St Eustatius / History, Population, Politics

History

St Eustatius owes its name to Christopher Columbus, who spotted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World. It seems likely that is was uninhabited then, but there is archaeological evidence that Amerindians were living here as early as the 5th century BC. In 1629 French settlers arrived and the island subsequently became the subject of a long-running three-sided battle with English and Dutch colonists for possession - in the decade 1664-74 St Eustatius changed hands no less than ten times. 

During the 18th century the island grew to become a major trading point for slaves and goods that brought such prosperity it became known as the “Golden Rock”. The population rose to 20,000 inhabitants and the Statians profited from the sale of weapons and supplies to the rebellious colonies in North America. St Eustatius was the first foreign government in the world to acknowledge the fledgling United States when a salute was fired to greet the revolutionary ship Andrew Doria on 16 November 1776. By 1779 as many as 3,500 ships were calling into Oranje Bay every year, and the remnants of the 600 warehouses that supplied them can still be seen today. This heyday ended when the English Admiral George Rodney siezed the island in 1781, confiscating property and deporting merchants. 

In 1816 St Eustatius became permanently tied to the Dutch Crown and the island supported some 90 plantations. Sugar and tobacco were the main crops, then - from the beginning of the 20th century – sisal. After the First World War many islanders left to work in the oil refineries of Aruba and Curaçao. The first airplane landed here in 1946, and electricity arrived in 1966. In 1982 the economy benefited from the opening of the oil transhipment terminal at Tumble Down Dick Bay, and the creation of the St Eustatius National Parks in 1996 to protect the Quill, northern hills and coral reefs helped the island grow as a destination for ecotourism. Today the island receives around 12,000 international visitors a year. 
 

Population 

St Eustatius has a population of some 3,400 islanders who are mainly of black African descent. There is also around 120 students attending the medical university, plus expat workers at the oil terminal and in government jobs who are primarily from the USA, Netherlands and Dominican Republic. English is the common language while Dutch is taught in schools and the island's official language. Some locals also speak Papiamento, a Spanish-sounding creole language more commonly used on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao. 

Politics 

On 10 October 2010 St Eustatius, along with the Dutch islands of Bonaire and Saba, became a municipality of the Netherlands. Before this the island was part of the Netherlands Antilles, which has now disappeared – the other islands of Aruba, Curaçao and St Maarten chose a path of greater independence and are now autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

St Eustatius is run by a democratically elected island council and headed by a Lieutenant-Governor appointed by the Queen of the Netherlands. The island is currently in a transitional phase as the implications of its revised political status become clear. Many islanders are concerned about new taxes that have come into force, but the Dutch government is also working to improve life on the island and in April 2011 a Strategic Development Plan was launched looking at ways forward. This includes a proposal to quadruple the number of hotel rooms on the island and add amenities such as a golf course, historical attractions and a new tourist office.