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St. Croix’ history 

On June 13, 1733 the Danish West Indies Company bought St. Croix from France. The Danish West Indian Company wasted no time in sending settlers to St. Croix to form their new colony. Under the leadership of Frederik Moth, a new town at Christiansted was planned within the first year.

In 1747, St. Croix was given its own government, separate from St. Thomas and St. John. The planters soon became frustrated with the company’s strict regulations. In 1753 the planters of the three islands petitioned the King to buy out the Danish West Indies Company and in 1754 the islands became a royal colony. With the crown directly involved a long period of growth followed and the crown designated the most lucrative of the islands - St. Croix – which was the new capital for all three islands until 1871.

For some time St. Croix was one of the wealthiest islands in the West Indies. The prosperity was due greatly to sugar cultivation, rum production and slave labor. St. Croix's economy existed through trade. The island exported five commodities; sugar, rum, cotton, molasses and hard woods and imported almost everything it needed.

The price of sugar in the world market was stable for the first years of the 19th century and St. Croix's plantation owners were doing well. In 1803 the population of the island was 30,000 with about 26000 of them being slaves engaged in planting and processing sugar cane.

Prosperity however came to a halt with the closure of Denmark's role in the slave trade. St. Croix had played an important role in the triangular trade route that connected Europe, Africa and the Caribbean in a trade of human cargo, sugar and rum. Around this same time competing beet sugar prices caused a sharp decline in the profitability of cultivating sugarcane. With all these factors playing a role St. Croix's economy by the end of the 1820's was nearing ruin.

With an increasing number of slave revolts the governor general Peter von Scholten was forced to abolish slavery in the Danish colonies on July 3rd, 1848.

The late 1800's were a period filled with changes, rebellions and progress. Some of the most famous leaders were Buddhoe (Emancipation 1848), “Queen Mary”(Fireburn 1878) and David Hamilton Jackson (Labor Union 1916). Their efforts and those of other residents were extolled for the good of the local population on issues like improvement of living conditions, freedom of press, education and labor laws.

In 1917 St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas were purchased by the United States of America from the Danish government for military reasons. Denmark sold the islands for 25 million dollars in gold.

In the late 1930's St. Croix’ agriculturally based economy was not improving and the islands agriculture days ended in the 1960s with the rapid industrialization of the island's economy.

A big part of the island income, back then and now, comes from the Cruzan Rum Distillery which was founded in 1760 on St. Croix.

For many years the economy of the island was based on oil. Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corporation started an oil refinery in 1966 and in the late 1990s St. Croix was home to HOVENSA, one of the world's largest oil refineries. But in January 2012, it was announced that the refinery would be permanently shut down. This had major impact on St. Croix and the entire U.S. Virgin Islands, as the refinery employed more than 2000 people.

Today the main income on St. Croix is based on tourism.

St. Croix’ historie

Den 13. juni 1733 købte Dansk Vestindisk Kompagni St. Croix fra Frankrig. Det danske kompagni spildte ikke tiden og sende nye beboere til St. Croix for at opbygge deres nye koloni. Under ledelse af Frederik Moth blev den nye by Christiansted planlagt inden for det første år.

I 1747 fik St. Croix sin egen regering som var adskilt fra St. Thomas og St. John. Planterne (ejerne af Plantagerne) blev hurtigt frustreret af virksomhedens strenge regler. I 1753 bønfaldt øernes indbyggere kongen af Danmark til at købe det Dansk Vestindiske Kompagni og i 1754 blev Jomfruøerne en kongelig koloni. Med kronen direkte involveret fulgte en lang periode med vækst og kronen udpegede den mest indbringende af øerne - St. Croix – til at være hovedstad over alle tre øer indtil 1871.

I nogen tid var St. Croix en af ​​de rigeste øer i Vestindien. Velstanden skyldtes i høj grad sukker dyrkning, rom produktion og slavearbejde. St. Croix’ økonomi eksisterede gennem handel og øen eksporterede råvare som sukker, rom, bomuld, melasse og hårde træsorter, samt importerede næsten alt det nødvendige til øen.

I de første år af det 19. århundrede var prisen på sukker i verdensmarkedet stabilt og plantageejerne på St. Croix var glade. I 1803 var befolkningen på øen 30.000, ud af dem var ca. 26.000 slaver som var tvunget til plantning og forarbejdning af sukkerrør.

Velstanden gik i stå da ​​Danmarks position i slavehandlen blev stoppet for St. Croix havde spillet en vigtig rolle i den trekants handel der forbandt Europa, Afrika og Caribien i en handel af sukker, rom og afrikanere. Omkring samme tid fik man stærk konkurrence fra sukkerroer i Europa og det betød at sukker priserne fik en skarp nedgang. Alle disse faktorer spillede en stor rolle på St. Croix’ økonomi som ved udgangen af ​​1820'erne nærmede ruin.

Med et stigende antal slave oprør blev Generel Guvernøren Peter von Scholten tvunget til at afskaffe slaveriet på de danske kolonier den 3. juli 1848.

Slutningen af ​​1800 var en periode fyldt med forandringer, oprør og fremskridt. Nogle af de mest berømte ledere var Buddhoe (Emancipation 1848), "Queen Mary" (bålbrænde 1878) og David Hamilton Jackson (Labor Union 1916). Deres indsats blev lovprist af den lokale befolkning da det var til gavn for emner som forbedring af levevilkårene, pressefrihed, uddannelse og lovgivning for arbejderne.

I 1917 blev St. Croix, St. John og St. Thomas, købt af USA af militære årsager. Danmark solgte øerne for 25 millioner dollars i guld.

I slutningen af ​​1930'erne var St. Croix 'landbrugsmæssige økonomi ikke blevet bedre, og øernes landbrugsdage sluttede i 1960'erne med den hurtige industrialisering af øens økonomi.

En stor del af øens indtægter kom dengang, men også i dag, fra Cruzan Rom destilleriet, som blev grundlagt på St. Croix i 1760.

I mange år var øens økonomi baseret på olie. Hess Oil Virgin Island Corporation startede et olieraffinaderi i 1966, og i slutningen af ​​1990'erne var St. Croix hjemsted for HOVENSA, et af ​​verdens største olieraffinaderier. Men i januar 2012 blev det meddelt, at raffinaderiet skulle lukkes permanent. Dette havde stor indflydelse på St. Croix og hele USVI, da raffinaderiet beskæftigede mere end 2000 ansatte.

I dag er den vigtigste indtægtskilde på St. Croix baseret på turisme.