| Nickname: Twin City | |
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Saint Croix from space, January 1992 |
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Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (Virgin Islands)
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| Geography | |
| Location | Caribbean Sea |
| Archipelago | Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands |
| Area | 82.88 sq mi (214.66 km2) |
| Length | 28 mi (45 km) |
| Width | 7 mi (11 km) |
| Highest elevation | 1,165 ft (355.1 m) |
| Highest point | Mount Eagle |
| Country | |
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United States
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| Insular area | United States Virgin Islands |
| District | Saint Croix |
| Largest city | Christiansted (pop. 2,626) |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 50,601 (as of 2010) |
| Density | 235.73 /km2 (610.54 /sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | Afro-Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Caucasian |
Saint Croix ( /ˌseɪnt ˈkrɔɪ/; Spanish: Santa Cruz; Dutch: Sint-Kruis; French: Sainte-Croix; Danish: Sankt Croix) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916, in exchange for a sum of US$25,000,000 in gold.
St. Croix is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, being 28 by 7 miles (45 by 11 km). However, the territory's capital, Charlotte Amalie, is located on Saint Thomas.
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St. Croix lies at : the easternmost point in the United States is considered to be Point Udall. The island has an area of 214.66 km² (82.88 sq mi). The terrain is rugged, though not extremely so. The highest point on the island, Mount Eagle, is 1,165 feet (355 m) high. Most of the east end is quite hilly and steep, as is the north side from Christiansted west. From the north side hills a fairly even plain slopes down to the south coast: this was the prime sugar land on the island.
The trade wind blows more or less along the length of the island. The hills of the western part of the island receive a good deal more rain than the east end; annual rainfall is on the whole extremely variable, averaging perhaps forty inches (1,000 mm) a year. The east end of the island is a dry desert range with mostly rocky formations and cactus while the west end has is very tropical with lush vegetation and palm trees, giving the island a unique flair for multiple ecosystems in a small area. Fairly severe and extended drought has always been a problem, particularly considering the lack of fresh ground water and lack of freshwater streams, rivers, or bays on the island. The island does have a desalination plant, however most residential homes and businesses have a built-in cistern used to collect rainwater.
There are two towns on the island; Christiansted with a population of 2,433 and Frederiksted with a population of 859. The total population of the island as per the 2010 U.S. Census is 50,601[1].
St. Croix is divided into the following subdistricts (with population as per the 2010 U.S. Census):
Inhabitants are called Crucians /ˈkruːʃən/.
There is much debate as to what constitutes a "real" Crucian. Because of heavy migration from other islands in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico, most native born Crucians can trace their ancestry to other Caribbean islands. Most people feel that as long as they were bahn ya ("born here" in Crucian dialect) on St. Croix, they could claim to be Crucian. Others feel that while those born on St. Croix are in fact Crucian, the "charter members" of Crucian society are the descendants of the slaves brought by the Danes during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Puerto Rican migration was prevalent in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, as many Puerto Ricans relocated to St. Croix to cut sugar cane after the collapse of the sugar industry in Puerto Rico. In addition, the U.S. Navy purchase of two-thirds of the nearby Puerto Rican island of Vieques during World War II resulted in the eviction of thousands of agricultural workers, many of whom relocated to St. Croix because of its similar size and geography as Vieques. There is a local holiday, Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands Friendship Day, that has been celebrated since the 1960s on the same date as Columbus Day. Puerto Ricans in St. Croix today, most of whom removed from Puerto Rico by at least a generation, have kept their culture alive while integrating into the mainstream Crucian culture as well. For example, many Puerto Ricans in St. Croix today speak a unique Spanglish-like combination of Puerto Rican Spanish and the local Crucian dialect in informal situations.
Migration from "down-island", a Virgin Islander colloquial term for Caribbean islands east and south of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, occurred mainly throughout the 1960s and 70s, when agriculture died out as a main industry on St. Croix to be replaced by tourism, alumina production and oil refining. Jobs were plentiful in these industries and down-islanders came to St. Croix by the thousands to fill these jobs. Many down-islanders made St. Croix their permanent home, while others eventually returned to their native islands. Most down-islanders came from St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, St. Lucia and Dominica, although people from every Anglophone Caribbean island can easily be found on St. Croix.
Continental Americans, although small in number in comparison to Caribbean immigrants, have also been part of the St. Croix community. Most reside on the East End of St. Croix, although continental Americans can be found in many other areas of the island.
Arab Palestinians have been an influential part of the local economy since the 1960s, when they first started to migrate to St. Croix to set up shops. Like many other Caribbean islands, today, most gas stations and supermarkets on St. Croix are owned by members of the local Arab population.
Recent waves of migration to St. Croix include people from places such as the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Philippines, and various South American nations.
St. Croix's history of migration has sometimes caused tensions among immigrants and those Crucians whose ancestry on the island dates back for generations. While these tensions have subsided to some extent in recent years mainly due to intermarriage among Crucians and other Caribbean peoples, in the late 1990s an attempt was made to legislate the definition of a "native U.S. Virgin Islander" as anyone who could trace their ancestry to 1927, the year in which U.S. Virgin Islanders were granted American citizenship. This effort, by a select group of nationalist senators, eventually failed after much public outcry, considering the fact that most born U.S. Virgin Islanders would not qualify as "native" under the proposed legislation (but, ironically, thousands of Danish citizens would). In 2009, the proposed U.S. Virgin Islands Constitution voted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention established three definitions of U.S. Virgin Islanders: "Ancestral Native Virgin Islander" - those with ancestral ties (and their descendants); "Native Virgin Islander" - those born on the island (and their descendants); and "Virgin Islander" - any United States citizen who has resided in the territory for five years.
English is the most common language. Spanish is spoken by the large Puerto Rican and smaller Dominican (Dominican Republic) populations, and various French creoles are spoken by the large St. Lucian and Dominican (Dominica) and smaller Haitian populations. A native English-based dialect known on the island as Crucian, a form of Virgin Islands Creole, is also spoken by the majority of the population in informal situations.[2]
Christianity is the dominant religion on St. Croix. Protestant denominations are the most prevalent, but there is also a significant Roman Catholic presence due to St. Croix's large Hispanic population as well as from Irish influence during the Danish colonial period. Anglican, Jehovah's Witness, Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian, Pentecostal and Seventh-day Adventists are among a few other denominations prevalent on the island. As in most of the Caribbean, various forms of Rastafari are practiced on the island. Islam is prevalent among the small local Arab population, and there is a small Jewish presence as well.
St. Croix, like many other Caribbean islands, has tourism as one of its main sources of revenue. However, there are a number of other industries on the island to help support the economy. St. Croix was once an agricultural powerhouse in the Caribbean, but ended with the rapid industrialization of the island's economy in the 1960s.
St. Croix is home to HOVENSA, one of the world's largest oil refineries. HOVENSA is a limited liability company owned and operated by Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp. (HOVIC), a division of U.S.-based Hess Corporation, and Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA), the national oil company of Venezuela. Despite this, gas prices are slightly higher than average gas prices on the continental United States and the other Virgin Islands.
St. Croix is also home to the Cruzan Rum Distillery,[3] makers of Cruzan Rum and other liquors such as Southern Comfort. The Cruzan Rum Distillery was founded in 1760, and for many years used locally grown sugar cane to produce a single "dark" style rum. The distillery now imports sugar cane molasses from other Caribbean islands, primarily from the Dominican Republic. In recent years Cruzan Rum, along with Bacardi from Puerto Rico and Gosling's from Bermuda, has also contributed to the resurgence of "single barrel" super-premium rum. The quality and smoothness of the Cruzan Estate Rums has won more than 30 Spirit Awards.[4] Examples of this are Cruzan Estate Diamond Rum (aged 5 years in American oak barrels) and Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum (aged 12 years in American oak barrels).
Diageo has almost completed construction of a new distillery on an industrial site next to the Hovensa Refinery. The new distillery will produce Captain Morgan Rum after 2012.[5] Diageo's entrance into the U.S. Virgin Islands rum industry is not without controversy, however, as the cash-strapped U.S. Virgin Islands government secured $250 million in bonds for the plant, about which Puerto Rico has bitterly complained.
Island roads tend to be poorly surfaced due to the terrain, and may take sharp turns. Cars drive on the left hand side of the road, but nearly all the automobiles on the island have left side steering columns. This has proven difficult for new residents and visitors from right-hand traffic locales such as the mainland United States and Puerto Rico.
There is a public bus service called Virgin Islands Transit VITRAN, operated by Department of Public Works.
In addition to taxis and buses, St. Croix has shared taxis, locally known as "taxi buses" (these are also found on the other U.S. Virgin Islands). Taxi buses are full-sized vans which follow a predefined route from Frederiksted to Christiansted. These taxi buses are privately owned and operated; they do not follow a regular schedule, and there are no pre-specified stops. Instead, people simply wait by the side of the road until a taxi bus approaches, then flag the driver down by waving. Passengers can be dropped off anywhere along the taxi route. Taxi buses charge a flat rate for the trip, regardless of where a rider gets on and off. Taxis to specific locations are much more expensive and are mostly used by tourists. They are not metered and are required by law to charge a flat fare that varies by destination.
The Henry E. Rohlsen International Airport services St. Croix with regular flights from the U.S. mainland, Puerto Rico, and the Eastern Caribbean. Seaplanes, operated by Seaborne Airlines, also service the island, taking off and landing in Christiansted Harbor. Ferry service to St. Thomas operates from Gallows Bay. Although St. Croix is a U.S. territory, travelers to the continental United States and Puerto Rico need to pre-clear U.S. customs and present a passport or proof of U.S. citizenship or nationality, because the USVI is maintained as a "free port" in a separate customs zone. The immigration status of non-U.S. citizens may be checked during this process as well.
The St. Croix School District operates public schools in St. Croix.[6]
The island's largest festival, termed "Crucian Christmas Festival", is celebrated on St. Croix throughout late December and early January. Another significant festival is the Agricultural and Food Fair held in mid-February.
Several times a year, there is a nighttime festival in Christiansted called "Jump-Up" and a monthly event called "Sunset Jazz" in Frederiksted, where local jazz musicians play on Frederiksted Beach. Every year on the Saturday before Mardi Gras, there is a local Mardi Croix parade and a dog parade through the North Shore.
The St. Croix Half Ironman Triathlon is held in the first week of May.[7] The Triathlon includes a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run. Because the bicycle route includes a ride up an extremely steep hill known as "The Beast", this triathlon is often nicknamed "Beauty and the Beast".
Fort Christiansvaern built in 1749 and other buildings are maintained by the National Park Service as the Christiansted National Historic Site.
Buck Island Reef National Monument preserves a 176 acre (71 ha) island just north of Saint Croix and the surrounding reefs. This is a popular destination for snorkelers. Buck Island maintains a U.S. Coast Guard weather station and is also home to a student monitored lemon shark breeding ground. Green Cay (pronounced green key) is a small island located southwest of Buck Island and also hosts a nearby reef popular among scuba divers and snorkelists, Tamarind Reef. A small dive shack on Tamarind Beach, near a resort and bar named the "Deep End" provides snorkels and fins to prospective divers. As well, the reef is often marked with floating buoys in order to help guide inexperienced divers along the underwater terrain.
There are several scuba diving companies operating from Christiansted. Off the north coast of the island, there are many good destinations for diving, featuring scenic coral reefs, clear water, and abundant tropical fish and migrant sea turtles. Prominent among these are Cane and Divi bays along with Long reef which encompasses a large portion of the northern side of the island. Cane Bay is a popular destination for scuba enthusiasts due to the fact that just a few hundred meters off shore the topography makes a sudden drop into a deep underwater trench. The reef also serves as a natural barrier against sharks and jellyfish. However around other portions of the island, notably Frederiksted, hammerhead and tiger sharks can be seen. Shark attacks on the island are very rare.
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