Danish West Indies

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Danish West Indies Dansk Vestindien
1672–1917
Flag of Denmark Royal coat of arms of Denmark
Status	Colony of Denmark–Norway (1672–1814) Colony of Denmark
Capital	Charlotte Amalie (1672–1754,1871–1917) Christiansted (1754–1871)
Common languages	Danish (official) English Virgin Islands Creole Negerhollands Other Languages
Governor-General
• 1756–66	Christian Leberecht von Prøck (first)
• 1916–17	Henri Konow (last)
History
• Danish West India Company takes possession of Saint Thomas	1672
• Brandenburger Company-St. Thomas lease	1685–1754
• Saint John colonized and claimed	1717–1718
• Danish West India Company purchases Saint Croix from French West India Company	1733
• Treaty of the Danish West Indies	31 March 1917
Area
[1]	400 km2 (150 sq mi)
Population
• 1911[1]	27,000
Currency	Danish rigsdaler until 1875 Rigsdaler (1754–1849) Daler (1849–1917) From 1905, the currency of the Latin Coin Union was used Danish krone-DKK (1875–1917)
Succeeded by United States Virgin Islands

Part of a series on the
History of the United States Virgin Islands
Dutch Virgin Islands Danish West Indies Danish slave trade Danish West India Company 1733 slave insurrection on St. John Invasion of the Danish West Indies Treaty of the Danish West Indies Transfer Day
United States Portal
v t e

The Danish West Indies (Danish: Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Virgin Islands (Danish: Danske Jomfruøer) or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi), Saint John (Danish: St. Jan) with 49 square kilometres (19 sq mi), Saint Croix with 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi), and Water Island.

The islands of St Thomas, St John, and St Croix were purchased by United States in 1917 and became known as the United States Virgin Islands. Water Island was sold in 1905 to the Danish East Asiatic Company and bought by the U.S. Government in 1944. In 1996, it also became part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.