Saint Croix – the Twin City island where Columbus landed in 1493
Columbus came ashore on the island he called Santa Cruz on 14 November 1493 and was met by the Kalinago who lived at Salt River on the north shore; the encounter is recorded as the first fight between Spaniards and a native people of the New World, and he named the spot Cabo de la Flecha, Cape of the Arrow. Igneri pottery shows people here from about 1 to 700 CE, followed by the Taíno until 1425; by 1590 the island was said to be uninhabited. Today Saint Croix is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, nicknamed Twin City for Frederiksted and Christiansted. Members are invited to share their memories and photographs.