Highlights Of Cruzan History
Part 1 in a series
Excerpts from "Divers Information on The Romantic History of St. Croix" by Florence Lewisohn @ 1963 St. Croix Landmarks Society
"St. Croix today is an hospitable island that has a little everything except cold weather."
The island has changed remarkably since Columbus discovered it in 1493 and was driven off by hostile Indians. In the nearly 500 years that have intervened, this little area of 84 square miles and 52,628 acres has alternately suffered and prospered from the blind forces of nature and history.
During the period of development of the Western Hemisphere, St. Croix was fought over, colonized, bought, sold, captured and recaptured because of its strategic or economic potential. It is popularly said to have existed under the flags of seven nations.
1493 SPAIN. Columbus discovered St. Croix and named it Santa Cruz (Holy Cross) on his second voyage.
1625 HOLLAND & ENGLAND. Both nations began small settlements. French filibusters had been using the island as a base for careening boats for years.
1646 ENGLAND held the island after the Dutch & French were driven out.
1650 SPAIN. Duke of Marlborough's English settlement was massacred or driven out by 1200 Spaniards from Puerto Rico.
1650 FRANCE. French West Indies took possession for the French crown; planned to make it his capitol.
1652 KNIGHTS OF MALTA. All de Poincy's private possessions in the West Indies granted to this Order of St. John.
1665 FRENCH WEST INDIA COMPANY bought St. Croix and all the other islands held by Knights of Malta.
1674 FRANCE. King paid off Company debts and took possession.
1733 DANISH WEST INDIA AND GUINEA COMPANY bought St. Croix from the French Crown.
1755 DENMARK took over the island as a Crown Colony.
THE DAYS OF THE DANES
1795-1800 -- These years marked the peak of prosperity and of the sugar and rum economy; planters foresaw the beginning of the end.
1803 -- The slave trade was completely abolished by Denmark.
1807-1815 -- Taken and held by British during Napoleonic Wars but returned to Denmark. During the next 30 years, the island's economy worsened with droughts, political upheavals and wars in Europe, and a general depression.
1848 Governor von Scholten freed the slaves on St. Croix.
1866 A disastrous fire in Christiansted in February
1867 Earthquake, tidal wave; further decline in economy.
1871 Capitol moved from St. Croix to St. Thomas.
1872 Severe hurricane destroyed crops and buildings.
1875 The Danish government lent the island money to build a Central Sugar Factory, and construction began the next year.
1876 A severe hurricane; followed by depression years until about 1888.
1878-1892 Serious labor riots took place and Frederiksted was partially burned. Later the Capitol was divided, with the Governor to reside six months in St. Croix and six in St.Thomas each year. The islands economy was at a low ebb.
1917 THE UNITED STATES. When the United States bought the three islands mainly to keep them out of the hands of the Germans during the First World War, hopes rose high in St. Croix for better days ahead; hopes that were not fulfilled for some years. The island became first a possession under U. S. Navy administration, a period which was satisfactory to no one. As the economy began a gradual slow rise, it was dashed again by the impact of Prohibition on the rum industry. Later, toward the end of the depression years, the U. S. Congress gave the island its Territorial Organic Act or Constitution, which defined its relationship to the U. S. under the Department of the Interior, with an appointed Governor and an elected local Senate. St.Croix continued to muddle along with an uneven economy until the mid-1950's when the influx of tourists began. Since then there has been a steady growth, based on the island's re-discovery, by those seeking retirement, new business enterprise and investment, or just a lovely tropical vacation."
Next issue: The Sugar Cane Plant
