The capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Charlotte Amalie (named for a Danish queen) is the most popular cruise port in the Caribbean, with over 900 cruise ships visiting a year. Located mid-island on the south shore of St Thomas, Charlotte Amalie spans 1.5mi/2.4km around St Thomas Harbor and is home to 12,000 residents. The town is heavily
sprinkled with pastel, white-washed and red-roofed homes against a background of pointed green hills.
The Danish colonists favored Caribbean adaptations of English Georgian architecture, and Charlotte Amalie boasts the largest amount of colonial buildings in the entire West Indies. Apart from an expansive amount of restaurants and entertainment options, Charlotte Amalie also offers the largest number of boutiques and jewellery shops in the Caribbean.
The Danish began construction of Charlotte Amalie in the 1600s as a haven for seafarers. Fort Christian was erected in 1672 and in 1678 the colony became known as Taphus. In these times, the small colony was largely a pirate's den, but in 1865 businesses such as the Danish West India and Guinea Company began to compete for profits in the slave trade.
The neutral port of Charlotte Amalie continued to grow and prosper through the trade of slaves, rum and arms. Three fires devastated the town in the 1800s, destroying over 2000 buildings. Cholera epidemics in the late 1800s killed more than 1500 people. When the U.S. bought the Danish West Indies in 1917, the U.S. Navy took control of the islands and set up its headquarters in Charlotte Amalie, becoming an overwhelming presence during WWII. As a consequence of cruise ship visits Charlotte Amalie has experienced extraordinary economic growth and now caters largely to tourism.
Print this page
Add to Favorites
