British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands is an overseas territory of United Kingdom. It consists of more than 50 islands located in the Caribbean east of Puerto Rico.
History
The first inhabitants of the islands was arawak that came from the South American continent around 100 BC. This tribe inhabited the islands until the 15th century were driven by carib that came from the Lesser Antilles.
Ruins of St Phillip’s Church, Tortola, one of the most important historical ruins in the area.
In 1493 Christopher Columbus found the islands on his second voyage to America, and he gave the islands the name “Virgin Islands” after Skt. Ursula, who according to legend was to be followed by 11,000 virgins. The Spaniards quickly took the islands in the possession of extracting copper.
The Dutch established themselves in 1648, but the islands were taken over by Britain in 1672. The British introduced sugar cane to the area, which would soon become a core crop, especially when the slave trade brought slaves from Africa to the islands.
In the next few centuries, there was småbataljer on islands between several European powers, including Denmark, who ended up getting control of the Danish West Indies.
British Virgin Islands has mostly had a strategic importance for Britain, which had an interest in being present in the area, but plantations have also been good business for the colonists. For many years they were led by some of the other colonies in the area, but the islands were self-colonial status in 1960 and became an autonomous territory in 1967. About the same time began development away from agriculture, compared with tourism and banking, which has made the territory into one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean.
Brunei & British Indian Ocean Territory
