March 31 – Transfer Day on U.S. Virgin Islands

nPostednon March 31, 2014

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It’sngetting close to a century since the U.S. Virgin Islands werentransferred from Denmark to the United States on this date in 1917. n

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nOfncourse, before the Virgin Islands were sold to the U.S., they weren’tncalled “the U.S. Virgin Islands”!

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nIndon’t know what the original peoples (the Arawaks and Caribs) calledntheir island homes, but when Christopher Columbus discovered thisngroup of medium-to-small islands, he named them SantanUrsula y las Once Mil Virgenes,nor “Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins.” That’s definitely toonlong a name – I think we can all agree about that! – and so thenname was quickly shortened to just “the Virgins.” When variousnEuropean nations colonized the New World, the islands were settled bynthree groups: Britain colonized the easternmost islands; Spainncolonized the westernmost islands, the ones closest to its largernisland colony, Puerto Rico; and Denmark colonized the middle group.

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Today,nthe British Virgin Islands are still overseas territories of GreatnBritain, and the Spanish Virgin Islands are still part of Puerto Ricon– although, after 400 years of Spanish rule, Puerto Rico is now annunincorporated territory of the United States. The Danish islands,noften referred to as the Danish West Indies, were sold to the UnitednStates for $25 million in gold.

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nHerenare some of the larger U.S. Virgin Islands:

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nSaintnCroix

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nSaintnThomas

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nSaintnJohn

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nWaternIsland n

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nDidnyou know…?

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nThen U.S. dollar is the official currency on the British Virgin Islandsn as well as on the U.S. and Spanish Virgin Islands.

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nInn Britain, cars are driven on the left-hand side of the road, andn steering wheels are on the right-hand side. In the U.S., cars aren driven on the right-hand side of the road, and steering wheels aren on the left-hand side. This means that drivers in both countries aren closest to oncoming traffic – which I think is a very goodn thing!

But on both the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, carsn are driven on the left-hand side of the road, but steering wheelsn are on the left-hand side. I wonder why on earth this is a goodn idea? So drivers from everywhere else will be confused?

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nAlsonon this date: