St. Thomas History

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands is known as the "New York City of the Caribbean".  And if you ever go to Main Street on a day when 8 cruise ships are in port, then you'll know why. Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas receives the most visitors of all the three US Virgin Islands and has variety of duty-free items you may purchase.  Among those items are, gold, gems, jewelry, cigarettes, & liquor.  For example; a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream in St. Thomas is only about $11US.  Whereas in the states it is about $40US + tax. St. Thomas is not only a shopping Mecca, it is also beautiful, entirely made of hills, there is no place on the island that doesn't have a beautiful view. The trade winds keep the island dry and the sun is almost always shining.  Even if it does rain, it doesn’t last long and you will be delighted by the various rainbows you can find all over the island.

St. Thomas had the first permanent settlement of the Danish Virgins, although the Dutch and the English inhabited the island first.  The first Danish colonists were brought by 33 year old Jorgen Iversen in 1672.  He brought with him 177 colonists who were soldiers of fortune, convicts and even several women from a house of correction as well. He sailed into the Charlotte Amalie Harbor with less though, because 80 passengers died on the trip. Governor Iversen set up the colony and made Fort Christian habitable due to the frequent attacks by the Spaniards from nearby Puerto Rico. The settlers discovered earlier cultivation of limes, mangoes and oranges. At the peak of the colonies success in 1720, there were 150 estates being cultivated on St. Thomas.

The convicts were not ideal laborers, and in 1673 the first 103 African slaves came to St. Thomas.  They were brought in from the Aquambon on the Gold Coast. For the next 150 years slavery was major business in St. Thomas. St. Thomas was the largest slave market in the world.  After Governor Iversen resigned in 1680 he and his family were later killed aboard the Neptune by Danish convicts. The next governor resigned because he refused to live in Fort Christian because the roof leaked.

St. Thomas then foundered and was full of privateers and patrons of the rum shops. Then in 1692 the Danish West Indian company took control of the island again.  The town near the harbor was renamed from “Taphus” (meaning house of drunkenness) to Charlotte Amalie, after a Danish queen.

In 1724 St. Thomas was officially declared to be a port of entrance for all nations. The slogan for St. Thomas, from their first newspaper, the Tidende, was, “St. Thomas shakes hands with the universe every day.” In 1755 the colonies ceased to be company property and were brought in under the Danish crown.

Later in 1837 a census was taken that showed 140 nationalities on the island of St. Thomas.  Church services and newspapers were in at least 3 different languages at that time.  The architecture in St. Thomas today illustrates St. Thomas’ worldly past.  You will find Dutch doorways, English manor houses, French grillwork, all blending in together. Over half the buildings still in use in St. Thomas are considerably over 100 years old. The buildings on St. Thomas had to be built to withstand hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and year-round termite season. The story is that after a fire decimated St. Thomas, pirates threatened to store their goods elsewhere unless St. Thomas rebuilt to their specifications, which were thick walls, with heavy iron doors, and thick shutters on all the windows. However it is just as likely that the merchants themselves followed these rules without the pirates suggestions.

St. Thomas has a rich cultural heritage because under the Danish rule many refugees came to the island to avoid persecution.  Some examples are the Huguenots from France, and the Jews from Spain.  Camille Pissarro, born in St. Thomas, was a Sephardic Jew and "the Father of Modern Impressionistic Painting". St. Thomas' synagogue dates back to 1833 and is the oldest synagogue in the new world.

St. Thomas' past also has a shady side, even one of the Governors was himself a practicing pirate. Soldiers of fortune, privateers, and adventurers the world over could head for St. Thomas confident of a welcome. Captain Kidd was a frequent visitor to St. Thomas with his last visit being in 1699, when authorities refused to allow him into the harbor.

St. Thomas continues to have the most important Caribbean port due to the St. Thomas harbor being a former crater, it is deep and protected from the weather. St. Thomas' strategic importance is also due to it being a direct line between Europe and the Panama Canal. The United States realized this early on and purchased the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917.  Even Abraham Lincoln was in favor of the purchase but was assassinated before he could purchase the islands.

St. Thomas' port is still very busy, but now with tourist ships & cruise ships instead of pirates, coal ships, and merchant ships.

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Virgin Islands Photographer Carol Lee || St. Thomas Lodging
Virgin Islands Banks || St. Thomas Restaurant || Caribbean Gift Baskets || Caribbean Aromatherapy
Caribbean Tour Services || St. Thomas Day Tours