NationMaster - Encyclopedia: History of the United States Virgin Islands

The United States Virgin Islands, often abbreviated USVI, is a group of islands and cays in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. Consisting of four larger islands (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Water Island) plus fifty smaller islets and cays, it covers approximately 133 square miles. Like many of its Caribbean neighbors, its history includes native Amerindian cultures, European exploration and exploitation, and slavery. A separate article treats the several rivers known as the St. ... Saint John is the smallest of the three main United States Virgin Islands (USVI), a United States territory. ... Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. ... Water Island is the fourth and most recent main island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a United States territory located in the Caribbean Sea. ...

[edit] Overview

The first European to visit the United States Virgin Islands was Christopher Columbus. The islands were occupied by several nations over the next century, including England, Holland, France, and Denmark. In 1733, the Danish West India Company purchased St. Croix from the French and brought together Saint Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John as the Danish West Indies. Christopher Columbus (1451 â€“ May 20, 1506) was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 kmÂ² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2006 est. ... Holland is a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands with 6. ... The Danish West Indies (DWI, Dansk Vest Indien) are a former colony of Denmark in the Caribbean, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. ... The Danish West Indies or Danish Antilles, (DWI, Dansk Vest Indien) are a former colony of Denmark in the Caribbean, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. ...

Danish slave trading posts were set up on the islands, and thousands of slaves were used to grow sugar cane to enrich the Danish. However, a slave rebellion in 1848 forced governor Peter von Scholten to officially abolish slavery. The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ... Peter Carl Frederik von Scholten (1784-1854) was a governor of the Danish West Indies. ...

[edit] Early history

[edit] The Ciboneys

Although not much is known about the Ciboney people who first inhabited the islands during the Stone Age, they were hunter-gatherers. They made tools of stone and flint, but they left no other artifacts behind. Ciboney (also Siboney) is a word derived from the Caribbean Indian language of the Arawak. ... Stone Age fishing hook. ...

[edit] The Arawaks

Experts at canoe building and seamanship, the Arawaks migrated from the Amazon River Valley and Orinoco regions of Venezuela and Brazil, settling on the islands near coasts and rivers. These peaceful people excelled at fishing and farming. Their main crops were cotton, tobacco, maize, yuca, and guava; however, they grew a variety of other fruits and vegetables as well. see Amazon (disambiguation) for other articles The Amazon River or River Amazon (Portuguese: ; Spanish: ) of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with greater total river flow than the next eight largest rivers combined, and the largest drainage basin in the world. ... The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,410 km, (1,497. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... Species Nicotiana acuminata Nicotiana alata Nicotiana attenuata Nicotiana benthamiana Nicotiana clevelandii Nicotiana excelsior Nicotiana forgetiana Nicotiana glauca Nicotiana glutinosa Nicotiana langsdorffii Nicotiana longiflora Nicotiana obtusifolia Nicotiana paniculata Nicotiana plumbagifolia Nicotiana quadrivalvis Nicotiana repanda Nicotiana rustica Nicotianasuaveolens Nicotiana sylvestris Nicotiana tabacum Nicotiana tomentosa Ref: ITIS 30562 as of August 26, 2005... For other uses, see Maize (disambiguation). ... Yuca or Yuka has been used as a semi despective term reffering to Metal and Rock music derivations and their followers (called Yuqueros). The term is used in Latin American countrys, thought most popularly in Venezuela. ... Species About 100 species, including: Psidium cattleianum - Strawberry Guava Psidium friedrichsthalium - Costa Rica Guava Psidium guajava - Apple Guava Psidium guineense - Guinea Guava Psidium littorale - Cattley Guava Psidium montanum - Mountain Guava Guava (from Spanish Guayaba; Goiaba in Portuguese) is a genus of about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees...

The Arawaks developed rich social and cultural lives. For recreation, they held organized sporting events. They also valued artistic endeavors, such as cave painting and rock carving, some of which have survived to the present day. Religion played a large role in their daily lives, and through ceremonial rituals they asked their gods for advice to help them through troubled times. Their civilization in the USVI flourished for several hundred years, until the Caribs invaded. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Petroglyphs on a Bishop Tuff tableland Petroglyph on Petroglyph Point Petroglyphs on Petroglyph Point Petroglyphs on Petroglyph Point Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument Petroglyphs from Scandinavia (Häljesta, Västmanland in Sweden). ...

[edit] The Caribs

While the Caribs came from the same area as the Arawaks and may have been distantly related, they didn't share the Arawaks' friendly nature. Not only were they fierce warriors, they supposedly feasted on their adversaries. Their bloodthirsty reputation spawned the English word cannibal, derived from the name the Spanish gave them, Caribal.

Whether or not they actually ate their victims, the Caribs did destroy numerous Arawak villages, murdering as many as they could. By the mid-15th century, the Caribs had slashed the Arawak population from several million to a few thousand. But even the Caribs were no match for the gold-hungry Europeans who were about to descend.

[edit] Colonization

Blown off course during his 1493-1496 voyage, Christopher Columbus landed on St. Croix, then continued his explorations on St. Thomas and St. John. He gave the islands their original Spanish names (Santa Cruz, San Tomas, and San Juan), focusing on religious themes. The collection of tiny islets, cays, and rocks dotting the sea around them reminded Columbus of Saint Ursula and her 11,000 virgin martyrs, inspiring the name Las Once Mil Virgenes.

The first encounter Columbus had with the Caribs quickly erupted into a battle. When Columbus and his crew decided to move on to other islands, they kidnapped six Arawaks to guide them. Although Columbus left without founding a colony, many more battles between the Spanish and Caribs followed over the next century.

Other European explorers finished the job the Spanish had begun. They tried to convert the Caribs and Arawaks to Catholicism, which largely failed. Of course, they also enslaved the native populations to work on plantations. With tobacco having already been cultivated on the islands, it made a good cash crop. Later on, coffee, sugar, and cotton also were grown.

Slavery, coupled with murder and disease, took a large toll on both the Arawaks and the Caribs. Several groups of Arawaks committed mass suicide rather than submit to foreign rule. By the late 17th century, the Arawaks had been completely exterminated and few Caribs remained.

With no native slaves left, the African slave trade began in 1673. The difficult conditions and inhumane treatment slaves were subjected to bred discontent. In 1733, a long drought followed by a devastating hurricane pushed slaves in St. John to the breaking point. They staged a massive rebellion, seizing control of the island for six months. The Danish, who controlled the island at that point, enlisted the help of the French to regain control.

Another slave revolt in 1848 was more successful in the long run. The governor at the time, Peter von Scholten, felt enough sympathy for the slaves to grant them emancipation, even though it was against the wishes of Danish rule. Peter Carl Frederik von Scholten (1784-1854) was a governor of the Danish West Indies. ...

[edit] The 20th century

Before World War I, the United States wanted to buy the islands due to fear that if Denmark were conquered by Germany, Germany would attempt to take over Denamrk's overseas dependencies. In 1917, a treaty was concluded in which the Unites States purchased the islands for $25,000,000. After the United States bought what is now known as the United States Virgin Islands from the Danish, the islands became an unincorporated U.S. territory. The Organic Act, passed in 1932, granted inhabitants of the islands U.S. citizenship and a degree of self-government. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna...

[edit] See also

The Caribbean The History of the Caribbean reveals the significant role the region played in the colonial struggles of the European powers between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. ...

[edit] References

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Dependencies and other territories
Anguilla · Aruba · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Greenland · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Montserrat · Navassa Island · Netherlands Antilles · Puerto Rico · Saint Pierre and Miquelon · Turks and Caicos Islands · U.S. Virgin Islands A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State. ... Types of political territories include: A legally administered territory, which is a non-sovereign geographic area that has come under the authority of another government. ... The Islands were first settled by Arawak Indians from South America in around 100 BC. They settled the Islands until the 15th century when they were removed by the more aggressive Caribs, a tribe from the Lesser Antilles islands, after whom the Caribbean Sea is named. ... Christopher Columbus became the first westerner to visit the Cayman Islands on May 10, 1503 and named them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there. ... Navassa Island map from The World Factbook Navassa Island - NASA NLT Landsat 7 (Visible Color) Satellite Image Navassa Island (La Navase in French, Lanavaz in Haitian KreyÃ²l) is a small, uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea. ... The Netherlands Antilles were colonized by the Netherlands in the 17th century. ... Located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico was the key to the Spanish Empire since the early years of the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World. ... The History of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is one of early settlement by Europeans taking advantage of the rich fishing grounds near Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and is characterized by periods of conflict between the French and English. ... The first inhabitants of the Turks and Caicos Islands were Amerindians, first the Arawak people, who were, over the centuries, gradually replaced by the warlike Carib. ...

Encyclopedia > History of the United States Virgin Islands

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