US Virgin islands – part of the Sugar Islands

St John and the Annaberg Plantation ruins

The island of St John, US Virgin Islands

St John, US VI map

Some details about the VI

• 9 islands – 6 are British and 3 American

• Carib Indians were indigenous

• Columbus sailed by 1493 but did not settle

• Denmark acquired St John, St Croix and St Thomas in 1718 (Danish West Indies)

• Sold to USA in 1917 for $25 million

• Territory – own governor – citizens but cannot vote in US presidential elections

Economy of the US VI

• Today tourism provides employment and income – shopping, hiking, snorkeling, camping, sailing

• Back in C18th and c19th it was a SUGAR ISLAND

• Population exploded with importing of slaves from Africa to work plantations owned by Danes

Annaberg Sugar Plantation Ruins1 of 109 on St John

Wattle and daub huts for slaves are same as medieval peasants lived in

What does sugar cane look like?

Sugar cane has to be processed

• Slaves cut it down from the terraces after it grew for a year to mature

• They stripped the cane stalk from the leaves and took it to the mill to be crushed

• There were wooden skids on the slopes to let the cane slide down to mule carts

• Slaves fed the cane stalks into the crushing machinery run by the windmill

The windmill at Annaberg for powering rollers to crush cane

And when the wind failed, horse power was used

Holes in the walls to bring cane juice to the boiler room

The cane juice is directed into the boiling house

The boiler house was the hottest place to work

• The cane juice came through holes in the wall

• It was boiled in the large kettles first and skimmed for impurities

• As it was reduced and thickened it was ladled into smaller, hotter kettles

• The elite slaves were the ‘sugar cookers’ who knew when to ladle the thick juice into cooling pans for crystals to form

The rum still: hot work but very lucrative for owners and merchants

Beautiful views!