Virgin Islands
 The Virgin Islands, with the Puerto Rican territory in green, United States Virgin Islands in red, and British Virgin Islands in blue | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean |
| Archipelago | Leeward Islands |
| Insular area | United States Virgin Islands |
| Unincorporated territory | Puerto Rico |
| Overseas territory | British Virgin Islands |
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Politically, the group is divided into the British, American, and Spanish Virgin Islands. The archipelago is separated from the Renaissance Islands by the Anegada Passage and from the main island of Puerto Rico by the Virgin Passage.
Etymology
Christopher Columbus named the islands after Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins (Spanish: Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes), shortened to the Virgins (las Vírgenes). The official name of the British territory is the Virgin Islands, and the official name of the U.S. territory is the Virgin Islands of the United States. In practice, the two island groups are almost universally referred to as the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
History
The Virgin Islands were originally inhabited by the Arawak, Carib, and Cermic, almost all of whom are thought to have perished during the colonial period due to enslavement, foreign disease, and mass extermination brought about by European colonists as is the case in the rest of the Caribbean.[1]
European colonists later settled here and established sugar plantations, at least one tobacco plantation, and purchased slaves acquired from Africa. The plantations are gone, but the descendants of the slaves remain the bulk of the population, sharing a common African-Caribbean heritage with the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean.
In 1916 and 1917, Denmark and the U.S., respectively, ratified a treaty in which Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States of America for $25 million in gold.
In the 1990s a Puerto Rican tourism campaign renamed the Passage Islands as the Spanish Virgin Islands, though they are seldom identified as such on maps and atlases. They are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, located east of the main island of Puerto Rico. They are closer to St. Thomas than St. Thomas is to St. Croix.
Traffic control
Motor vehicles are driven on the left-hand side of the road in both the British and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although the steering wheels on most cars are located on the left side (as is the norm for drive-on-the-right localities). In the Spanish Virgin Islands, vehicles are driven on the right-hand side of the road.
See also
- Culture of the Virgin Islands
- Music of the Virgin Islands
- Virgin Islands Creole
- British Virgin Islands
- Dutch Virgin Islands
- Danish Virgin Islands
- Lesser Antilles
- Spanish Virgin Islands
- United States Virgin Islands
- Virgin Islands patch reefs
References
Sources
- Colin Thomas, J.; Allard, William Albert; Wolinsky, Cary (February 1981). "Paradise Comes of age: The U.S. Virgin Islands". National Geographic. 159 (2): 225–243.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virgin Islands. |
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Virgin Islands. |
Works related to Virgin Islands at Wikisource- BVI.gov: British Virgin Islands government website
- U.S. Office of Insular Affairs.gov: United States Virgin Islands government website
- Digital Library of the Caribbean.edu: University of the Virgin Islands information
Coordinates: 18°5′37″N 64°49′49″W / 18.09361°N 64.83028°W
