The Danish West Indies or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 32 square miles (83 km2); Saint John with 19 square miles (49 km2); and Saint Croix with 84 square miles (220 km2). The islands have belonged to the United States since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905, when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company.
Saint 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.
Frederiksted is both the town and one of the two administrative districts of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It is a grid-planned city, designed by surveyor Jens Beckfor, originally to 14x14 blocks but built 7x7 to enhance the island commerce in the 1700s. Frederiksted has fewer than 1,000 people in the town proper, but nearly 10,000 in the greater western side of the island. Christiansted is about 30 years older but commerce was limited by its natural, shallow protective reef. Frederiksted was built in the leeward side of the island for calm seas and a naturally deep port. It is home to Fort Frederik, constructed to protect the town from pirate raids and attacks from rival imperialist nations and named after Frederick V of Denmark, who purchased the Danish West Indies in 1754.
Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the burial site of many Danish notables as well as an important greenspace in the Nørrebro district. Inaugurated in 1760, it was originally a burial site for the poor laid out to relieve the crowded graveyards inside the walled city, but during the Golden Age in the first half of the 19th century it became fashionable and many leading figures of the epoch, such as Hans Christian Andersen, Søren Kierkegaard, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, and Christen Købke are all buried here.
Caspar Frederik (Friedrich) Harsdorff, also known as C.F. Harsdorff, was a Danish neoclassical architect considered to have been the leading Danish architect in the late 18th century.
Peter Carl Frederik von Scholten was Governor-General of the Danish West Indies from 1827 to 1848.
Fort Frederik, also known as Frederiksfort, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in Frederiksted, United States Virgin Islands. It was built between 1752 and 1760 by Denmark-Norway to defend the economic interests of the natural deep water port of Frederiksted and to ward off pirates. It has red and white painted walls, making it quite different then yellow and white of Fort Christiansværn on the other side of the island. It is located at the north end of Frederiksted, in St. Croix, south of the junction of Mahogany Road and VI 631. It should not be confused with Frederiks Fort, Fortberg Hill, on St. John, which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sugar production in the United States Virgin Islands was an important part of the economy of the United States Virgin Islands for over two hundred years. Long before the islands became part of the United States in 1917, the islands, in particular the island of Saint Croix, was exploited by the Danish from the early 18th century and by 1800 over 30,000 acres were under cultivation, earning Saint Croix a reputation as the "Garden of the West Indies". Since the closing of the last sugar factory on Saint Croix in 1966, the industry has become only a memory.
Hogensborg is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.
Sion Hill is a settlement on the island of Saint Croix, in the United States Virgin Islands.
Barchmann Mansion is a Baroque style town mansion overlooking Frederiksholm Canal in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Built in the early 1740s to designs by Philip de Lange, it is also known as the Wedell Mansion after the current owner. It was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918. An extension from 1748 is now home to Johan Borup's Folk High School.
Frederik Christian Hals von Moth was a Danish merchant, nobleman, colonial administrator and planter who served as Governor-General of St. Thomas and St. John in the Danish West Indies from April 1724 - May 1727 then again from 21 February 1736 - 13 April 1744. In addition, he served as Governor of St. Croix from 8 January 1735 - 15 May 1747. In 1736, his title was changed to Governor General (generalguvernør). His military rank was Commander (kommandørkaptajn). In addition, he held the rank of justitsråd.
Frederik von Scholten was a Danish naval officer, customs inspector and amateur artist who is today mostly remembered for his drawings and watercolours from the Danish West Indies where he worked as customs inspector from 1834. His works are frequently used as illustrations for articles and in books on the Danish colony. He was the brother of Peter von Scholten, Governor-General of the islands from 1827 to 1848.
Johannes Søbøtker was a Danish merchant, planter and colonial administrator who served as of St. Thomas and St. John in the Danish West Indies. His former country house Øregård in Hellerup now serves as an art museum.
Whim is a historic sugar plantation located in Southwest subdistrict about 1.7 miles (2.7 km) southeast of Frederiksted on Centerline Road on Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The listing included three contributing buildings, one contributing site, and two contributing structures, on 10 acres (4.0 ha).
Frederik Christian von Meley was a Danish army officer, administrator, and surveyor who settled on the island of Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies. He is noted for the quality of his maps, which give valuable information on the economy and society of the island in his time.
Jacob (Jakob) Frederik Scavenius was a Danish landowner and politician. He was a member of Folketinget from 1865 to 1901 and served as Minister of Education from 1880 to 1891.
John Christmas was an English-born Danish sea captain and general trader. Christmas was born in Bideford, and emigrated to Denmark in 1790. He became a merchant and businessman in Copenhagen.
George Ryan was an Irish-born Danish merchant, ship owner, banker and planter. He continued running a trading house and shipping firm founded by his brother Phillip Ryan. He owned the property at Sankt Annæ Plads 7 in Copenhagen and the sugar plantation Mary's Fancy on Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies.
Jens Michelsen Beck was a Danish surveyor, cartographer, landowner and planter. On the island of Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies, he owned the Beck's Grove plantation. Beck later returned to Denmark, settling on Gentoftegård north of Copenhagen. His daughter Christiane was married to Ove Malling.
