Virgin Islands

This article is about the Virgin Islands archipelago. For the British Virgin Islands, see British Virgin Islands. For the U.S. Virgin Islands, see United States Virgin Islands.


	Map of the Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands is an archipelago in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The islands are divided into two parts, one of which, the British Virgin Islands to the east and north, is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The other, the United States Virgin Islands to the west and south, is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States.

Christopher Columbus named the islands Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes (shortened to Las Vírgenes), after Saint Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. They were inhabited by Arawak, Carib and Cermic Indians, all of whom died out during the colonial period from disease, harsh labor conditions, and murder.

The islands were later populated by Africans who were enslaved on sugar plantations, and on at least one indigo plantation. The sugar plantations are now gone, but the descendants of the slaves are still there, sharing a common West Indian culture with the other English-speaking islands of the Caribbean.

On both the British and the U.S. Virgin Islands, vehicles are driven on the left-hand side of the road, yet most cars on the islands have their steering wheels on the left side (usually common for drive-on-the-right localities). Also on both the British and the U.S. Virgin Islands the United States dollar is the official currency. From the CIA World Factbook 2000.

The islands just to the east of the island of Puerto Rico (and territorially part of it) are locally called the Spanish Virgin Islands. Although often not included on maps of the Virgin Islands archipelago, it is actually closer to St. Thomas than St. Croix is (both part of the U.S. Virgin Islands).

Explanation of Name

These islands are called "leeward" because the prevailing winds in the area blow from southeast to ownwind from, or in the lee of, leeward of, the southeasternmost Windward Islands, the
..... Click the link for more information.

Caribbean Sea (pronounced IPA: /kəˈrɪbiən/ or /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/
..... Click the link for more information.

Motto
"Vigilate" (Latin)
"Be Watchful"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen"
..... Click the link for more information.

British Overseas Territories are fourteen^[1] territories which the United Kingdom considers to be under its sovereignty, but not as part of the United Kingdom itself.
..... Click the link for more information.

Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" ^[2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" ^[3]
..... Click the link for more information.

Motto
"United in Pride and Hope"''
Anthem
"Virgin Islands March"

Capital Charlotte Amalie

..... Click the link for more information.

Territories of the United States are one type of political division of the United States, administered by the U.S. government but not any part of a U.S. state. These territories were created to govern newly acquired land while the borders of the United States were still evolving.
..... Click the link for more information.

United States territory is any extent of region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States,^[1] including all waters^[2] (around islands or continental tracts).
..... Click the link for more information.

Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.

Christopher Columbus (1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator, colonizer and one of the first Europeans to explore the Americas after the Vikings. Though not the first to reach the Americas from Europe, Columbus' voyages led to general European awareness of the hemisphere and
..... Click the link for more information.

Ursula ("small female bear" in Latin) is a British Christian saint. Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is October 21, though her feast was removed from the general calendar of saints in 1969.
..... Click the link for more information.

Arawak (from aru, the Lokono word for cassava flour), was used to designate the Amerindians encountered by the Spanish in the West Indies. These include the Taíno, who occupied the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas (Lucayan) and Bimini Florida, the Nepoya and Suppoyo of
..... Click the link for more information.

Carib, Island Carib or Kalinago people, after whom the Caribbean Sea was named, live in the Lesser Antilles islands. They are an Amerindian people whose origins lie in the southern West Indies and the northern coast of South America.
..... Click the link for more information.

Indigofera

Species
See text

Indigofera is a large genus of about 700 species of flowering plants belonging to the family Fabaceae.
..... Click the link for more information.

plantation is usually a large farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country, on which cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or trees and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers.
..... Click the link for more information.

United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
..... Click the link for more information.

The World Factbook (ISSN 1553-8133 ; also known as the CIA World Factbook)^[1] is an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world.
..... Click the link for more information.

Motto
Latin: Joannes Est Nomen Eius
Spanish: Juan es su nombre
(English: "John is his name")
Anthem
"La Borinqueña"
..... Click the link for more information.

Spanish Virgin Islands (sometimes known as the Passage Islands) are a group of islands just east of the main island of Puerto Rico. They are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
..... Click the link for more information.

The music of the Virgin Islands reflects long-standing cultural ties to the island nations to the south as well as to various European colonialists. Though the United States Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands are politically separate, they maintain close cultural ties.
..... Click the link for more information.

Virgin Islands culture represents the various peoples that have inhabited the present-day U.S. Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands throughout history. Although both countries are politically separate, they maintain close cultural ties.
..... Click the link for more information.

See also

Explanation of Name