St Croix

Island in the West Indies, the largest of the US Virgin Islands, between Puerto Rico and the Leeward Islands; area 214 sq km/83 sq mi; population (1995 est) 53,300. The chief towns are Christiansted, on the northeast coast, and the commercial centre of Frederiksted, on the western side. For a long time, sugar cultivation was the principal industry, but the economy is now based on tourism and other industries, including oil refining, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and rum.

The east side of the island is rocky and arid; the western side is forested and wetter and a range of hills runs parallel with the coast at the western end, the highest peak being Mount Eagle, 355 m/1,165 ft. Earthquakes and hurricanes are frequent, and the island suffered considerable damage when it was hit by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

The explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the island during his second voyage in 1493, and named it Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). The first European settlers were Dutch and British, and the French held the island from 1650 until 1733, when it passed into the hands of the Danish West Indies and Guinea Company in 1753. The company used slave labour to grow sugar cane until 1848 (when slavery was abolished here). The USA bought the island, together with the other Danish Virgin Islands, in 1917.