St. Thomas Islandu.s. virgin island

Only since 1917, when it was bought from Denmark for $25 million, has St. Thomas been owned by the United States. Although just 13 miles long and four miles wide, its 51,000 residents, which total half of all U.S. Virgin Islands residents, are a rich melting pot of many Caribbean cultures, including French Creole, West Indies and Hispanic of Puerto Rican descent. Christopher Columbus discovered the island in 1493 during his second New World voyage, but deemed it too boring for an extended stay and continued on to what is now Puerto Rico. Around 1500 B.C. Carib, Ciboney and Arawaks had settled here, finding the mix of land and water crucial for their survival. Skipping ahead to modern times, take note of this driving rule: St. Thomas is the only U.S. jurisdiction where motorists drive on the left-hand side of the road. Today, St. Thomas is a hub for making duty-free purchases in the Caribbean: each traveler can buy up to $1,600 in items without paying duty, which is much more than other Caribbean islands.