Is the U.S. Virgin Islands more culturally like the other Caribbean countries or is it more culturally American?

6 comments

1. I think there are very few people with Taino DNA in US Virgin Islands – they are mostly African descent transported there from the slave trade.

   I am quite sure most would be clear that they are from the islands and not the main land, the same way someone from Alaska or Hawaii would.

2. The US Virgin Islands are 70% black, closer to Carribbean in culture.

   We bought them from the Danes during the First World War to kinda keep them out of Germany’s hands.

   The most bizzaro part as a mainlander is that they drive on the left, UK style. It’s the only part of America where driving is done on the left just like Gibraltar is the only UK territory where they drive on the right. (Remember that for bar/pub trivia night).

3. They usually identify themselves as from the US Virgin islands. Keep in mind that the Virgin Islands as a whole are owned by multiple different countries, so if you go there, you will meet people from all over the world.

4. There were multiple indigenous groups who lived on the islands prior to Danish colonization, but I’m not sure any of them are still around. I doubt it, since the Danish used the islands as sugar plantations and forced enslaved Africans to work them. As such, a supermajority of the population is black, yes.

   Culturally, the USVIs draw on the variety of traditions that have populated the islands over the years. So, while it is pretty different from the mainland, they are very much Americans and have little trouble adjusting to the continental US (they drive on the left though, weirdos).

5. I spent a summer working in St Croix. The locals were very definitely more Carribean than American. They were US citizens and happy to be so, but they identified with their island first and the divide between the mainland Americans who’d moved there and the locals born and bred there was huge and strong.

6. I love the USVI. They ate nothing remotely like mainland culture.