Note 370 — Our New Possessions—The Danish West Indies

We hear nothing of importance of St. Croix after its discovery until 1625. We learn from Bryan Edwards that the Dutch then came to St. Croix. Du Tertre says that for many years prior to 1645 it was in the possession of the Dutch and English. A conflict between the two ensued and by a series of attacks the English forced the Dutch to leave. The Spaniards in Porto Rico, alarmed at this rising English colony so near, exterminated the English in 1650. Soon afterwards the French at St. Christopher took the island with an expedition. Then in 1653 Louis XIV transferred St. Croix with St. Christopher, St. Bartholomew and St. Martin to the Knights of Malta. In 1665 a newly formed West Indian Company purchased the island from the Order of Malta, but the company being dissolved by royal edict, the island again became annexed to the Crown. On account of destructive droughts the island was practically abandoned and the forts were demolished in 1720. The French again took possession of the island in 1727 and held it until 1733 when it was purchased by the Guinea Company and later from that firm by the King of Denmark. See Taylor, "A Few Words about St. Croix," 5-7; and Rochfort, "Histoire naturelle et morale des îles Antilles," 45.