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Danish West Indies

British

plural noun

Name since 1917: Virgin Islands of the United States. the former possession of Denmark in the W Lesser Antilles, sold to the US in 1917

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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The U.S. formally recognized Danish sovereignty in 1916 as a condition for its purchase of the Danish West Indies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

St. John was part of the Danish West Indies, where slavery ended in 1848.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 5, 2024

Slavery in the Danish West Indies was abolished in 1848.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 2, 2024

The United States Virgin Islands will mark the 100th anniversary of its transfer from the Danish West Indies to a United States territory.

From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2017

Being thereafter under more stable control, the island made progress, becoming, like the other Danish West Indies, a sugar colony.

From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023