trip with my family on the Castaway Girl and had a great time!! It was absolutely beautiful there....
|
|
at 3:44PM November 3, 2008
Absolutely Wonderous Beaches! Ahhhh, so relaxing!
|
|
|
at 2:49PM June 27, 2008
I loved the beaches. St John and St. Croix are better, less people.
|
|
|
at 1:43PM June 24, 2008
March 08 cruise (girls cruise trip); great place for shopping not as much sight seeing to do...but ladies, u can surely get your shop on here.
|
|
|
at 6:22PM May 28, 2008
Absolutely beautiful! Great beaches, friendly people. Good beer.
|
|
|
at 12:21AM March 20, 2008
Sweet
|
|
|
at 3:10PM March 4, 2008
very small, but lots of water sports and beautiful beaches
|
|
|
at 11:46PM February 8, 2008
Me encantooooo! Fui por segunda vez y me sigue encantando.
|
|
|
at 1:18PM February 6, 2008
absolutely loved Megan's Bay!
|
|
|
|
Add to
My Places
Plan Your Visit
