Language: English
Currency: U.S. dollar (USD)
Calling code: +1- 340
US Virgin Islands are located in the Caribbean.
The American Virgin Islands are in the area of the trade winds
that bring sailing ships here on the direct route from Portugal.
They are located just 65km east of Puerto Rico. They consist of 68
predominantly smaller islands. Only the three largest islands are
permanently inhabited. The islands of St. John and St. Thomas are
only separated by the 3.5km wide "Pillsbury Sound". The island of
St. Croix is about 60km south of these islands.
In 1917 the
Americans bought the islands from Denmark. Since the end of sugar
cultivation in 1966 they have only been exquisite holiday paradises.
There are currently around 4,600 hotel rooms available.
The US Virgin Islands consist of three main islands:
Saint Croix
with Christiansted and Frederiksted
Saint John' with Coral
Bay and Cruz Bay
Saint Thomas with the main town of Charlotte
Amalie
Buck Island Reef National Monument is a nature marine reserve situated around Buck Island in the US Virgin Islands. It covers a total area of 880 acres.
Coral World Ocean Park is a biosphere marine preserve situated 4 mi (6 km) Northeast of Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas.
Fort Frederiksted is a colonial stronghold situated 12 mi (19 km) Southwest of Christiansted, Saint Croix.
Whim Plantation Museum is a historic area that protects ruins of the colonial complex on Saint Croix.
As with all other Caribbean islands, it can be assumed that the
islands were initially inhabited by Ciboney Indians. Archaeological
excavations on the islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas date their island
life to the period between 1500 and 150 BC. 200 years later, the
presence of Igneri Indians can be proven. They were replaced by Taino
Indians from the Arawak tribe around 650 AD. Around 1425, the peaceful
Arawaks were driven from the islands or killed by warlike Carib Indians.
On his second voyage, Christopher Columbus reached the north coast
of St. Croix at the mouth of the Salt River on November 14, 1493. He
named the island Santa Cruz. Since his crew was attacked by Carib
Indians when they landed, the ships sailed further northeast after a
very short time. A number of small, hilly islands soon appeared on the
horizon. Because of the approaching darkness, his ships anchored. In
reference to Saint Ursula and her 11,000 virgins, he named the islands
Las Islas Virgenes - the Virgin Islands. The next day he left the
archipelago for Puerto Rico. Spain subsequently considered the islands
useless and left them defenseless to other sailors. In addition to
countless pirates, English sea heroes such as John Hawkins, Sir Francis
Drake and the Earl of Cumberland, French corsairs, Dutch and Danish
merchant ships also came to these waters.
The first permanent
settlements were established by the English on St. Croix in 1625 and by
the Dutch on Tortola in 1648, while St. John and St. Thomas were still
uninhabited in 1660. These two islands were small, but at the same time
very hilly, wooded, but had little water. The biggest problem, however,
was their proximity to Spanish Puerto Rico. From 1650, the island of
Saint Croix came into French possession.
From 1652, the United
Kingdom of Denmark and Norway also made plans to establish a colony in
the Caribbean. To implement these plans, Danish merchants founded the
Danish West India Company in Copenhagen in 1665. With the backing of the
government, a small expedition fleet was sent to St. Thomas a year
later. In the same year, the small Dutch colony on Tortola was plundered
by pirates. The settlers fled to the Danes on St. Thomas. However, a
lack of supplies forced the colonists to give up in 1668.
In
1672, a second expedition group was sent to St. Thomas under the
experienced leadership of Jorgen Iversen, who had lived on Saint Kitt's
between 1651 and 1665. This time, the Spanish governor of Puerto Rico
and the governor of the English Leeward Islands, Sir Charles Wheeler,
objected to the Danish settlement. However, Denmark and England reached
an agreement on this issue through diplomatic means. The English
withdrew Wheeler from his post, whereupon the Spanish objection was
withdrawn.
Jorgen Iversen became the first Danish island
governor. He had the land cleared, roads built and fields laid out. His
settlers also regularly sailed to the nearby island of St. John, where
they felled trees for building material and also laid out small fields.
In 1680, Jorgen Iversen asked for his dismissal. At that time, 156 white
people and 150 slaves lived on St. Thomas. They grew cotton, sugar cane
and tobacco on 46 surveyed plantations.
Around the same time, the
Duke of Brandenburg, whose heirs were to become kings of Prussia,
provided money for the Brandenburg Company. The company had camps on the
African Gold Coast and brought slaves from there to America. In 1685, a
contract was signed with Denmark that allowed the company to establish a
settlement on St. Thomas for a period of 30 years. In 1690, the
settlement was leased to the Norwegian trader Georg Thormuellen for ten
years. Just four years later, the contract was annulled because
Thormuellen could not meet his financial obligations.
The Spanish
Succession Wars involved all European nations with their Caribbean
possessions except Denmark in armed conflict between 1701 and 1713. This
meant that the port of Charlotte Amalie was the only neutral port in the
entire region at that time. At the same time, trade was brisk and the
number of plantations grew to 160. Between 1700 and 1754, 11,750 "Negro
slaves" were brought to the islands. As the arable land was no longer
sufficient, a small fortification was built on the island of St. John in
1717 and the island was declared Danish. By 1722 the whole island had
been divided into plots. But in November 1733 there was a slave revolt
at Coral Bay, which could only be completely suppressed after six
months.
Since the land was still not sufficient to meet the
demand for sugar cane, a treaty was negotiated with King Louis XV of
France to bring the island of Saint Croix into Danish possession. This
island had been uninhabited since 1695, and the French settlers had been
forced to move to Saint Dominique, today's Haiti. The treaty was
concluded in 1733, and settlement of the island began a year later.
The Danish West India Company acted in the colonies as both a
plantation owner and a wholesaler. The company represented the Danish
government and was thus responsible for legislation and the judicial
system. It set the sales prices for the harvests and had a monopoly on
all goods that came into the colonies. The growth of the plantations and
the associated increase in population quickly led to tensions between
the farmers and the West India Company. In 1706 and 1715, delegations
were sent to Copenhagen to complain about the company's monopoly. Since
little changed, the farmers demanded in 1746 and 1754 that the Danish
state should take control of the colonies. As a result, King Frederik V
bought up all the shares of the West India Company in 1755 and the
islands became crown colonies.
The Napoleonic Wars led to a
dramatic deterioration of the overall situation in the colony. England
imposed a blockade on all French ports in Europe and demanded that
Denmark and Norway stop trading with France.
Denmark and Norway,
for their part, concluded a neutrality pact with Russia and Sweden and
only allowed merchant ships to travel in convoys. In 1801, a large
English fleet attacked the Danish Caribbean islands and occupied them
without much resistance. Three weeks later, the English fleet cruised in
the Baltic Sea and bombarded the Danish capital Copenhagen. In 1802, the
islands were returned to Denmark.
New fighting broke out as early
as 1807. Since Denmark and Norway had the largest merchant and war fleet
after England at the time, Denmark and Norway were asked to fight
together with England against Napoleon, as England saw no chance of
winning the war otherwise. The United Kingdom of Denmark and Norway
rejected this proposal. Copenhagen was attacked again and badly damaged,
and the Danish Caribbean islands were occupied until 1815. As a result,
the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway split into two parts, and traffic to
the colonies came to a standstill.
The end of slavery and the
cultivation of sugar beet in Europe caused the profits of the Caribbean
plantations to shrink. From 1865 onwards, Copenhagen began to consider
selling the islands. In a referendum, the islanders declared their
support for the sale to America. However, the American Senate initially
refused to give its consent. In 1901, a new treaty was negotiated, but
this time the Danish Senate refused to give its consent. Negotiations
were held again from 1911 to 1912. The First World War initially
prevented results, but German threats of war led to new negotiations on
January 17, 1917, and on March 31, 1917, the Danish Caribbean islands
finally became the property of the USA for 25 million US dollars. In
1927, the islanders were granted American citizenship.
The
islands were administered by the American Navy and the Department of
Defense until 1931. In 1936, the US Congress passed the Organic Act, a
law that gave the islands their first constitution.
According to legend, the son of a powerful pagan prince asked for the
hand of Ursula, the beautiful daughter of the King of Britain. Ursula
had sworn to a life of piety, but to rid her father and his kingdom of
the pagans, she agreed to the marriage. Her condition was that 11,000 of
the most beautiful virgins from the two kingdoms would be her companions
for three years, after which she would marry the prince.
Ursula
trained the virgins to become an army of Amazons, which was greeted with
cheers by the population. They then sailed up the Rhine to Basel, from
where they walked to Rome to pledge their loyalty. The enraged pagan
prince awaited the return of the virgins with his army near Cologne. In
the battle, which supposedly took place on October 21, 238, all 11,000
virgins were killed. But the legend of their beauty has survived to this
day.
The national plant is the yellow cedar. In addition to these trees,
you will mainly find bougainvillea, flamboyant, frangipani, heliconia,
hibiscus, ixora and oleander. You will often come across goats in
traffic and from time to time also mungus. Wild donkeys, which often
kick people, live on the island of St. John in particular. There are
also lizards and the larger iguanas. Hummingbirds and parrots, seagulls
and the grey pelican can be seen more often. At night, bats fly around
light sources like butterflies.
In the sea there are starfish and
mussels, dolphins and whales, parrot fish and rays. Fishermen go out to
sea to catch lobsters. Some of the island's beaches are places where sea
turtles lay their eggs. During this time the beaches are closed. The
turtles are protected by law.
The US Virgin Islands are a so-called "Unincorporated Territory", a
US territory, under the supervision of the US Department of the Interior
since 1931. The USA is represented by a governor.
The parliament,
the Senate with 15 members, has been elected every 4 years since 1952.
Since 1970, the governor has also been elected by the population.
Although the islanders have American citizenship, they are not allowed
to take part in presidential elections. Since 1972, they have sent their
own delegate to the US Congress, but he has not yet had the right to
vote.
The official language is English, Spanish and Creole are widely spoken.
There is an international airport on the islands of Saint Croix and
Saint Thomas.
The island of Saint John can only be reached by
boat. There is a regular ferry service between St. Thomas, St. John and
the British Virgin Islands.
A fast ferry runs between St. Thomas
and St. Croix.
The port of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas is
regularly visited by cruise ships.
On the island of Saint John's, the fish roast is always a big
celebration. There is no special date or reason for these celebrations.
On the island of Saint Croix, the "Pig Roast" has the same meaning.
Another island specialty is Leg of Lamb.
Virgin Kallaloo contains
spinach, beef, pork tails and ham bones.
On the island you can also
get a corn dish, known in Italy as Polenta, here it is called Virgin
Funghi.
A special feast is Roast Duck with Pineapple.
A very
simple dish is Rice with Yellow Lentils.
Of course, many restaurants
also serve Lobster, the American spiny lobster (similar to lobster).
As part of the USA, real Angus steaks are also a must.
The islanders
make a kind of red fruit compote from the guava fruit. In addition to
rum and beer, some of the local drinks are Mauby or Mawby, which can
also be bought in shops as a syrup. The basic ingredient is the bark of
the local Mauby trees. The fruit of the prickly pear can also be used to
make a refreshing drink. There is also a hibiscus rum on the island.
Crime on the islands is increasing. Valuables should therefore not be left in the car. Dark streets in Charlotte Amalie should be avoided at night.
Cell phone
GSM 1900, network operators are BlueSky Communications,
Cellular One and Vitel Cellular.
The landscape is mostly rocky, hilly to mountainous with little flat
land. The highest point is Crown Mountain at 474 m above sea level. The
climate on the islands is tropical. It is tempered by easterly winds
with low humidity and only slight temperature differences throughout the
year. The rainy season is from May to November, although deviations are
possible. The islands lie along the Anegada Passage, a shipping route to
the Panama Canal.
In recent years, the islands have been exposed
to several tropical storms. Severe droughts or floods are common, and
earthquakes occasionally occur. There is a lack of natural freshwater
resources.
The Virgin Islands National Park, founded in 1956, is located on the
islands of Saint John and Hassel.
The coral reefs in the east of
the island of St. John have been designated as the Virgin Islands Coral
Reef National Monument since 2001.
There are around 90,000 inhabitants in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Life expectancy on the island was 80.0 years in 2016 (women: 83.2 years/men: 77.0 years). The median age of the population was very high at 45.6 years (as of 2016). Due to the high number of people leaving the islands, the population fell slightly at the beginning of the 21st century, but has increased again in recent years.
42% of the inhabitants are Baptists, 34% Catholics (Diocese of Saint Thomas) and 17% Anglicans (Episcopal Diocese of the Virgin Islands). 76.0% of the population are descended from former African slaves, in addition to people of mixed origin (2.1%) and whites (15.6%) and Asians (1.4%). The native Indians were exterminated in the 16th century. In addition to the official language, English, an English-based Creole is spoken. Since many immigrants from other Caribbean countries live on the islands, Spanish and French-based Creole languages are also common.
The islands' road network is 856 km long. The islands are the only US
possession with left-hand traffic.
Saint Thomas has one of the
best natural harbors in the Caribbean. There are also harbors in
Christiansted, Cruz Bay and Port Alucroix.
There are also three
airports: Downtown Heliport on the island of Saint Croix, Henry E.
Rohlson Airport on the island of Saint Croix and Cyril E. King Airport
on the island of Saint Thomas.
The focus of the economy is on tourism, which provides more than 70%
of the gross national product and 70% of employment. On average, two
million tourists visit the islands every year. The gross domestic
product was 36,100 US dollars per capita in 2013. This is on a par with
developed industrial countries, but well below the level of the mainland
US.
The industrial sector consists mainly of petroleum refineries
and the manufacture of textiles, electronics, pharmaceutical products
and the final assembly of watches. One of the world's largest petroleum
refineries was located on Saint Croix. The refinery closed in 2012 after
45 years.
Agriculture is insignificant; most food must be
imported.
International trade and the financial sector are small
but growing sectors of the economy.
Cricket was once the most popular sport in the US Virgin Islands, but has since been overtaken by the US sports of American football, basketball and baseball. The US Virgin Islands are one of the territories that, with other Caribbean nations, form the West Indies Cricket Team, one of the "national teams" in international Test cricket, the most prestigious form of the sport. The West Indies cricket team has participated in almost every Cricket World Cup, winning the first two editions in 1975 and 1979 and only missing out on the 2023 tournament.