History:
St. Croix, lies 40 miles South of St. Thomas and is the largest of US Virgin
Islands. Columbus stopped briefly on the island in 1493.
After that a constant state of war existed between the Caribs and
the Spaniards for nearly a century. The Caribs fled the island
after the king of Spain ordered their extermination and by 1596, the islands
were thought to be wholly uninhabited.
Over time, several groups of Europeans immigrated to St. Croix.
The Dutch settled on the east end which is a dry desert dominated by cactus,
and the English on the west side which is lush with vegetation and palm
trees.
In 1645 the Dutch governor killed the English Governor. A
furious battle ensued and eventually the Dutch withdrew from the island and
went to St. Eustatius and St. Martin. The French settlers left
shortly thereafter for Guadeloupe.
The English controlled St. Croix until 1650 when the Spanish sent a fleet
of 5 ships and 1,200 men to St. Croix from Puerto Rico and slaughtered
everyone. After only 15 years of domination, the English were
ousted. Later the same year, the French sent two vessels to
capture St. Croix and succeeded. The Spanish rule of St. Croix
was short lived. Ten years later the Governor of St. Kitts, De
Poincy, bought St. Croix as his private estate and later deeded it to the
Knights of Malta. In 1665, the French West Indian company
bought the island from the Knights.
In 1733, the French Government sold St. Croix to the Danish West India &
Guinea Co. It was under Danish rule that the sugar plantations
flourished. Denmark sold the Virgin Islands to the United States
in 1917 for $25 million. St. Croix is a U.S. Territory, along
with the other U.S. Virgin Islands -- St. Thomas and St. John.
The island¿s residents are U.S. citizens.
For over two centuries, sugar dominated the economy until the last harvest
in 1966. St. Croix¿s economy then turned to the newly built
oil refinery (Amerada Hess) and the alumina plant (VIALCO).
Since then, the economy has become more and more dependent upon tourism as
a revenue source. The future economic outlook for St. Croix is
uncertain as the Hess oil refinery, one of the largest in the world,
prepares to shut down operations.
