in the CaribbeanSint Eustatius (/juːˈsteɪʃəs/ yoo-STAY-shəs, Dutch: [sɪnt øːˈstaː(t)sijʏs] ⓘ),[7] known locally as Statia (/ˈsteɪʃə/ STAY-shə),[8] is an island in the Caribbean.

[14][15] The earliest inhabitants were Caribs[16] believed to have come from the Amazon basin (South America) and migrated north from Venezuela[16] via the Lesser Antilles.

[18][30] Sint Eustatius became the most profitable asset of the Dutch West India Company[citation needed] and a transit point for enslaved Africans in the transatlantic slave trade.

Plantations of sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, coffee and indigo were established on the island and worked with labor of enslaved Africans.

[31] In 1774 there were 75 plantations on the island[citation needed] with names such as Gilboa, Kuilzak, Zelandia, Zorg en Rust, Nooit Gedacht, Ruym Sigt and Golden Rock.

In the 18th century, St. Eustatius's geographical placement in the middle of Danish (Virgin Islands), British (Jamaica, St. Kitts, Barbados, Antigua), French (St. Domingue, Ste.

Lucie, Martinique, Guadeloupe) and Spanish (Cuba, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico) territories—along with its large harborage, neutrality and status from 1756[32] as a free port with no customs duties—were all factors in it becoming a major point of transhipment of captured Africans, goods, and a locus for trade in contraband.

[35] St. Eustatius's economy flourished under the Dutch by ignoring the monopolistic trade restrictions of the British, French and Spanish islands[citation needed]; it became known as the "Golden Rock".

[8]The island sold arms and ammunition to anyone willing to pay, and it was therefore one of the few places from which the young United States could obtain military stores.

On 16 November 1776, the 14-gun American brig Andrew Doria commanded by Captain Isaiah Robinson[39][40] sailed, flying the Continental Colors of the fledgling United States, into the anchorage below St. Eustatius's Fort Oranje.

Governor Johannes de Graaff replied with an eleven-gun salute from the cannons of Fort Oranje (international protocol required two guns fewer to acknowledge a sovereign flag).

It was wrapped in documents that the British believed to be a strange cipher, but were actually written in Yiddish, addressed to Jewish merchants in Holland.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited St. Eustatius for two hours on 27 February 1939 on USS Houston to recognise the importance of the 1776 "First Salute".

1776, By order of Johannes de Graaff, Governor of Saint Eustatius, In reply to a National Gun-Salute, Fired by the United States Brig of War Andrew Doria, Under Captain Isaiah Robinson of the Continental Navy, Here the sovereignty of the United States of America was first formally acknowledged to a national vessel by a foreign official.

Presented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States of AmericaThe recognition provided the title for Barbara W. Tuchman's 1988 book The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution.

In 1778, Lord Stormont claimed in Parliament that, "if Sint Eustatius had sunk into the sea three years before, the United Kingdom would already have dealt with George Washington".

[40] Notably, the British Admiral George Brydges Rodney, having occupied the island for Great Britain in 1781, urged the commander of the landing troops, Major-General Sir John Vaughan, to seize "Mr. Smith at the house of Jones – they (the Jews of St. Eustatius, Caribbean Antilles)[41] cannot be too soon taken care of – they are notorious in the cause of America and France."

Even before officially declaring war, Britain had outfitted a massive battle fleet to take and destroy the weapons depot and vital commercial centre that St. Eustatius had become.

[42] Ten days after the island surrendered to the British on 3 February 1781, Rodney ordered that the entire Jewish male adult population assemble for him.

The nearby British colony of Nevis had a large Jewish population and an established community capable of aiding the refugees.

They were allowed to return to St. Eustatius after a few weeks to observe all their property being sold at small fractions of the original value after having been confiscated by Rodney.

"[43] Pieter Runnels, an eighty-year-old member of the island council and captain of the civic guard, did not survive the rough treatment he received aboard Rodney's ship.

They suffered in common with the rest of the inhabitants, the loss of their merchandise, their bills, their houses, and their provisions; and after this they were ordered to quit the island, and only one day was given them for preparation; they petitioned, they remonstrated against so hard a sentence, but in vain; it was irrevocable.

Permission for building the synagogue came from the Dutch West India Company, additional funding came from the Jewish community on Curaçao.

After the uprising, the largest plantation owners on Sint Eustatius decided to give their enslaved workers a certain wage for fear of repetition of revolt.

Around 1981, under the direction of archaeologist Norman F. Barka, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia also started archaeological research on Sint Eustatius.

The Ubuntu Connected Front and other concerned citizens of Sint Eustatius denounced the non-involvement of the community in the excavation process through a petition and letters to the government.

[66] The Statia Heritage and Research Commission (SHRC) set up by the government of St. Eustatius investigated the allegations of the protest groups and published its report in January 2022.

[71] Religion in Sint Eustatius (2018):[71] In the 18th century, "Statia" was the most important Dutch island in the Caribbean and was a center of great wealth from trading.

[citation needed] Dutch government policy towards St. Eustatius and other SSS islands promoted English medium education.