The Founding of the Danish West Indies

Denmark Takes Possession of Three Caribbean Virgin Islands

Jul 16, 2009

By the late 18th century, the Danish West Indies included what is now commonly referred to as the Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix.

St. Thomas became the first permanent settlement after a few guided efforts under the direction of Erick Nielson Smit, a prominent and prosperous Danish skipper, during the years 1662-1666. He was sent originally and chartered by the Royal Board of Trade to establish a colony on the small, Caribbean island, in the manner of the Dutch, and was made governor of the island upon a royal commission in 1665. The island was abandoned after Smit’s death and the attempted governance under Kjeld Jensen Slagelse, which was plagued by food shortages and attack by merchant privateers under the English banner. St. Thomas was abandoned in that year, around 1667, and was not revived again until 1672.

Establishment under Absolute Monarchy of Christian V

The succession of Christian V brought Denmark once again under the rule of absolute monarchy, and the king vied with merchant and industrial interests in pursuing colonial commercial centers of trade and plantation agriculture in the West Indies. The second attempt at colonization of St. Thomas thus began in 1672 under Christian V’s stewardship. The Danish West India Company, under charter from the king, sailed two large merchant vessels with a rather motley shipping crew of Company workers, a few officials, and Danish indentured servants set to serve their sentence on the island in return for food, shelter and clothing. Their governor Jorgen Iverson was appointed by the directors of the Company. Of the nearly 200 people aboard for this original venture, only 29 remained after seven months on the island, which, upon landing, was found deserted. This colonization attempt is considered to be the beginning of the colonization period of the Danish West Indies.

St. John and the Eight Articles of Agreement

Opposition and resistance by the English prevented the nearby island of St. John from being colonized until 1718, under Company governor Erick Bredal. The proximity of the island to the British Virgin Islands was of course a preventive factor even considering that Denmark and England had signed a treaty of alliance in 1670. The threat of enemy attack by warring nations was impetus to devise the Eight Articles of Agreement, with specific procurements aimed at the Spanish and English to acknowledge St. John as a legitimate Danish possession.

France’s St. Croix

St. Croix had been in the informal “possession” of the Spanish since Columbus sailed through in 1493 until 1625 when the Dutch and English jointly took over the island. It was eventually sold to the French, and briefly in the hands of the Knights of Malta, and abandoned in 1696. The Danish West India Company bought the island, which still had a number of English and Dutch occupants, in 1733. The impulse to purchase the island was prompted by the declining state of agriculture experienced by the Company on St. Thomas and St. John. By 1735 the Danish owned St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix.

Denmark’s Position among European Powers

Denmark’s relatively weaker power among European nations and preemptive position of neutrality allowed the growth of the Danish West Indies to continue relatively unfloundered. The greatest threat was the English, who reacted aggressively to any perceived alliance with the Dutch, and were ultimately concerned with the Danish’s effect on English trade. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British twice took over the islands in an effort to control privateering attacks on British ships. Denmark’s position, therefore, was never significant. Their original intention to occupy the West Indian islands was prompted by the small successes with the Danish East India Company on India’s coastlines as well as competition with and opposition to the Swedish effort of colonization in West Africa. The Danish West Indies were begun as a commercial venture under Christian V following a long and successive rule of absolute monarchy in Denmark.

Dookhan,Isaac. A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States. 3rd ed. Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press, 1994.

Lauring, Paulle. A History of the Kingdom of Denmark. Translated by David Hohnen. Høst & Søn: Copenhagen. 1960.

Nørregård, Georg. Danish Settlements in West Africa 1658–1850. Translated by Sigurd Mammen. Boston University Press: Boston. 1962.

Westergaard,Waldemar. The Danish West Indies under Company Rule (1671-1754): with a supplementary chapter, 1755-1917. Facsim. of: 1917 ed. New York: Macmilllan, 1917. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms, 1973.

The copyright of the article The Founding of the Danish West Indies in Scandinavian History is owned by Adam C'DeBaca. Permission to republish The Founding of the Danish West Indies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.