The Danish West Indies

For nearly 250 years The US Virgin Islands was under Danish colonial rule - from the founding of the colony in 1672 to the sale of the islands to the USA in 1917. Uniquely, an enormous amount of descriptions, registers, letters, and illustrations have been preserved in the Danish National Archive, providing a unique insight into history.

Virgin Island History - get started!

Explore the digitised sources from the Virgin Islands in colonial Danish West Indies. Heres how you get started exploring the Virgin Island History.

Sources on property and ownership in the Danish West Indies

Sources on property relations in the Virgin Islands under colonial Danish rule include sources on estate and places, but also documentation on slave ownership.

Find a person in the Danish West Indies

When you're looking for a person from the Danish West Indies - now the US Virgin Islands - you need different types of records, depending on which populations group the person belonged to.

Sources on slavery in the Danish West Indies

Until the abolition of slavery in the Danish West Indies in 1848, enslaved people and the institution of slavery were fundamental aspects of life on the islands. Therefore, information about enslaved individuals and slavery can be found in almost all archival materials from that period.

Sources on colonial rule in the Danish West Indies

The Danish colonial authority intervened in many aspects of life in the Virgin Islands – in the courts, the barracks, the hospitals, and the schools.

Sources on trade and shipping in the Danish West Indies

Trade and shipping were crucial for the Danish West Indies colony. The easy access to the sea and oceangoing sailing ships enabled the islands in the Caribbean to develop into a significant economic success.

Archives on the Danish West Indies

From 2013 to 2017, the Danish National Archives digitized 5 million pages from the local and central administration of the Danish West Indies. However, there are also archival groups and cases related to the Danish West Indies in other collections at the National Archives and in archives abroad.

Literature and collections on the Danish West Indies

Find overviews of the most important sources, publications, and collections about the Danish West Indies that are available outside of the Danish National Archives.