Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Saint John is an island in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

and a constituent district

Districts and sub-districts of the United States Virgin Islands

The United States Virgin Islands are administratively divided into 3 districts, which are subdivided into 20 subdistricts.The districts are:# Saint Croix# Saint Thomas# Saint John...

of the United States Virgin Islands

United States Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...

(USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. St. John is located about 4 miles east of Saint Thomas, the location of the territory's capital, Charlotte Amalie, and 4 miles south and west of Tortola

Tortola

Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. Local tradition recounts that Christopher Columbus named it Tortola, meaning "land of the Turtle Dove". Columbus named the island Santa Ana...

, part of the British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...

. It is 50.8 km² (19.61 sq mi) in area and has a population of 4,170 (2010 census). Because there are no airports on St. John, the only access to the island is by boat.
The ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

service runs hourly from St. Thomas and daily from Tortola; regular ferries also operate from Virgin Gorda

Virgin Gorda

Virgin Gorda is the third-largest and second most populous of the British Virgin Islands . Located at approximately 18 degrees, 48 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area of about...

, Jost Van Dyke

Jost Van Dyke

At roughly 8 square kilometers, and about 3 square miles Jost Van Dyke is the smallest of the four main islands of the British Virgin Islands, the northern portion of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Jost Van Dyke lies about 8 km to the...

and Anegada

Anegada

Anegada is the northernmost of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands which form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It lies approximately north of Virgin Gorda. Anegada is the only inhabited British Virgin Island formed from coral and limestone, rather than being of volcanic...

. Approximately 60% of the island is protected as Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park is a United States National Park covering approximately 60% of the island of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, plus a few isolated sites on the neighboring island of St. Thomas...

History

St. John was first settled by the Arawak Indians who had migrated north from coastal Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

and Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

around AD 300. The Arawaks inhabited the island until around the year AD 1300, when they were driven off by the more aggressive and warlike Carib Indians. Extensive archaeological work has been undertaken from 1996 to the present at Cinnamon Bay. The artifacts from this dig are currently being studied and should yield more detailed information on pre-Columbus civilization in the Virgin Islands (Taino).

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

is credited with being the first European to see the Virgin Islands during his second voyage to the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

in 1493. He named the island group "Once Mil Virgenes", or Eleven Thousand Virgins, in honor of the feast day of Saint Ursula

Saint Ursula

Saint Ursula is a British Christian saint. Her feast day in the extraordinary form calendar of the Catholic Church is October 21...

and the 11,000 virgins who were martyred with her.

The Danish West India and Guinea Company

Danish West Indies

The Danish West Indies or "Danish Antilles", were a colony of Denmark-Norway and later Denmark in the Caribbean. They were sold to the United States in 1916 in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and became the United States Virgin Islands in 1917...

represented the first Europeans to settle the island in 1718. They are also credited with naming the island St. John (Danish: Sankt Jan). The Danish crown took full control of the colony in 1754, along with St. Thomas and St. Croix. Sugar plantations, such as the famous Annaberg Sugar Plantation, were established in great numbers on St. John because of the intense heat and fertile terrain, which provided ideal growing conditions. The establishment of sugar plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

s also led to the importation of more slaves

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

from Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. St. John was the site of one of the first significant slave rebellions

1733 slave insurrection on St. John

The 1733 slave insurrection on St. John in the Danish West Indies, started on November 23, 1733 when African slaves from Akwamu revolted against the owners and managers of the island's plantations. The slave rebellion was one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in the Americas...

in the New World in 1733, when enslaved Akwamu rebels from the Gold Coast took over the island for six months.

The Danish were able to defeat the enslaved Africans with help from the French in Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

. Instead of allowing themselves to be recaptured, more than a dozen men and women shot themselves before the French forces could capture them. It is estimated that by 1775, slaves outnumbered the Danish settlers by a ratio of 5:1. The indigenous Caribs and Arawaks were also used as slave labor, to the point of wiping out their entire population. Slavery was finally abolished in St. John on 3 July 1848.

In 1917 the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

purchased the U.S. Virgin Islands for $25 million from the Danish government in order to establish a naval base whose purpose was to prevent German

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

expansion in the Western Hemisphere

Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...

. They also agreed to recognize Denmark's

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

claim to Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, which they had previously disputed.

The U.S. Virgin Islands are an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. U.S. Virgin Islanders are U.S. citizens

United States nationality law

Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Act sets forth the legal requirements for the acquisition of, and divestiture from, citizenship of...

, although they cannot vote in presidential elections

United States presidential election

Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President...

and have only non-voting status in Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

. A federal lawsuit in the District Court of the Virgin Islands is currently pending to provide Virgin Islanders with the fundamental right to be represented in Congress and vote for U.S. President. The case is Civil No. 3:11-cv-110, Charles v. U.S. Federal Elections Commission. The case alleges it was racial discrimination present in an all-white and segregated Congress of 1917 that was the impetus to deny the right to vote to a majority non-white constituency. Since 1972, they have elected their own governor

Governor (United States)

In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...

. They enjoy a large degree of self-rule through a local 15-seat legislature that covers all three of the islands.

In 1956, Laurance Rockefeller

Laurance Rockefeller

Laurance Spelman Rockefeller was a venture capitalist, financier, philanthropist, a major conservationist and a prominent third-generation member of the Rockefeller family. He was the fourth child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and brother to John D...

donated most of the land he had acquired on the island to the United States' National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

, under the condition that it must be protected from future development. The remaining portion, the Caneel Bay

Caneel Bay

Caneel Bay is a Rosewood Resort located on the northwest side of St. John, one of the US Virgin Islands. The resort is nestled within Virgin Islands National Park on property once owned by Laurance Rockefeller. The hotel was one of the early members of Rockefeller's hotel chain, Rockresorts...

Resort, continues to operate on a lease arrangement while the park owns the actual land. The Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park

borders encompass 75% of the island, but various in-holdings within the park boundary (e.g., Peter Bay, Maho Bay) reduce the actual land the park owns to 60%. However, much of the island's waters, coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

s and shoreline are protected via their inclusion in the park. This protection was expanded in 2001, when the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument

Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument

The Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located off Saint John, Virgin Islands.The clear waters surrounding Saint John support a diverse and complex system of coral reefs...

was created.

Subdistricts

Saint John is divided into the following subdistrict

Subdistrict

Subdistrict is a low level administrative division of a country. In Thailand it may refer to the King Amphoe or to the Tambon. In England and Wales it was part of a Registration district....

s (with population as per the 2010 U.S. Census):

Central (pop. 779)
Coral Bay
Coral Bay, United States Virgin Islands
Coral Bay is a town on the island of St. John in the United States Virgin Islands. It is located on the southeastern side of the island. Though it was once the main commercial and population center on the island due to its sheltered harbor, it has fallen from prominence with the introduction of a...

(pop. 634)
Cruz Bay
Cruz Bay, United States Virgin Islands
Cruz Bay is the main town on the island of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands. According to the 2000 Census, Cruz Bay has a population of 2,743 people....

(pop. 2,706)
East End (pop. 51)

Government and demographics

Residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands elect a legislature of 15 delegates every four years. Of these 15, seven are from St. Croix

Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of...

, seven are from St. Thomas

Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...

and St. John, and one is elected at-large, but must be a resident of St. John. This assembly is responsible for deciding most of the islands' internal affairs. The Islands also elect a governor every four years.

St. John itself has no local government; however, the Governor appoints an administrator for the island. Having no official powers, this figure acts more as an advisor to the Governor and as a spokesperson for the Governor's policies.

Cruz Bay

Cruz Bay, United States Virgin Islands

Cruz Bay is the main town on the island of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands. According to the 2000 Census, Cruz Bay has a population of 2,743 people....

has become the principal town on the island since the ferry service from St. Thomas became the main route of entry to the island. Previously, Coral Bay

Coral Bay, United States Virgin Islands

Coral Bay is a town on the island of St. John in the United States Virgin Islands. It is located on the southeastern side of the island. Though it was once the main commercial and population center on the island due to its sheltered harbor, it has fallen from prominence with the introduction of a...

was the hub of economic activity on the island, as its natural port offered protection to the sailing vessels of the day as well as an easy sail that involved minimal tacking to the nearby British Virgin Islands. In fact, until the late 20th century the residents of Coral Bay and East End had easier and more frequent access to Tortola than those of either Cruz Bay or St. Thomas.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, St. John has a resident population of 4,170 people, most of whom live in either Cruz Bay or Coral Bay

Coral Bay, United States Virgin Islands

on the eastern end of the island. However, being a U.S. territory, its population is not included in the overall U.S. population count.

Tourism and sites

St. John is well known for its well-preserved natural beauty and attractive beaches. Restricted development and preservation in St. John contrasts heavily with such adjacent and overdeveloped islands as St. Thomas and St. Maarten. St. John is a travel and honeymoon destination with two main resorts and one of the top ten beaches in the world. It is also considered to be the wealthiest and most expensive of the U.S. Virgin Islands, attracting a high level of affluent tourists. The island's high level of affluence has earned it the distinction of being the "Beverly Hills of the Caribbean". Cruz Bay on the western coast of the island is St. John's principal port. From there, a ferry operates throughout the day to and from Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook in St. Thomas. It is also home to (among other things) car rental locations, several restaurants, a supermarket,and possibly a day charter of which the three main ones are Mongoose Junction, the Marketplace, and Wharfside Village. Coral Bay on the eastern side of the island is the other (smaller) town on St. John, and offers some of the same amenities.

Most of St. John is National Park land, so most of the island is undeveloped. Some of the most popular beaches in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

are located along the island's north shore. The most spectacular and well-known of these is Trunk Bay, which has consistently been voted one of the "Ten Best Beaches in The World" by Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler is a US magazine published by Condé Nast. It has its origins in a mailing sent out by the Diners Club club beginning in 1953, listing locations that would take the card. It began taking advertising in 1955. In order to attract more advertisers, it became a full-fledged magazine,...

magazine and has received similar recognition from other publications. Since the beaches are on National Park land, they are all open to the public and are free of hotels or resorts. A notable exception is the Caneel Bay

Caneel Bay

resort on the north shore, which lies on Rockefeller’s former personal estate. The remaining coastal land, mostly in the north and in the east, is private property, and contains many secluded private villas and cottages. The National Park Service also offers two campgrounds on the island's beaches at Maho Bay and Cinnamon Bay

Cinnamon Bay

Cinnamon Bay is a body of water and a beach on St. John in the United States Virgin Islands, adjacent to the historic Cinnamon Bay Plantation. The bay is just east of Trunk Bay, and is about a mile west of a famous eco-tourism destination called Maho Bay Camps...

.
The reefs near St. John's beaches are also world-famous for their snorkeling

Snorkeling

Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...

. In some areas, such as Trunk Bay and nearby Cinnamon Bay, signs identifying various marine flora and fauna have been placed by the National Park Service among the many offshore coral reef

Coral reef

s to assist visitors. There are also sailing charters available that tour the island, as well as tours around the British Virgin Islands. Boats are available at Gallows Point, Connections or The Guide Booth in Mongoose Junction.

The beaches on the south side of St. John are considerably wilder and more remote. Some are only accessible by rough dirt roads.

Tourism starts late October and runs through June, when Carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

starts. The off-season is considered to be the hot summer months.

Popular culture

At the end of John Grisham's best selling novel The Pelican Brief the heroes escape to St. John: specifically, a small cottage in Maho Bay, along the North Shore of St. John.
The alien beach scene toward the end of the movie 'Contact' was shot at Hawksnest Bay.

National protected area
Protected area
Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...

s

Virgin Islands National Park
Virgin Islands National Park
Virgin Islands National Park is a United States National Park covering approximately 60% of the island of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, plus a few isolated sites on the neighboring island of St. Thomas...
Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument
Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument
The Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located off Saint John, Virgin Islands.The clear waters surrounding Saint John support a diverse and complex system of coral reefs...

Education

St. Thomas-St. John School District

St. Thomas-St. John School District is one of two school districts in the United States Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States.The district serves the islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John....

operates schools for the island residents.
On St. John there are two public schools, Julius E. Sprauve and Guy Benjamin. Private and parochial schools include Gifft Hill School (formerly Pine Peace and Coral Bay), St. John Christian Academy, and St. John Montessori School.

Economy

The main export of St. John used to be sugar cane, which was produced in great quantity using African and Indian slave labor. However, this industry all but fell apart in the 19th century after the island's slaves were given their freedom. The economy of St. John is now almost entirely founded on tourism and tourism-related industries, real estate development, guest houses, and hotels.

External links

Official sites

St. John - Official Website for the United States Virgin Islands Department of Tourism
Cruz Bay Visitor Center - Virgin Island National Park, U.S. Department of the Interior
Official Website of St. Thomas and St. John This Week Magazine - Tourist Information for St. Thomas and St. John

News and media

36 Hours in St. John - 2006 New York Times article by Jon Rust
Frommer's St.John USVI Travel Guide