Saint Thomas
| Saint Thomas | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Waters | Caribbean Sea | |
| Archipelago | Virgin Islands | |
| Geographical location | 18 ° 20 ′ 0 ″ N , 64 ° 55 ′ 0 ″ W | |
|
||
| surface | 80.9 km² | |
| Residents | 51,634 (2010) 638 inhabitants / km² |
|
| main place | Charlotte Amalie | |
Saint Thomas ( Danish Sankt Thomas ) is an island of the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean , which is one of the non-incorporated outlying areas of the United States . The island is also home to the area's capital, Charlotte Amalie . From 1672 to 1917, Saint Thomas was the most important of the three island colonies in the former Danish West Indies , to which Saint Croix and Saint John also belong.
history
Discovery and Colonization
In 1493, Christopher Columbus discovered the island for Europe on his second trip to the New World . In the period that followed, the indigenous population was exterminated by the Europeans. However, the island remained uncolonized for centuries until the Danes occupied the island in 1666. At first there were only a few Danes who sent the Dansk Vestindiske Kompagni as a trading company in 1670 before it was decided that the island should belong to Denmark .
From 1672 the population grew and especially the city of Christiansfort developed rapidly. In 1691 it was named after the Danish queen, Christian V's wife , Charlotte Amalie . On the island were sugar cane - plantations established. As early as 1688 there were 47 plantations on Saint Thomas. The plantations required an increasing number of workers who were dragged away from Africa as slaves . As early as 1690 there were ten times more Africans than Europeans on the island. The island owed the following upswing to the rum trade and the slave trade .
From 1685 to 1693, the Kurbrandenburg colony of St. Thomas, leased by Denmark, was located on the island . Saint Thomas attracted many pirates who found shelter in the many bays and plundered ships in the Caribbean from there. The most famous pirates to visit Saint Thomas were Blackbeard and Bluebeard . In 1822 the Spanish government complained that pirates were staying on Saint Thomas, but was turned down by the Danish-West Indian governor. The pirate era did not end there until 1829.
Trade and heyday
_p0225_VIRGIN_ISLANDS,_ST._THOMAS.jpg)
The Danes maintained sugar cane plantations and exported sugar, tobacco and rum. The triangular trade of the colony was an important part of the Danish economy for 200 years. The "Dansk Vestindisk Kompagni" received the right to buy everything that was produced. As a monopoly , it was responsible for trade with Denmark. Above all, Copenhagen developed as a port of destination for sailing ships from the West Indies. But the port city of Flensburg , which at that time belonged to the Danish state , was also able to benefit from the boom.
After the Danish state acquired the Danish West Indies in 1755, all Danish ships had access to the islands. For Denmark the sugar tax became a steady source of income. In 1790 the customs revenue was 6,000 Reichstaler , 40 years later it was over 10 million Reichstaler. At the same time, Danish trade with the islands increased sharply: while around 1760 only three to four ships a year headed for the islands, a decade later there were already 35 annually. When the South American states began the war for their independence in 1804, Saint Thomas flourished when the Danish King Charlotte declared Amalie a free port . During the wars against Spain, trade for both sides was carried out in the neutral Charlotte Amalie. In 1804 alone more than 1,300 ships came into the port and in 1820 over 2,300.
In 1839 Saint Thomas became the base of the British Royal Mail Steam Packet company. After the company had left the island, the Hamburg-America Line came to Saint Thomas. Not until after 1840 did many leave the island. On July 3, 1848, the Danish governor von Stolten announced the abolition of slavery, thus anticipating an impending rebellion of the overwhelming majority of slaves living on the three islands. The population was made up of three groups, the majority of the population were made up of the slaves who had been abducted from Africa ; the mongrels known as Creoles were also descended from them, and they had some special rights. In addition to the colonial officials and soldiers from the Danish motherland, the group of Europeans also included plantation owners and planters of English origin.
Sold to the United States
In 1917 the USA bought the island together with Saint John and Saint Croix for 25 million US dollars, because it was feared that German submarines could hide there and launch attacks against US ships. There had also been a long economic decline. The US was pursuing a strategic goal with the purchase. They wanted to gain control of the Caribbean and the Panama Canal .
Saint Thomas served as a military base during World War II . Since 1954 the official status of the three islands has been established and a local Senate has been established, which is dominated by the Republicans and Democrats. In 1970 the US Virgin Islands received internal autonomy.
present
Today tourism is the most important economic factor. This is favored by relatively cheap airfares and a good connection between the Cyril E. King airport and the domestic American flight network. In the United States, there is only left-hand traffic here in the Virgin Islands . However, the vehicles all have left-hand drive. The road network is well developed. In the past few decades, Saint Thomas has had to deal with several natural disasters. The Hurricane Hugo raged in 1989 and the hurricanes Luis and Marilyn 1995th
climate
There is a tropical, moderately humid climate. Due to the constantly blowing trade winds , moderate temperatures between 25 and 33 ° C prevail all year round.
Personalities of the island
- Anne Abernathy (* 1953), luge rider
- Ron Blake (* 1965), American jazz musician
- Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832–1912), co-founder of Pan-Africanism, politician and university professor in Liberia and Sierra Leone, activist with the American Colonization Society (ACS).
- Flavio Briatore (* 1950), sports and industry manager, helped build the Benetton chain of stores in the USA from Saint Thomas and also owned a nightclub here
- Albert Bryan (* 1968), politician and governor
- Neal Creque (1940-2000), jazz musician
- Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville (1818–1881), chemist
- Doug E. Fresh (born 1966), hip hop musician
- Kelsey Grammer (* 1955), actor and director
- Emile Griffith (1938–2013), professional boxer and world champion
- Tahesia Harrigan (* 1982), sprinter from the British Virgin Islands
- Tabarie Joil Henry (* 1987), track and field athlete
- Peter Holmberg (* 1960), sailor
- Daryl Homer (* 1990), fencer
- Julian Jackson (* 1960), professional boxer
- Dion Parson (* 1967), jazz musician
- Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), French impressionist
- Reuben Rogers (* 1974), jazz musician
- Jean Toussaint (* 1960), jazz musician
- Denmark Vesey (1767? –1822), leader of a slave revolt in Charleston, South Carolina, USA
- Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf (1700–1760), founder of the Moravian Brethren
literature
- Christian Georg Andreas Oldendorp: History of the Caribbean islands of Sanct Thomas, Sanct Crux and Sanct Jan, especially the negroes and the evangelical brothers among them . Annotated edition of the original manuscript. 4 vol. In one volume. Gudrun Meier, Stephan Palmié, Peter Stein, Horst Ulbricht (eds.). Publishing house for science and education, Berlin 2000.
- Hermann Kellenbenz : From the Caribbean Islands: Archives and newer literature, especially on history from the middle of the 17th to the middle of the 19th century (Part I – III). In: Yearbook of Latin American History. (JbLA) 5, 1968, pp. 378-404; and JbLA 6, 1969, pp. 452-469; JbLA 7, 1970, pp. 381-410.
- Birgit Sonesson: El papel de Santomas en el Caribe hasta 1815. In: Anales de Investigación Histórica. 4, 1977, pp. 42-80.
- Hermann Kellenbenz: St. Thomas, meeting point for Caribbean trade. In: Caribbean. Economy, Society and History. (= Latin American Studies. 11). ed. Hanns-Albert Steger u. Jürgen Schneider. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7705-2087-4 , pp. 135-144.
- Rolf Walter: The island of St. Thomas: focal point in the Caribbean. An economic consideration. In: Caribbean. Economy, Society and History. (= Latin American Studies. 11). ed. Hanns-Albert Steger u. Jürgen Schneider. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich, 1982, ISBN 3-7705-2087-4 , pp. 45-160.
- Christian Degn : The Schimmelmanns in the Atlantic triangular trade. Profit and conscience. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1974.
- Christian Degn: Black Freight - Documentation and Interpretation. In: Eva Heinzelmann et al. (Ed.): The entire Danish state - an underestimated world empire? Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2006, ISBN 3-937719-01-6 , pp. 37-50.
- Robert L. Paquette, Stanley L. Engerman (Eds.): The Lesser Antilles in the Age of European Expansion. University Press of Florida, Gainesville 1996.
