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Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea, a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie. As of the 2001 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,181.
The island was originally settled around 1500 B.C. by the Ciboney people. They were later replaced by the Arawaks and then the Caribs. Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the "New World". The Caribs seem not to have survived the first decades of contact with Europeans, either due to disease or deportation or slaying. Pirates likely made use of the island as an occasional base over the next 150 years.
The Dutch West India Company established a post on Saint Thomas in 1657. The Danish conquered the island in 1666, and by 1672 had established control over the entire island through the Danish West India and Guinea Company. The land was divided into plantations and sugar cane production became the primary economic activity. As a result, the economies of Saint Thomas and neighboring islands of Saint John and Saint Croix became highly dependent on slave labor and the slave trade. After being poorly managed by the Danish, a local islander, David Hamilton Jackson was instrumental in persuading the Danish to allow the USA to purchase the islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. In 1915, he traveled to Denmark and convinced the King of Denmark to allow freedom of the press in the islands.
In 1917 St. Thomas was purchased (along with Saint John and Saint Croix) by the United States for $25 million, as part of a defensive strategy to maintain control over the Caribbean and the Panama Canal during the First World War.

Model: NIKON D40
Software: Ver.1.10
Exposure Time: 10/4000 sec
F-Stop: f/10.0
ISO Speed Ratings: 200
Focal Length: 18 mm
Date Taken: 2008-04-28 22:00
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
File Size: 182 kb