Saint Croix is the biggest of the US Virgin Islands although the capital city, Charlotte Amelie, is located on St Thomas. Saint Croix itself has two towns Frederiksted (pop. 830) and Christiansted (pop. 3,000). The name of the island comes from the original Spanish name given by Christopher Columbus in 1493 – Santa Cruz or ‘Holy Cross’. As Santa Cruz, Saint Croix gets a great deal of mention in swashbuckling stories of pirates and buccaneers sailing on the Spanish Main.

The population before the Europeans got there was Arawak and Carib and they had probably been there since about 5000 BC. After 1493 the population of the Caribbean got involved in a 100 years war with the Spanish and the kind of people living on the island altered forever.

Saint Croix has been owned and therefore predominantly occupied by the Spanish, The British, the French, the Dutch, the Maltese and the Danish all of whom had slaves and plantations

The slaves were manumitted in 1848, but many chose to stay on Saint Croix. Descendants of slaves still live on the island. The total populace of the island is now roughly 60,000.

English is the official language and is the most commonly spoken, although there is also some Spanish, French Creole and Virgin islands Creole, better known as Crucian, which is spoken by most inhabitants in informal situations.

This Hispanic segment of the Crucian populace is mostly of Puerto Rican lineage. The US bought Vieques from Puerto Rico during the Second World War and evicted its inhabitants. Many moved to St Croix because of its similarity to Vieques. These people have integrated well, but also kept a few of their old customs. They usually speak a mixture of Spanish and Crucian English in a distinctive form of Spanglish.

Continental Americans make up about 13% of the population and mostly live on the eastern side of St Croix. Arab Palestinians are also a sizeable minority owning most of the petrol stations and supermarkets on St Croix. Other modern immigrants have moved from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Philippines.

There has been some tension between immigrants and those calling themselves ‘real Crucians’, but it has largely evaporated due to intermarriage. There have been attempts to define a ‘real Crucian’.

The issue seems to have been settled when in 2009, the proposed U.S. Virgin Islands Constitution voted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention recommended three definitions of U.S. Virgin Islanders: “Ancestral Native Virgin Islander”, who have ancestral ties (and their descendants); “Native Virgin Islander”, who were born on the island (and their descendants); and “Virgin Islander”, who are any United States citizen who has lived in the territory for five years.

Christianity, in the form of Protestantism is the main religion, although the Hispanic community is Roman Catholic. There are also small groups of Jews and followers of Rastafari, Islam.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

Saint Croix is the largest of the US Virgin Islands, which lie 1730 miles east south east of Miami and 93 miles west of Puerto Rico. This section of the Virgin Islands has belonged to the United States since 1917 when they were purchased from the Danish government for $25m in gold to safeguard American shores from German U-boat attack.

At the time, it was feared that Germany might subjugate the islands and construct submarine pens there in order to attack American supply shipping, which was essential to the allies in Europe during the First World War.

The US Virgin islands is a group of about 60 largely unpopulated islands, the four biggest of which are called St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island. (By the way, ‘Saint’ is pronounced in the English manner). The Islands’ residents, however, have other names for these four which are Twin City, Rock City, Love City and Small City respectively.

Christopher Columbus landed there on November 14th, 1493, but there is evidence of human habitation on the island going back to 5000 BC. In fact, the Arawaks and the Caribs made up the islands’ populace, before the Europeans arrived.

Possession of St Croix and the other Virgin Islands changed a lot over the following centuries, but it became infamous to many people as Santa Cruz, which is its Spanish name. As Santa Cruz, St Croix featured highly in 17th and 18th century stories of pirates and buccaneers on the Spanish Main.

In fact, after Spain initially took control of the island, it changed hands seven times; having been Spanish, British, French, Maltese, Dutch, Danish and now American. The inhabitants of the US Virgin Islands are now US citizens and carry US passports. They also use the US dollar and US laws.

St Croix was an agricultural powerhouse in the Caribbean until the 1960’s when the local government determined it was time to industrialize. The island is now home to HOVENSA, one of the largest oil refineries in the world.

There is also a sizeable distillery, the Cruzan Rum Distillery, which used to make rum from sugar cane grown on the island. Sugar cane, or its extract, molasses are now imported from the Dominican Republic to make Southern Comfort and Cruzan Rum. Diageo is arranging to build a distillery there too in order to produce Captain Morgan Rum.

Inhabitants of the island call themselves Crucians. However, there is a great deal of debate about what makes a ‘real Crucian’. Many say that a Crucian is someone who was born and brought up on St Croix, while others claim that descendants of the slaves that the Danes took over in 16th and 17th Centuries are the only true Crucians.

Many Crucians can track their ancestry back to Puerto Rico or other Virgin islands as the sugar cane industry attracted a lot of migrant workers in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. There was also an influx of down-islanders (ie from other Caribbean islands), as the locals say, after the industrialization of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands in the 1960’s and 1970’s as tourism and petrol became more central to the economy.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.