The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles to the east of Puerto Rico and west of the British Virgin Islands.
The Danish West Indies or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 32 square miles (83 km2); Saint John with 19 square miles (49 km2); and Saint Croix with 84 square miles (220 km2). The islands have belonged to the United States since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905, when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company.
Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Danish overseas colonies and Dano-Norwegian colonies were the colonies that Denmark–Norway possessed from 1536 until 1953. At its apex, the colonies spanned four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
This is a list of referenda related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referenda have been held by EU member states, candidate states, and their territories, with several additional referendums held in countries outside of the EU. The referendums have been held most commonly on the subject of whether to become a member of European Union as part of the accession process, although the EU does not require any candidate country to hold a referendum to approve membership or as part of treaty ratification. Other EU-related referendums have been held on the adoption of the euro and on participation in other EU-related policies.
Malta elects on a national level 6 MEPs representing Malta in the European Parliament, on a district level the legislature, On a local level the Local Councils and on a community level the Administrative Committees.
Transfer Day is a holiday celebrated in the U.S. Virgin Islands on March 31. It marks the transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States that took place in 1917. The islands were initially held by various European countries, and were under the sole control of Denmark by 1754. Transfer Day could have taken place years earlier, but due to the construction and funding of the Panama Canal, the United States Senate rejected negotiations. Following money shortages from war, and the potential German invasion of Denmark, both sides saw the exchange as mutually beneficial. Transfer Day is now celebrated in a variety of ways on the various islands including parades, parties, and reenactment of the original Transfer Day itself.
A referendum on the sale of the Danish West Indian Islands to the United States of America was held in Denmark on 14 December 1916. The non-binding referendum saw 283,670 vote in favor of the sale of the Danish West Indian Islands and 158,157 against. The residents of the islands were not allowed to vote on the matter, but in an unofficial vote on Saint Croix arranged by David Hamilton Jackson, 4,027 voted in favor of the sale and only seven voted against. As a result of the referendum the islands were formally relinquished to the United States by the Treaty of the Danish West Indies on 31 March 1917 as the United States Virgin Islands for a sum of US$25,000,000 in gold.
The San Narciso Hurricane was the ninth and last known hurricane of the 1867 Atlantic hurricane season. Forming in late October, the hurricane, the costliest and deadliest storm of the 1867 Atlantic hurricane season, caused at least 811 deaths in Saint Thomas and Captaincy General of Puerto Rico and at least $1 million in damage.
The Treaty of the Danish West Indies, officially the Convention between the United States and Denmark for cession of the Danish West Indies, was a 1916 treaty transferring sovereignty of the Virgin Islands in the Danish West Indies from Denmark to the United States in exchange for a sum of US$25,000,000 in gold. It is one of the most recent permanent expansions of United States territory.
Sankt Thomas Plads is a round plaza located on Frederiksberg Allé, near its eastern end in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark.
An unofficial referendum on the sale of the islands to the United States was held in the Danish West Indies on 17 August 1916. The proposal was approved by 99.83% of voters, with only seven people voting against. It followed the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, which was signed on 4 August, and also approved by a referendum in Denmark in December 1916. The islands were transferred to the United States in 1917.
A referendum on annexation by the United States was held in the Dominican Republic on 19 February 1870. The proposal was approved by 99.93% of voters, although turnout was just 30%. However, the United States Senate rejected the annexation on 30 June 1870 with a 28–28 vote.
A referendum on leasing the Samaná Peninsula to the United States for 99 years was held in the Dominican Republic on 19 February 1873. The proposal was approved by 99.91% of voters, but was never implemented after President Buenaventura Báez was overthrown on 2 January 1874.
A referendum on re-integration into France was held in the Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy in late October 1877. The island had been a colonial possession of Sweden for nearly a century, but following the referendum in which only one person voted against the proposal, it was returned to France the following year.
A two-part referendum was held in Guam on 4 August 1979. A proposed new constitution was rejected by 82% of voters, whilst a law introducing the death penalty was rejected by 53% of voters. In August 1987 a referendum was held on another proposed constitution, with each chapter voted on separately. Two chapters were rejected by voters, resulting in a second referendum in November in which both were approved.
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This article summarises referendum laws and practice in various countries.
A referendum on joining the Unified Patent Court was held in Denmark on 25 May 2014 alongside European Parliament elections. The referendum was approved with 62.5% of the vote, enabling the government to proceed with the ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which constitutes the legal basis for the Unified Patent Court. The court is to be common to several Member States of the European Union for proceedings regarding European patents. Ratification of the agreement, which had already been approved by a simple majority of the Danish parliament, will also render the unitary patent applicable in Denmark.
Albert Heinrich Riise, often referred to as A. H. Riise, was a Danish pharmacist, merchant and manufacturer of rum on Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. A brand of rum is still named A.H. Riise after him. Late in his life he returned to Denmark, where Sankt Thomas Plads in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen is named after his former country house. He was the father of photographer Frederik Riise.
