Etymology. The islands were named Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes by Christopher Columbus in 1493 after the legend of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 virgins. The name was later shortened to the Virgin Islands.
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Like mainland Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands that belonged to Spain were ceded to the United States in 1898. The United States took possession of the islands after the signing of the armistice that put an end to military operations in the Spanish–American War.
Five territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are permanently inhabited, unincorporated territories; the other nine are small islands, atolls, and reefs with no native (or permanent) population.
U.S. Virgin IslandsThe United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated territory of the United States, meaning that only certain parts of the U.S. Constitution apply to its residents. Individuals born in the U.S. Virgin Islands are considered citizens of the United States.
History & Political StatusIn 1917, the United States purchased the Danish part for $25 million, mainly for strategic reasons to assure tranquility in the Caribbean Ocean. U.S. citizenship was conferred on U.S. Virgin Islanders in 1927.
The US purchased the islands in 1917, when they were known as the Danish West Indies, hoping that they'd be an ideal strategic location for a naval base and would help secure the region surrounding the Panama Canal.
Conditions on the islands were harsh and many slaves tried to escape in the bush. It wasn't long before the number of slaves on the island exponentially outnumbered the free men. Reports say that on St.Thomas in 1725 there lived 324 whites compared to 4,490 enslaved Africans.
The Virgin Islands, commonly referred to as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), is a British overseas territory located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago; the remaining islands constitute the US Virgin Islands and the Spanish Virgin Islands.
There are fifty (50) states and Washington D.C.The last two states to join the Union were Alaska (49th) and Hawaii (50th). Both joined in 1959. Washington D.C. is a federal district under the authority of Congress.