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Traveling The Distance: Danish “Empire Migration” To The U.S. Virgin Islands, Pernille Østergaard Hansen

The Bridge

In 1917, Denmark sold its Caribbean colonies—known at the time as the Danish West Indies—to the United States and thus made its final, official break with the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. The transfer of the islands to the United States involved a juxtaposition of both rupture and continuity, however. Although the year 1917 marked a significant decline in Danish colonial rule, “new imperial” ideas and practices continued without interruption. Moreover, the transfer did not break Danish ties to the former colony. Several Danes stayed on and continued their island lives, while other Danes chose to …