British Virgin Islands

Facts & Figures
Map of British Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Status: Overseas territory Governor: David Pearey (2006) Chief Minister: Orlando Smith (2003) Total area: 59 sq mi (153 sq km) Population (2006 est.): 23,098 (growth rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 14.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 16.7/1000; life expectancy: 76.7; density per sq mi: 391 Capital (2003 est.): Road Town (on Tortola): 9,100 Monetary unit: U.S. dollar More Facts & Figures

Virgin Islands

Major sources and definitions

Some 36 islands (more than 20 are uninhabited) in the Caribbean Sea northeast of Puerto Rico and west of the Leeward Islands, the British Virgin Islands are economically interdependent with the U.S. Virgin Islands to the south. The principal islands are Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke. When Christopher Columbus explored the islands in 1493, he found the Carib people living there. By 1596 most of the Caribs had fled or been killed.

The British Virgin Islands were annexed in 1672. The English planters' slave-based sugar plantations declined after slavery was abolished in the first half of the 19th century. The islands received a separate administration in 1956 as a Crown colony. Tourism is the islands' mainstay.

See also Encyclopedia: Virgin Islands .

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