The Danish Colonization of St. John, 1718-1733

Larsen, Lief

This study grew out of a history course entitled "The Danish West Indies" taught by Professors Ove Hornby and Ole Justesen at the University of Copenhagen in 1975-1976. The course work involved the study of primary sources in Danish archives, as well as fieldwork in the Virgin Islands during February-January 1976. The idea of the work emerged during our visit to the ruins of Fort Frederiksvaern (now called “Fortsberg” at Coral Bay, St. John. Here we found an imposing historic site, built by the Danes to command a. large and beautiful natural harbor. As the physical conditions very much favor the development of a naval and/or commercial maritime establishment, one naturally wondered why Denmark wanted St. John when such evident possibilities were never pursued. Under the Danish flag St. John was always subordinate to St. Thomas and St. Croix, leading a rather anonymous life. This peripheral status has influenced historical scholarship, which has neglected St. John, treating it primarily as an appendage to St. Thomas. A characteristic feature of the general historical surveys of the Danish West Indies is that St. John is seldom mentioned apart from the slave rebellion of 1733-34. For example, the subject index of the major history of the Danish West Indies does not contain a single entry for St. John. Influenced by these considerations I set out to research why the Danes colonized St. John, and how this colonization was carried out. This study is the result of that investigation. It has been limited chronologically to the period between 1718 and 1733. However, lines have been drawn back to 1675, when it is possible to ascertain the first Danish interest in St. John. The relation to foreign powers has also been discussed in order to understand the occupation of St. John within the general framework of European colonial rivalry in the West Indies. The year 1718 is a natural starting point, because permanent Danish possession began then. The delimitation of 1733 has been selected because a massive slave rebellion erupted in that year that paralyzed the economic development of St. John for some time thereafter. Before the island could fully recover from this cataclysmic event Denmark started the occupation of St. Croix, which created new interests and relations.