User:John Vorster/sandbox

Initial beginnings
In 1690, the West India Company leased the whole of Saint Thomas to a merchant from Bergen, Thor Möhlen, but according to the Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift from 1942, it was a failure, and in 1693 Möhlen withdrew, suffering financial heavy losses. The economic condition on the islands improved in the following years, especially as the slave trade grew, but it was not until 1714 that dividends could be paid to shareholders.

In the first years after colonization, cultivation of several plants was attempted, of which tobacco was the best, but tobacco cultivation was soon abandoned, and cotton cultivation came to play a leading role instead. In general, it was difficult in this early period to successfully grow sugar, as neither St Thomas nor St John, which was acquired later, had suitable conditions for such cultivation.

Plantations
When St. Croix had been bought and surveyed, the land was divided into 9 "quarters", which were again divided into smaller pieces of 150 acres (110 hectares of land ) each. This was known as a "plantation". The price could be 500-600 rigsdaler for the most suitable land, while land for cotton cultivation could cost 120-140 rigsdaler. Each plantation formed a small, almost self sufficient community. The plantations were given names, and the islanders did not state that they lived on St. Croix but the name of their respective plantation. The arable fields were separated by roads which, in addition to transport, also functioned as firebreaks, as ripened sugarcane was easily flammable. Therefore, small guard buildings were also built, which were used when the sugarcane were mature, for round-the-clock monitoring. Part of the plantation's land was used for pasture and for forestry to provide wood for buildings. Likewise, there was a garden for growing vegetables for the plantation's daily consumption. Each plantation was equipped with its own mill and a cooking house, called a factory for processing the sugarcane juice. A medium-sized plantation could have 150–200 slaves, most of whom lived in the slave barracks near the factory. The slave huts were most often built of mangrove branches lined with clay and roofed with sugarcane or palm leaves. Some plantations had stone buildings divided into several rooms for individual families or unmarried slaves. On the plantations there were supervisors and 4-5 administrators. Finally, there was a residence for the overseer. Many plantations had their own church or chapel and sometimes a dungeon. Usually only two-thirds of a plot was used for agriculture while one-third lay fallow. All the land was not planted at the same time but at different times, so that all the different crops would not ripen at the same time. A by-product of the sugar process was the production of molasses, which was suitable for the production of rum.

Trade
The acquisition St. Croix in 1733 was accompanied by an economic transformation – the islands main export crop became sugar instead of cotton. It proved difficult to get more Danes to immigrate, so the island was largely populated by emigrant British Catholics who came via the island of Montserrat. In addition, the supply of slaves was increased, not least through Spanish private slave traders.

According to a description from 1855, development was only slow after the purchase of Saint Croix, and in 1755 the king bought off all its holdings from the West India-Guinea Company. [44] By opening the port of St. Thomas to ships of all countries in 1764 and imposing very moderate customs duties in 1766, it succeeded in making it a center of trade in the West Indies, and during the American War of Independence and the later Revolutionary Wars all the islands did well prospered, as many French refugees from Haiti settled there. [45]

By poster of 30 August 1754, the trade, which had hitherto been the exclusive right of the West India-Guinean Company, was opened to all the king's subjects in Denmark, Norway and the Duchy of Schleswig against payment of remuneration to the company. Furthermore, a customs duty was introduced on the slave trade, as the poster stated that " On the coast of Guinea nothing is paid, but on arrival from Guinea to St. Thomas, or St. Croix, upon entry of slaves on St. Thomas 8 Rdlr. per Head, on St. Croix 4 Rdlr. per head, which is calculated per Piéces des Indes, or a perfect male or female slave, and the others in Proportion. " [46]