A characteristic of Creole English that is still very popular is the doubling of words as a way of reinforcement. A sales price of 25 million dollars in gold was offered in 1916 by the United States, and after a hectic public debate and referendum in Denmark, the treaty was ratified by the two parties. From 1755 the Danish crown took over the colony from the Company. has left their stamp on the former Danish West Indies in many ways. The US Virgin Islands became a United States territory and official English speaking region in 1917. The Danish cemeteries are still there. From the late eighteenth century until 1872 the number of soldiers was about 400, whereas it was reduced drastically thereafter. Therefore the United States wanted to take over Saint Thomas and Saint John with the fine natural harbours. As the Creole language alone was too basic to translate such works, words from the standard Dutch language were utilized, thus creating an almost new Creole or blended Dutch Creole. In the early 1960s, industry was boosted by the establishment in Saint Croix of Harvey Aluminium Company and Hess Oil Refinery. However, the U.S. Senate, angered over Seward's support of President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment trial, rejected the treaty. Carnival was officially reinstated in 1952 and is celebrated at different times. The fortified towns of Christiansted and Frederiksted were established on St. Croix immediately after the Danish takeover. Let us turn our attention to Saint Thomas for a moment. Seward successfully negotiated a treaty that was ratified by the Danish parliament and approved by a local, limited-suffrage plebiscite. 2+ cats would be “the cat dem”. Nevertheless, tourism has become the most important source of income. And many Virgin Islanders today wear typically Danish names. The U.S. purchase of the Danish West Indies was thus delayed again. Full U.S. citizenship to all residents born in the U.S. Virgin Islands was extended in 1932 by an act of Congress, and a 1936 act accorded a greater measure of self-government, although the islands would not have an elected governor until 1970. After the Second World War general conditions began to improve as the beautiful Virgin Islands slowly attracted more and more American tourists, especially after the United States had broken off all relations with Cuba and closed that island to American tourists in 1962. St. Croix was owned by the French until 1733 when the Danes bought it. However, due to a number of political difficulties in concluding and ratifying a treaty to govern this exchange, this collection of islands did not become a part of the United States until their formal transfer from Denmark on March 31, 1917. Subsequent re-approvals of the transfer were passed by both Danish houses, and then ratified by King Christian X of Denmark. Actually, a new large wharf was constructed, the harbour was dredged, a new Danish steamship line was established, etc. Consequently, in 1733 the Danes bought the island of Saint Croix which is situated around 60 kilometers south of the other two islands. After a long period of Spanish control, other European powers got involved in trade and shipping to the Caribbean, and from the early seventeenth century they tried to establish colonies of their own which could produce the costly colonial commodities, first and foremost sugar and tobacco. The population there included at this time 2,000 whites and 14,000 slaves. Because of Denmarks neutral status, the island became a commercial center for goods from all over the region, which were sent on to Europe in ships under the Danish flag. English Creole emerged on St. Croix more so than Dutch Creole, which was more popular on St. Thomas and St. John. Now, they turned their attention to the West Indies, and in 1666 they settled on Saint Thomas. In 1867, Secretary of State William Henry Seward attempted to acquire the Danish West Indies as part of his plan for peaceful territorial expansion. Quite a number of excavations have been carried out by Danish archaeologists in order to get an impression of these original inhabitants, especially in Saint Croix around the Salt River area which is today a National Park. The U.S. Virgin Islands were administered by the U.S. Navy from 1917 to 1931. Before the Europeans came to America, the Antilles were inhabited by Indians. Formal transfer of the islands occurred on March 31, 1917, along with a U.S. payment to Denmark of $25,000,000 in gold coin. An English Creole formed as the populous learned English verbs, nouns and adjectives but lacked the correct rules for putting them together. As social and economic problems in the islands increased, the Danish government opened new negotiations with the Americans. It was simply the most conveniently situated Caribbean harbour for ships coming from Europe, and a very well equipped port with floating dock, repairing shops, lighthouses, bunker facilities, etc. As a majority of the initial settlers were Dutch, the language that developed was a Dutch Creole. Raw sugar soon became by far the most important product from the Virgin Islands. But the following years turned out to become hard. There is little written material of the colloquial language and the religious texts that were translated were heavily blended with Dutch. Spanish words were primarily for animals and fruits. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing feared that the German government might annex Denmark, in which case the Germans might also secure the Danish West Indies as a naval or submarine base from where they could launch additional attacks on shipping in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Now, the Danes occupied Saint Thomas and built a fort, called Fort Christian after the King, at the fine natural harbour to protect the town which eventually emerged and was called Charlotte Amalie after the Queen. Planning your vacation to St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Water Island will be a lot easier with this great packet of magazines and booklets. Also, there are a wealth of proverbs, like ‘poor people must not have warm hearts’ and ‘monkey know which tree to climb’. The Company was an institution much alike a modern joint-stock company, which the King and other wealthy Danes and foreigners provided with the necessary capital. These proverbs are still widely used in the Virgin Islands. Both Saint Thomas and Saint John were totally cultivated, so further expansion had to take place somewhere else. Purchase of the United States Virgin Islands, 1917. The treaty also allowed islanders the choice to remain Danish subjects or become U.S. citizens. This blended Dutch Creole was considered artificial as compared to what was spoken in the colloquial language. Additionally a Creole English exists and it involves different pronunciations, unique vocabulary and doesn’t adhere to many grammatical rules. During the early 1800’s a linguistic change had begun; English became more prevalent. In 1708 the Company was forced to grant a long list of concessions to the prosperous plantation owners, including the acceptance of the latters right (under license) to ship and trade their produce with North America and Europe. By 1751 all the fertile land on the island had been claimed, and 64 sugar works were in full operation, worked by Negro slaves. And the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 turned out, in spite of all Danish hopes, to do the port no good, as steamers just by-passed Saint Thomas but did not stop on their way to the canal. Shipping reached its peak in the 1860s and 1870s when 4,500 ships, totaling 800,000 tons, arrived each year. And in 1902 a draft treaty was agreed upon by the two governments. Preferring peaceful transfer to occupation, the Danish government agreed to Lansing's demands, and Brun and Lansing signed a treaty in New York on August 4, 1916. These texts, together with the items that were retrieved from the wreck from exotic goods such as elephant tusks and dyewood to the crews tobacco cans and shoes with fine buckles constitute probably the most thorough documentation of a slave ship found as a wreck anywhere in the world. Conditions for the enslaved Africans in the West Indies were harsh. During the first half of the seventeenth century the Danes had established small tropical colonies in Asia at Tranquebar on the Coromandel Coast, and in Guinea at Accra on the Gold Coast. This was necessary to keep up the slave population in the islands, which in 1792 in Saint Croix alone amounted to approximately 22,000, while there lived 1,000 free blacks and 2,000 whites on that island. At the beginning as crew members onboard foreign vessels, but from the 1640s under the Danish flag. Most older children and adults in the Virgin Islands can quickly switch between Creole English and standard English when having a conversation. The Dutch Creole language that formed is known as ‘Negerhollands’ and it was generally used by slaves amongst themselves. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on September 6, and it was signed by Woodrow Wilson on January 16, 1917. The remaining islanders in what had now become the United States Virgin Islands had been looking forward to improved living conditions under American rule. In 1792 the King resolved that the Danish slave trade across the Atlantic should be abolished as from 1803. The end of these palmy days came when Denmark became involved in war with Great Britain and the three islands in the Caribbean were occupied by the British in 1801-1802 and again 1807-1815.