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*I've read that in St. Croix in the 1700's, there was Christiansted on the north coast with some 3,500 people (about 3/4 black), and Fredericksted on the west of about 500 persons, less than 200 white. Of the 50,000 acres, there were 381 plantations, mostly in sugar cane. Are these statistics accurate, or is there a source to verify them?
Posted : August 27, 2003 11:13 pm
I have the following population figures for STX in the 18th century:
1742: 174 whites, 1906 slaves
1755: 1323 whites, 8897 slaves
1835: 1892 whites, 19876 slaves
The Danish West India Company settled STX in 1735 and offered subsidies to attract planters, many of whom were European but not Danish. I believe sugar plantations existed on the largest scale on STX (of the three USVI), and that the ratio of slaves to whites was also higher on STX than on the other two islands.
My source is Jan Rogozinski's "A Brief History of the Caribbean."
Posted : August 28, 2003 12:54 am
Pross, In most cases on the Caribbean Islands that had plantations and slaves... the population of blacks far out numbered the whites...
For a site with great Danish West Indies census and surname information including list of plantation owners and landholders visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~usvi/
In the book Bondmen and Freedmen In the Danish West Indies it gives perspectives by scholars on various aspects of plantation days.... here are some stats they give.
For St. Thomas.1686: 300 whites and 333 slaves
by 1700 the slave total had risen to 1317
in 1725 the total was 324 for whites and 4490 slaves.
St. John
1733, 208 whites, 1087 slaves on 109 plantations
1755, 2024 slaves
1803 2598 slaves
A chart for importation and export of Slaves through St. Croix is also given.
It gives data for years between 1766-1892 (with some dates missing)... far too many numbers for me to type so I will give a few...
1766- 1355 (adults and children)
1774 - 687
1781 - 1426
1799 - 3298
1892 - 2467
these figure are importation of slaves..this is only through Christiansted, Frederiksted also has a chart with numbers in the hundreds.
For a perspective on numbers on each island in total
1761> St. croix 13, 489, St. Thomas 3,632 and St. John 2,020
1802> St. Croix 27,006 St. Thomas 5,737 and St. John 2,492
1826> St. Croix 21, 356 St. Thomas 4,548 and St. John 2,206
This book includes data broken down into ages, where they were orginally form, where they were bought (ship, fort....) creoles (born on the island).... The Editor is George Tyson and is done through the VIrgin Islands Humanities Council.
--Islander
Posted : August 28, 2003 3:48 pm
