Saint Thomas ( da, Sankt Thomas) is one of the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

which, together with Saint John, Water Island,

Hassel Island Hassel Island (also sometimes Hassell Island) is a small island of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a United States territory located in the Caribbean Sea. Hassel Island lies in the Charlotte Amalie harbor just south of Saint Thomas and east of Wate ...

, and

Saint Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorpo ...

, form a

county-equivalent In the United States, a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 states, wh ...

and constituent

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

(USVI), an

unincorporated territory Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The various American territories differ from the U.S. states and tribal reservations as they are not sove ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie is located on the island. As of the 2020 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 42,261, about 48.5% of the total population of the United States Virgin Islands. The island has a land area of .

History

Pre-colonial history

The island was originally settled around 1500 BC by the

Ciboney The Ciboney, or Siboney, were a Taíno people of western Cuba, Jamaica, and the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti. A Western Taíno group living in central Cuba during the 15th and 16th centuries, they had a dialect and culture distinct from the Classi ...

people. Ciboney sites have been uncovered in Krum Bay. The island was later inhabited by the

Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...

s and then the

Caribs “Carib” may refer to: People and languages *Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of South America **Carib language, also known as Kalina, the language of the South American Caribs *Kalinago people, or Island Caribs, an indigenous pe ...

. Arawak sites have been uncovered in Magen's Bay and Botany Bay, and Carib sites have been uncovered in Magen's Bay and Salt River.

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

sighted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

Danish and German colonial period

The

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...

established a post on Saint Thomas in 1657. The first congregation was the St. Thomas Reformed Church, which was established in 1660 and was associated with the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

. Denmark-Norway's first attempt to settle the island in 1665 failed. However, the Danes did resettle St. Thomas in 1671, under the sponsorship of the Glueckstadt Co., later the

Danish West India Company The Danish West India Company () or Danish West IndiaGuinea Company (') was a Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian chartered company that operated out of the colonies in the Danish West Indies. It is estimated that 120,000 Atlantic slave trade, enslav ...

. The first

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

s arrived in 1673, and St. Thomas became a

slave market A slave market is a place where slaves are bought and sold. These markets became a key phenomenon in the history of slavery. Slave markets in the Ottoman Empire In the Ottoman Empire during the mid-14th century, slaves were traded in special ...

. In 1685, the Danish leased part of the island to the Brandenburger Company, which was resold to the Danish in 1754, and was granted

free port Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which com ...

status in 1764. The land was divided into

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s and

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

production became the primary economic activity. As a result, the economies of Saint Thomas and the neighboring islands of Saint John and

became highly dependent on

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

labor and the slave trade. In 1685, the ''

Brandenburgisch-Africanische Compagnie The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1721, when King Frederick William I of Prussia sold it for 7200 ducats to the Dutch Republic. Brandenburger G ...

'' took control of the slave trade on Saint Thomas, and for some time the largest slave auctions in the world were held there. Saint Thomas's fine natural harbor became known as "Taphus" for the drinking establishments located nearby. ("Tap Hus" translates as "rum shop" or "tap house" referring to the drinking establishments.) In 1691, the primary settlement there was renamed Charlotte Amalie in honor of the wife of Denmark's King Christian V. It was later declared a

Frederick V Frederick V or Friedrich V may refer to: * Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (1164–1170) *Frederick V, Count of Zollern (d.1289) *Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg (c. 1333–1398), German noble *Frederick V of Austria (1415–1493), or Frederick III ...

. In December 1732, the first two of many Moravian Brethren

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

came from

Herrnhut Herrnhut ( Sorbian: ''Ochranow''; cs, Ochranov) is an Upper Lusatian town in the Görlitz district in Saxony, Germany, known for the community of the Moravian Church established by Nicolas Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf in 1722. Geography It is ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

in present-day Germany to minister to them. Distrusted at first by the white masters, they lived among the slaves and soon won their confidence. The first British invasion and occupation of the island occurred in 1801. The islands were returned to Denmark in 1802, under the terms of the

Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...

. Fire destroyed hundreds of homes in Charlotte Amalie in 1804. The second British occupation of the island occurred from 1807 to 1815, after the

Invasion of the Danish West Indies (1807) The second British Invasion of the Danish West Indies took place in December 1807 when a British fleet captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless ...

, during which they built Fort Cowell on

. While the sugar trade had brought prosperity to the island's free citizens, by the early 19th century Saint Thomas was in decline. The continued export of sugar was threatened by hurricanes, drought, and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

competition. Following the Danish Revolution of 1848, slavery was abolished and the resulting rise in labor costs further weakened the position of Saint Thomas's sugar producers. Given its harbors and fortifications, Saint Thomas still retained a strategic importance, and thus, in the 1860s, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and its aftermath, the United States government considered buying the island and its neighbors from Denmark for $7.5 million. However, the proponents of the purchase failed to gain legislative support for the bid.

Freedom of the press

In 1915, David Hamilton Jackson traveled to Denmark and convinced the King of Denmark to allow freedom of the press in Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Saint Croix. He began the first newspaper in the islands, known as ''The Herald''. Jackson was the editor of ''The Herald'', which had its office at 1B Kongens Gade in Christiansted. The newspaper's focus was civic and labor rights for local workers, and it published criticisms of the labor situation in the islands. After beginning ''The Herald,'' Jackson organized labor unions among the islanders for better working conditions. He was also instrumental in persuading the Danish to allow the US to purchase the islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Saint Croix. The islands now have an annual celebration in November to honor the legacy of David Hamilton Jackson.

United States acquisition

In 1917, Saint Thomas was purchased (along with Saint Croix and Saint John) by the

for $25 million in gold ($ million today), as part of a defensive strategy to maintain control over the Caribbean and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The transfer occurred on March 31, 1917, behind Fort Christian before the barracks that now house the Legislature of the U.S Virgin Islands. The baccalaureate service for the transfer was held at the St. Thomas Reformed Church as it was identified as the American church in the Danish West Indies. At the time of the US purchase in 1917, the colony did not include Water Island, which had been sold by Denmark to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company, in 1905. The company eventually sold the island to the United States in 1944, during the

German occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...

. The federal government then used the island for military purposes until 1950, before finally transferring it to the territorial government in 1996. The United States granted citizenship to the residents in 1927. The

U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the man ...

took over administrative duties in 1931. American forces were based on the island during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1954, passage of the U.S. Virgin Islands

Organic Act In United States law, an organic act is an act of the United States Congress that establishes a territory of the United States and specifies how it is to be governed, or an agency to manage certain federal lands. In the absence of an organ ...

officially granted territorial status to the three islands, and allowed for the formation of a local senate with politics dominated by the American

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and Democratic parties. Full

home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

was achieved in 1970. The post-war era also saw the rise of tourism on the island. With relatively cheap air travel and the American

embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, the numbers of visitors greatly increased. Despite natural disasters such as

Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million peop ...

(1989), Hurricanes

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

and Marilyn (1995), and Hurricanes Irma and

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

(2017) the island's infrastructure continues to improve as the flow of visitors continues. Hotels have been built from the West End to the East End, and in recent years, Saint Thomas has become a busy cruise ship port and vacation venue.

Geography

The island has a number of natural bays and harbors including Magens Bay, Great Bay, Jersey Bay, Long Bay, Fortuna Bay, and Hendrik Bay. Passenger ships dock and anchor in Long Bay, near Charlotte Amalie. Ships dock at Havensight Pier. Red Hook is an unofficial "town" located on the East End subdistrict.

Climate

Saint Thomas has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(''Aw'' according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

) with a drier season and a wetter season. The temperature is warm year-round, with January and February, the coolest months, having average highs of and average lows of . August has the highest average high of , with July, August and September all having the highest average low at . The highest temperature ever recorded was on August 4, 1994 and June 23, 1996, which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in the United States Virgin Islands. The lowest recorded temperature was in November. Saint Thomas receives of precipitation annually over 163.6 precipitation days. Autumn is the wettest time of year because of

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s. November is the wettest month, receiving of rain on average over 17.8 precipitation days, the most of any month. March is the driest month, receiving of rainfall over 8.1 precipitation days, the least of any month.

Demographics

Saint Thomas is divided into the following

subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, In ...

s (with population as per the

2020 U.S. Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

): # Charlotte Amalie (pop. 14,477) Charlotte Amalie town (pop. 8,194) #

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

(pop. 7,502) #

Northside Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...

(pop. 8,889) #

Southside Southside or South Side may refer to: Places Australia * Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region Canada * South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of Newf ...

(pop. 4,112) # Tutu (pop. 5,129) # Water Island (pop. 164) # West End (pop. 1,988)

Historical ethnic communities

From 1796 a small

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community developed in Charlotte Amalie. It established the Beracha Veshalom Vegmiluth Hasadim, the second oldest synagogue in the United States. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a group of French Catholic immigrants known as the came to St. Thomas from the St. Barthélemy islands to the east, forming one community of fishermen and one of farmers.

Transportation

The island is serviced by the

Cyril E. King International Airport Cyril E. King Airport is a public airport located two miles (3 km) west of the central business district of Charlotte Amalie, United States Virgin Islands, Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas i ...

. Passenger and limited car-ferry services to neighboring islands such as Water Island, Saint John, Saint Croix, and the British Virgin Islands run regularly out of the Red Hook Terminal, Charlotte Amalie, and Crown Bay Marina. The United States Virgin Islands is the only place under United States jurisdiction where the rule of the road is to drive on the left. This was inherited from what was the then-current Danish practice at the time of the American acquisition in 1917. However, because the islands are a U.S. territory, most cars are imported from the mainland United States and therefore the steering column is located on the left side of the vehicle. The island has many regular taxis from compact size to large vans, as well as open-air, covered trucks called "safaris" with bench seats. The latter usually operate only between high-traffic points, e.g., cruise-ship terminals at Havensight and Crown Bay and downtown Charlotte Amalie.

Education

St. Thomas-St. John School District operates public schools on Saint Thomas. Private schools: * Antilles School * Virgin Islands Montessori School & Peter Gruber International Academy Parochial schools: * All Saints Cathedral School * Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School * Calvary Christian Academy * Church of God Academy * Memorial Moravian School * Seventh Day Adventist School * Weslyan Academy Bible School Colleges and universities: *

University of the Virgin Islands The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially be ...

Notable people

* Alton Augustus Adams − first African-American band master for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

* Pamela Balash-Webber (1953–2020), diving instructor *

Jabari Blash Jabari Jerell Blash (born July 4, 1989) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2016 with the San Diego Padres. He also played in MLB for the Los Angeles Angels and for the Tohoku ...

− baseball player, outfielder for the

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping ...

Edward Wilmot Blyden Edward Wilmot Blyden (3 August 1832 – 7 February 1912) was a Liberian educator, writer, diplomat, and politician who was primarily active in West Africa. Born in the Danish West Indies, he joined the waves of black immigrants from the ...

− ambassador, an Igbo in Diaspora; credited in some history books as having laid the foundation of West African nationalism and Pan-Africanism *

Callix Crabbe Callix Sadeaq Crabbe (born February 14, 1983) is a Virgin Islands American former professional baseball second baseman and current coach in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. ...

−

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player *

Midre Cummings Midre Almeric Cummings (born October 14, 1971) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (-), Philadelphia Phillies (1997), Boston Red Sox ( and ), Minnesota Tw ...

− Major League Baseball player *

Vanessa Daou Vanessa Daou (born October 4, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, visual artist and dancer. Most notably a musician, her work is known among nu jazz, trip hop and electronic music circles for her trademark spoken word and aspirated sin ...

− singer-songwriter, dancer, writer, poet * Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville − French

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville (11 March 18181 July 1881) was a French chemist. He was born in the island of St Thomas in the Danish West Indies, where his father was French consul. Together with his elder brother Charles he was educate ...

− French chemist *

Jeff Faulkner Jeffrey E. Faulkner (born April 4, 1964) is a former American football defensive lineman in the National Football League for the Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, Phoenix Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, Washington Redskins, and the New Yo ...

−

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

player *

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom '' Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...

− actor, director, and producer born in Saint Thomas *

Emile Griffith Emile Alphonse Griffith (February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013) was a professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who won world titles in three weight divisions. He held the world light middleweight, undisputed welterweight, and middleweight ...

− former boxer who won world championships in both the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions *

Jean Hamlin Jean Hamlin (alternatively spelled Jean Hamlyn, fl. 1682–1684) was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He was often associated with St. Thomas's pirate-friendly Governor Adolph Esmit. History Hamlin began hi ...

− 17th-century French buccaneer *

Elrod Hendricks Elrod Jerome "Ellie" Hendricks (December 22, 1940 – December 21, 2005) was a U.S. Virgin Islander professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore ...

− Major League Baseball player *

Abdul Hodge Abdul Raheeda Hodge The Third Jr. (born September 9, 1983) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the tight ends coach at Iowa, where he played as a 3-time all Big-Ten linebacker. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers i ...

− National Football League player *

Daryl Homer Daryl Homer (born July 16, 1990) is an American right-handed saber fencer, three-time Olympian, and 2016 individual Olympic silver medalist. Homer competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and the 2020 ...

− Olympic fencer *

Roy Innis Roy Emile Alfredo Innis (June 6, 1934 – January 8, 2017) was an American activist and politician. He was National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1968 until his death. One of his sons, Niger Roy Innis, serves as Nation ...

− civil rights leader * Julian Jackson −

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

born in Saint Thomas * Hannah Jeter − ''Sports Illustrated'' swimsuit cover model and wife of Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees * J. Raymond Jones − political activist *

Christine Jowers Christine Jowers (born July 30 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American dancer, teacher, producer, and dance critic. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of the leading online dance magazine, The Dance Enthusiast. She is known for her work as ...

− choreographer, producer, and dance critic *

Al McBean Alvin O'Neal McBean (born May 15, 1938) is a former professional baseball player from the United States Virgin Islands. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher, most notably for the Pittsburgh Pirates with whom he played the majority of hi ...

− Major League Baseball player *

Gabriel Milan Gabriel Milan ( – 26 March 1689) was a German-born colonial administrator and planter who served as governor of the Danish West Indies from 7 May 1684 to 27 February 1686. Though he mainly went by the name of 'Gabriel Milan', he identified ...

− Governor, 1684−1686 *

Akeel Morris Akeel J. Morris (born November 14, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He was drafted by in the 10th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft. He made ...

(born 1992) − baseball player in the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

organization *

Ralph Moses Paiewonsky Ralph Moses Paiewonsky (November 9, 1907 in Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies – November 9, 1991, in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands) was a businessman and politician who served as the ninth civilian governor of the United States Virgin Islan ...

− governor * John Patrick − screenwriter and Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright * Barbara A. Petersen − administrator for Saint Thomas and Water Island * Calvin Pickering − Major League Baseball player *

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...

− key member of the French

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

group of painters *

Rashawn Ross Rashawn Ross (born January 16, 1979) is an American trumpeter and arranger from St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. His contributions in the Dave Matthews Band as a touring member have gained him visibility. Ross is an accomplished session musician. R ...

− trumpeter who tours with

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

* Roy Lester Schneider − governor and physician * Morris Simmonds − German physician, pathologist, described a syndrome of pituitary failure with emaciation (Simmonds syndrome) * Karrine Steffans − former hip-hop music video performer, actress, author of ''Confessions of A Video Vixen'' *

Edward Teach Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about ...

− pirate and privateer; may have been given a letter of marque from St. Thomas after being pardoned for pirating *

Terence Todman Terence Alphonso Todman (March 13, 1926 – August 13, 2014) was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica, Spain, Denmark, and Argentina. In 1990, he was awarded the rank of Career Ambassador. Life Todma ...

− ambassador *

Jean Toussaint Jean Toussaint (born July 27, 1960) is an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. Life and career Toussaint was born in Aruba, Dutch Antilles, and was raised in Saint Thomas and New York City. He learned to play calypso as a child and att ...

− jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist *

Denmark Vesey Denmark Vesey (also Telemaque) ( July 2, 1822) was an early 19th century free Black and community leader in Charleston, South Carolina, who was accused and convicted of planning a major slave revolt in 1822. Although the alleged plot was di ...

− leader of planned slave uprising in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

* Peter von Scholten − governor general *

Tiphanie Yanique Tiphanie Yanique (born September 20, 1978) from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, is a Caribbean American fiction writer, poet and essayist who lives in New York. In 2010 the National Book Foundation named her a "5 Under 35" honoree. She also t ...

– writer *

David Levy Yulee David Levy Yulee (born David Levy; June 12, 1810 – October 10, 1886) was an American politician and attorney. Born on the island of St. Thomas, then under British control, he was of Sephardic Jewish ancestry: His father was a Sephardi from Mo ...

− politician and the first member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

to have been, at one time, a practicing Jew

In popular culture

Music

" St. Thomas" is among the most recognisable

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

s in the

repertoire A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...

of American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

tenor saxophonist The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

based on a traditional calypso sung to him by his mother, Valborg Solomon Rollins, who was born on Saint Thomas.

Points of interest

Blackbeard's Castle Blackbeard's Castle is one of five National Historic Landmarks in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is located in the city of Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas. Erected in 1679 by the Danes as a watchtower to protect the harbor as well a ...

Buck Island National Wildlife Refuge Buck Island National Wildlife Refuge is located about 2 miles (4 km) south of the island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands of the United States. Adjacent to the refuge is Capella Island, about half the size of Buck, owned by the territor ...

* Cathedral Church of All Saints *

Coral World Ocean Park Coral World is a marine park and tourist attraction located next to Coki Beach on the East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the ...

Fort Christian Fort Christian is a Dano-Norwegian-built fort in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Built 1672-1680, early in the first successful colonial establishment on the island, the fort served as a critical point of defense and govern ...

Magens Bay Arboretum The Magens Bay Arboretum is a five-acre arboretum located just inland of Magens Bay, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. It is operated by the Magens Bay Authority and open to the public. History The arboretum was planted in the 1920s under the ...

Magens Bay Magens Bay is a bay in the Northside region on Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean. Description Lying on the northern (Atlantic) side of the island, Magens Bay (Estate Zufriedenheit) features a well-protected white sa ...

* Red Hook * Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral * St. Thomas Synagogue

Gallery

File:USVI St. Thomas - Charlotte Amalie - Blackbeard Castle.JPG,

in Charlotte Amalie File:Megans Beach.jpg,

as seen from Drake's Seat, St. Thomas File:View From Bluebeard's Castle, St Thomas US Virgin Islands.png, View from Bluebeard's Castle, St. Thomas File:St Thomas Magens Bay 5.jpg, Magens Bay

References

{{Authority control Islands of the United States Virgin Islands Former Danish colonies