Saint Thomas (, , ) is one of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Along with surrounding minor islands, it is one of three county equivalents in the USVI. Together with Saint John, it forms one of the districts of the USVI. The territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie is located on the island.
Of the three islands, St. Thomas is the second largest, with St. Croix being the largest, and St. John, the smallest. As of the 2010 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,634, about 48.5% of the total population of the United States Virgin Islands. Crown Mountain is the highest point in Saint Thomas and in the entire United States Virgin Islands. Hence, it is called "Rock City". The island has a land area of .This is the figure given on page 1 of the United States Geological Survey's Open-File Report 72-201. It is also the figure given in the article at the on-line edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Virgin Islands (United States) page at the United Nations Environmental Programme's Island Directory gives a substantially lower figure, reporting the area as 69.7 square kilometers, equivalent to 26.9 square miles. And although the U.S. Census Bureau does not report the areas of geographic entities, it does report their population densities (equal to the total population divided by the area). In the 2010 census, the population was reported as 51,634 (Table P1, "Total Population") and the population density was reported as 1,649.1 per square mile (Table P40, "Population Density"). Together, these figures imply an area of 31.3 square miles.
History
Pre-colonial history The island was originally settled around 1500 BC by the Ciboney people. Ciboney sites have been uncovered in Krum Bay. The island was later inhabited by the Arawaks and then the Caribs. Arawak sites have been uncovered in Magens Bay and Botany Bay, and Carib sites have been uncovered in Magens Bay.
Early European Exploration Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World. He landed on the island of Saint Croix and then made his way to the other islands nearby at the start of the Lesser Antilles, and named them "Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes", after the legend of Saint Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. It was later shortened to " Las Virgenes", which means, "The Virgins".
Danish colonial period
The Dutch West India Company 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.
Denmark-Norway's first attempt to settle the island in 1665 failed. However, the Danes did resettle St. Thomas in 1672, under the sponsorship of the Glueckstadt Co., later the Danish West India Company. The first slave ships arrived in 1673, and St. Thomas became a slave market. 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 status in 1764.
The land was divided into plantations and sugarcane production became the primary economic activity. As a result, the economies of Saint Thomas and the neighboring islands of Saint John and Saint Croix became highly dependent on enslaved African labor and the African slave trade.
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 Amalia in honor of the wife of Denmark's King Christian V. It was later declared a free port by Frederick V. In December 1732, the first two of many Moravian Brethren missionaries came from Herrnhut, Saxony 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.Hamilton, J. Taylor and Hamilton, Kenneth G., History of the Moravian Church, Bethlehem, PA, 1969.
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. 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), during which they built Fort Cowell on Hassel Island.
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 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 and its aftermath, the United States government considered entering into a treaty with Denmark to buy the island and its neighbors from Denmark for $7.5 million. The Danish Landstinget agreed to the sale as did the inhabitants of the islands in a vote of 1,244 to 22. However, the proponents of the purchase in the United States failed to gain enough support to ratify the treaty.
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., The Virgin Islands Daily News.
United States acquisition
In 1917, Saint Thomas was purchased (along with Saint Croix and Saint John) by the United States for $25 million in gold ($ million today), as part of a strategy to maintain control over the Caribbean and the Panama Canal during the First World War. The transfer occurred on March 31, 1917.
At the time of the U.S. purchase in 1917, the colony did not include Water Island; Water Island 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. 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 residents of the Virgin Islands in 1927. The U.S. Department of the Interior took over administrative duties in 1931. American forces were based on the island during the Second World War. In 1954, passage of the U.S. Virgin Islands Organic Act officially granted territorial status to the three islands, allowing for the formation of a local senate. Full home rule 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 on Cuba, the numbers of visitors greatly increased. Despite natural disasters such as Hurricanes Hugo (1989), Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn (1995), and Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017), hotels have been built from the West End to the East End. 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 and Crown Bay, near Charlotte Amalie. Ships dock at West Indian Company Dock and Austin Monsanto Dock. Red Hook is an unofficial "town" located on the East End subdistrict.
Climate Saint Thomas has a tropical savanna climate (Aw according to the Köppen climate classification) 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 cyclones. 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.
Subdivisions
Saint Thomas is divided into the following subdistricts (with population as per the 2020 U.S. census):
Charlotte Amalie (pop. 14,477) Charlotte Amalie town (pop. 8,194) East End (pop. 7,502) Northside (pop. 8,889) Southside (pop. 4,112) Tutu (pop. 5,129) Water Island (pop. 164) West End (pop. 1,988)
The island is also divided into the traditional quarters: Charlotte Amalie (town), East End, Frenchman's Bay, Great Northside, Little Northside, New, Red Hook, Southside, and West End.2019 USVI Code, Title 1, Chapter 5, § 85. Quarters of St. Thomas
Demographics As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of St. Thomas was 42,261.
Race and ethnicity +RacePercentageBlack or African American73.6%White12.6%Asian1.4%American Indian and Alaska Native0.3%Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander0.0%Some other race3.0%Two or more races9.1% +Hispanic or LatinoPercentageOf Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race)13.7%Not Hispanic or Latino86.3%
Historical ethnic communities
From 1796 a small Jewish community developed in Charlotte Amalie. It established the Beracha Veshalom Vegmiluth Hasadim, the second oldest synagogue in the United States.Arts & Culture US Virgin Island Tourism
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.
Language +Language spoken at home (by population 5 years and over in households)LanguageNumberPercentageEnglish only27,95970.9%Spanish5,16813.1%French, Haitian Creole, or Cajun463511.7%Other languages16864.3%
Transportation
The island is serviced by the Cyril E. King International Airport. 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 Terminal, and Crown Bay Marina.
There are safaris, which are open air taxis, mounted onto the back of a pickup truck. On St. John the fare is 8 to 38 USD per person one way.
Regular taxis operate with about the same fares as safaris (as an example a 5 minute taxi ride in Red Hook was 9 USD per person as of April 2026). There is some room for negotiation based on availablility and haggling skills.
The Virgin Islands also has a public transit system called the Virgin Islands Transit, or VITRAN, which services a fare of $2. These buses are discounted for both senior citizens and students with valid ID's.