CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — The Danish owned these tropical islands for centuries, but about the only people speaking ...

Years after slavery was abolished, the Danish sold St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John to the United States, on March 31, 1917, for $25 million in gold, and the islands became the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A series of islands now owned by the U.S. were once owned by Denmark — and some residents there say life may have been better had they remained under Danish rule. The Virgin Islands, an ...

The Sheen Postcard Collection includes more than 1,000 historical postcards of the Danish West Indies from around 1880 to 1917, and the U.S. Virgin Islands from 1917 to the 1950s.

The bold-red building housed the Danish government’s treasury; its cannons deterred pirates. The fort’s importance shifted, and by 1874 it held prisoners instead of militia and governors.

Neither Denmark nor the U.S. have lived up to their principles regarding human rights and democracy when it comes to the Virgin Islands, Moorhead argues. Denmark effectively absolved itself of ...