Danish West Indies

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Danish West Indies
Dansk Vestindien
Colony of Denmark-Norway (1754–1814)
Colony of Denmark (1814–1917)

Flag of Denmark Coat of arms of Denmark
Capital Charlotte Amalie (1672–1754 and 1871–1917)
Christiansted (1754–1871)
Languages Danish, English
Political structure Colony of Denmark-Norway (1754–1814)
Colony of Denmark (1814–1917)
 -  1756–1766 Christian Leberecht von Prøck
 -  1916–1917 Henri Konow
 -  Sold by the Danish West India Company 1754
 -  Treaty of the Danish West Indies March 31, 1917
 -  [1] 400 km² (154 sq mi)
 -  1911[1] est. 27,000 
Currency rigsdaler (1754–1849)
daler (1849–1917)
Danish West Indies, Saint Thomas, 1 dollar (1889)
Danish West Indies, Saint Thomas, 1 dollar (1889)

The Danish West Indies (Danish: Dansk Vestindien or De dansk-vestindiske øer) or Danish Antilles was a Danish colony in the Caribbean, first under the united kingdoms of Denmark-Norway and later, after the 1814 Treaty of Kiel, Denmark alone. The islands were sold to the United States in 1917 under the terms of the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and were organized as the United States Virgin Islands in 1917. The Danish geographical name for the constituent islands is Jomfruøerne (lit. "The Virgin Islands").

The Danish West Indies covered a total area of 185 square miles (480 km2) and in the 1850s consisted of three main islands: Sankt Thomas with 43 square miles (110 km2); Sankt Jan with 42 square miles (110 km2); and Sankt Croix with 100 square miles (260 km2).


Merchants in Copenhagen asked King Christian IV for permission to establish a West Indian trading company in 1622 but, by the time an eight-year monopoly on trade with the West Indies, Virginia, Brazil, and Guinea was granted on 25 January 1625, the failure of the Danish East India and Iceland Companies and the beginning of Danish involvement in the Thirty Years' War dried up any interested capital. Prince Frederick organized a trading mission to Barbados in 1647 under Gabriel Gomez and the de Casseres brothers, but it and a 1651 expedition of two ships were unsuccessful. It was not until Erik Smit's private 1652 expedition aboard the Fortuna proved successful that interest in the West Indies' trade grew into consideration of a new Danish colony.[2]

Smit's 1653 expedition and a separate expedition of five ships were quite successful, but Smit's third found his two vessels captured for a loss of 32,000 rigsdaler. In August two years later, an argosy was destroyed by a hurricane. Smit returned from his fourth expedition in 1663 and formally proposed the settlement of St. Thomas to the king in April 1665. After only three weeks' deliberation, the scheme was approved and Smit named governor. Settlers departed aboard the Eendragt on 1 July, but the expedition was ill-starred: the ship hit two large storms and suffered from fire before reaching its destination, where it was raided by English privateers prosecuting the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Smit died of illness, and a second band of privateers stole the ship used to trade with neighboring islands. Following a hurricane and a renewed outbreak of disease, the colony collapsed, with the English departing for the nearby French colony on Sainte-Croix, the Danes fleeing to Saint Christopher and home, and the Dutch assisting their countrymen on Ter Tholen in stealing everything of value, particularly the remaining Danish guns and ammunition.[2]

The Danish formed a Board of Trade in 1668 and secured a commercial treaty with Britain, providing for the unmolested settlement of uninhabited islands, in July of 1670. The Danish West India Company was organized in December and formally chartered by King Christian V the next year on March 11, 1671.[3] Jørgen Iversen Dyppel, a successful trader on Saint Christopher, was made governor and the king provided convicts from his jails and two vessels for the establishment of the colony, the yacht Den forgyldte Krone[4][5] and the frigate Færøe.[6][7] Den forgyldte Krone was ordered to run ahead and wait but ended up returning to Denmark after the Færøe under Capt. Bang was delayed for repairs in Bergen. The Færøe completed her mission alone, establishing a settlement on St. Thomas on May 25, 1672. From an original contingent of 190 – 12 officials, 116 company "employees" (indentured servants), and 62 felons and former prostitutes – only 104 remained, 9 having escaped and 77 having died in transit. Another 75 died within the first year, leaving only 29 to carry on the colony.[2]

In 1675, Iversen claimed St. John and placed two men there; in 1684, Governor Esmit granted it to two English merchants from Barbados but their men were chased off the island by two British sloops sent by Governor Stapleton of the British Leeward Islands. Further instructions in 1688 to establish a settlement on St. John seem not to have been acted on until Governor Bredal made an official establishment on March 25, 1718.[2]

The islands quickly became a base for pirates attacking ships in the vicinity and also for the Brandenburg African Company. Governor Lorentz raised enormous taxes upon them and seized warehouses and cargoes of tobacco, sugar, and slaves in 1689 only to have his actions repudiated by the authorities in Copenhagen; his hasty action to seize Crab Island prohibited the Brandenburgers from establishing their own Caribbean colony, however. Possession of the island was subsequently disputed with the Scottish in 1698 and fully lost to the Spanish in 1811.

Danish West Indies, Saint Croix, 2 dalere (1898)
Danish West Indies, Saint Croix, 2 dalere (1898)

St. Croix was purchased from the French West Indies Company in 1733. In 1754, the islands were sold to the Danish king, Frederick V of Denmark, becoming royal Danish colonies.

At times during the Napoleonic Wars, the islands were occupied by the British; first from March 1801 to March 27, 1802, and then again from December 1807 to November 20, 1815, when they were returned to Denmark.

A 1905 gold 20 Franc coin of the Danish West Indies, depicting Christian IX of Denmark.

In the 1850s the Danish West Indies had a total population of about 41,000 people. The government of the islands were under a governor-general, whose jurisdiction extended to the other Danish colonies of the group. However, because the islands formerly belonged to Great Britain the inhabitants were English in customs and in language. The islands of that period consisted of:[8]

  • St. Thomas, which had a population of 12,800 people and which had sugar and cotton as its chief exports. St. Thomas city was the capital of the island, then a free port, and the chief station of the steam-packets between Southampton, in England, and the West Indies.
  • St. John, which had a population of about 2,600 people.
  • St. Croix, though inferior to St. Thomas in commerce, was of greater importance in extent and fertility and had the largest population of 25,600 people.

On January 17, 1917, the islands were sold to the United States for $25 million ($460 million in current prices), when the United States and Denmark exchanged their respective treaty ratifications. Danish administration ended March 31, 1917, when the United States took formal possession of the territory and renamed it the United States Virgin Islands.

Christiansted, the main town of St. Croix in the former Danish West Indies

The United States had been interested in the islands for years because of their strategic position near the approach to the Panama Canal and because of the fear that Germany might seize them to use as U-boat bases during World War I.

Postage stamps[edit]

Denmark issued stamps for the Danish West Indies from 1856 on.

View over Charlotte Amalie


The Danish West Indies were inhabited by many different cultures, and each had its own traditions and religions. The king and the church worked closely together to maintain law and order; the church was responsible for people's moral upbringing, and the King led the civil order. There was no state-sponsored religion in Denmark until 1849, but in the Danish West Indies there had always been a great deal of religious freedom. Danish authorities tended to be lenient towards religious beliefs, but required that all citizens had to observe Danish holidays. Freedom of religion was partially granted to help settle the islands, as there was a shortage of willing settlers from Europe. This worked to an extent, seeing that a large proportion of settlers were in fact Dutch and British natives fleeing religious persecution.[9]

In spite of a general tolerance for religion, many African religions were not recognized because they typically revolved around belief in animism and magic, beliefs which were consistently met with scorn, and were regarded as immoral and subservient. A widespread viewpoint was that if you could convert slaves to Christianity, they could have a better life, and many slaves were converted.[9]

Slavery and property rights[edit]

Main article: Danish slave trade

Laws and regulations in the Danish West Indies were based on Denmark's laws, but the local government was allowed to adapt them to match local conditions. For example, things like animals, land, and buildings were regulated according to Danish law, but Danish law did not regulate slavery. Slaves were treated as common property, and therefore did not necessitate specific laws.

The Høgensborg estate on Sankt Croix, 1833

In 1733, differentiation between slaves and other property was implied by a regulation that stated that slaves had their own will and thus could behave inappropriately or be disobedient.[10] The regulation also stated that the authorities were to punish slaves for participating in illegal activity, but many owners punished slaves on their own. There was a general consensus that if the slaves were punished too hard or were malnourished, the slaves would start to rebel. In 1755 Frederick V of Denmark issued more new Regulations, in which slaves were guaranteed the right not to be separated from their children and the right to medical support during periods of illness or old age. However, the colonial government had the ability to amend laws and regulations according to local conditions, and thus the regulations were never enacted in the colony, on grounds that it was more disadvantageous than advantageous.[10]

By 1778, it was estimated that the Danish were bringing about 3,000 Africans to the Danish West Indies yearly for enslavement.[11]

When Denmark abolished slavery in 1848, many plantation owners wanted full reimbursement, on the grounds that their assets were damaged by the loss of the slaves, and by the fact that they would have to pay for labor in the future. The Danish government paid fifty dollars for every slave the plantation owners had owned and recognized that the slaves' release had caused a financial loss for the owners.[10] However, the lives of the former slaves changed very little. Most were hired at the plantations where they had previously worked and were offered one-year contracts, a small hut, a little land and some money. As employees, former slaves were not plantation owners' responsibility and did not receive food from their employers.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b "Dansk Vestindia". Caplex. Retrieved 21 May 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c d Dookhan, Isaac. A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States. Canoe Press, 1974. ISBN 9768125055.
  3. ^ Westergaard, Waldemar. The Danish West Indies under Company Rule.
  4. ^ Also translated as the Golden Crown and the Gilded Crown.
  5. ^ Marcussen, Jørgen. "De Vestindiske Øer - kronologisk historisk oversigt" ["The West Indies: A Chronological Historical Overview"]. (Danish)
  6. ^ Also written Færø, Fero, Faero, and Pharaoh.
  7. ^ Orlogsmuseet. "Færøe ex-Agathe (1653)".
  8. ^ Stewart, K. J., (1864). A Geography for Beginners. Richmond, Va: J W Randloph.
  9. ^ a b "History: St. Criox, United States Virgin Islands Retrieved On 14 January 2012
  10. ^ a b c "Begivenheder 1733", The Guardian, Retrieved On 26 November 2007, In Danish

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 18°20′00″N 64°50′00″W﻿ / ﻿18.3333°N 64.8333°W﻿ / 18.3333; -64.8333