1796-Sep.-30: St.

1796-Sep.-30: St. Thomas, a Danish colony, served as the Caribbean’s first “free port,” creating a unique and largely unregulated space for the exchange of goods and revolutionary intelligence. Because of its neutral status, the island became a gathering place for privateers, merchants, and sailors of all nations and races. The Index highlights St. Thomas as a crucial site where the “uncontrolled movement” of people facilitated the spread of antislavery ideas across imperial boundaries. It was here that black mariners from Saint-Domingue often traded and shared news with counterparts from British and Spanish islands. This entry underscores the importance of such ports as loopholes in the colonial system of information control.