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Welcome To The Exclusive St. Thomas USVI, St. John USVI, St. Croix USVI & More Travel Guide in the US Virgin Islands (USVI)
Pre-colonial History
The island (St. Thomas USVI) 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". 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 (St. Thomas USVI) as an occasional base in the next 150 years.
Magen's Bay, St. Thomas USVI
Danish Colonial Period
The Danish established a presence on St. Thomas USVI as early as 1666, and by 1672 had established control over the entire island (St. Thomas USVI) 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, St. Thomas USVI and neighboring islands of St. John USVI, and St. Croix USVI became highly dependent on slave labor. In 1685 the Brandenburg American Company took control of the slave trade on St. Thomas USVI, and for some time the largest slave auctions in the world were held there. St. Thomas USVI boasted a 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.
Magen's Bay, St. Thomas USVI
While the sugar trade had brought prosperity to the island's (St. Thomas USVI) free citizens, by the early 19th century St. Thomas USVI 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 labor costs further weakened the position of St. Thomas USVI sugar producers. Given its harbors and fortifications, St. Thomas USVI still retained a strategic importance, and thus in the 1860s the United States government considered buying the island (St. Thomas USVI) and its neighbors from Denmark for $7.5 million, but failed to find domestic legislative support for the bid.
American Acquisition
In 1917 St. Thomas USVI was purchased (along with St. John USVI and St. Croix USVI) 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. P.W. Sparks, a U.S. Naval officer, designed the flag that now represents the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Sparks married a local Virgin Island (VI) woman, Grace Joseph Sparks. When Sparks' superior, Rear Adm. 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 USVI, St. Thomas USVI, and St. John USVI). (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.)
Magen's Bay, St. Thomas USVI
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 (St. Croix USVI, St. Thomas USVI, and St. John USVI), 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 (St. Thomas USVI) infrastructure continues to improve as the flow of visitors continues.