The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and north-west of Anguilla. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles and part of the West Indies.
The history of the British Virgin Islands is usually, for convenience, broken up into five separate periods:
Virgin Gorda is the third-largest island and second-most populous of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Saint John is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Norman Island is an island at the southern tip of the British Virgin Islands archipelago. It is one of a number of islands reputed to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate novel Treasure Island.
Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital and largest town of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. The population was about 15,000 in 2018.
Tortola is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of 55.7 square kilometres with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in Road Town. Mount Sage is its highest point at 530 metres above sea level.
Peter Island is a 720 hectares private island located in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). It is about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west from Road Town, Tortola. The island was named after Pieter Adriensen who was the brother of Abraham Adriensen, Patron of Tortola under the Dutch West India Company in the early 17th century. Pieter Adriensen and Joost van Dyk built a fort and slave pens at Great Harbour on Peter Island to facilitate privateering and the nascent trade in slaves from Angola.
Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, previously known as Beef Island Airport, is the main airport serving the British Virgin Islands, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. The airport serves as the gateway to just about all of the islands within the BVI. The airport is also a gateway for inter-Caribbean travelers headed to the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands. Many travellers fly into Beef Island, with the intention of taking a ferry to the other smaller British Virgin Islands. The airport is located on Beef Island, a small island off the main island of Tortola, to which it is connected by the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.
Virgin Gorda Airport is an airport on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, sometimes called the Beef Island Bridge, is a bridge, 70 meters (230 ft) long, that links Beef Island with Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. The original bridge was opened in 1966, and was replaced by a new bridge in 2003.
Piracy in the British Virgin Islands was prevalent during the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy", mainly during the years of 1690-1730. Privateering was also widely practised in the jurisdiction throughout frequent colonial wars, not least by emancipated slaves who, with in preference to back-breaking labour in the fields for pitiful wages, took enormous risks to capture fortunes on the seas with the sanction of the Crown. In 1808, Patrick Colquhoun, a prize agent for the Territory spoke of "the most daring outrages which are frequently committed by people of colour."
Spanish Town on southern Virgin Gorda is the second largest town on the British Virgin Islands. Also known as Valley, Spanish Town offers numerous shopping possibilities. The heart of the town is its Yacht Harbor marina, with many bareboat sailing activities every day. It has its own airport and a ferry service is in operation from here to Road Town on Tortola and Trellis Bay on Beef Island. Overall, though, Spanish Town is small, with few bars and a relaxed atmosphere. The national park "The Baths" is located south of Spanish Town.
Bellamy Cay is an island in the British Virgin Islands, located entirely within Trellis Bay on Beef Island. Formerly called Blanco Islet, this island is named after its most famous resident, "Black Sam" Bellamy, the "prince of pirates".
Scrub Island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean is a part of the Lesser Antilles, a group of islands that are young volcanic or coral islands. It is home to the Scrub Island Resort Marina and Spa.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the British Virgin Islands:
The colony of the British Virgin Islands has issued its own stamps since 1866. The first Post Office was opened in Tortola in 1787. At the time postage stamps were not yet invented, and it was not until 1858 that a small supply of adhesive stamps issued by Great Britain depicting Queen Victoria were utilized by the local Post Office. These stamps were cancelled by an A13 postmark and are extremely rare so cancelled.
BVI Airways is a defunct airline of the British Virgin Islands. Its headquarters were located at its hub at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport serving the territory's main island of Tortola with the capital, Road Town. It suspended inter-island operations in late 2014, shortly after a change of ownership to concentrate on a non-stop schedule directly to the United States. The company slogan was Your Caribbean Airline.
Atlantic Air BVI (AABVI) was an airline based in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Caribbean which started up in 1992 with one Short 330-200 (VP-LVR) commuter turboprop aircraft. AABVI ran a service between Tortola, BVI and San Juan, Puerto Rico, with five round trip flights a day operated seven days a week. On 6 May 1993 the Short aircraft experienced an aborted take off from Tortola and ran off the end of the runway into Trellis Bay. There were no serious injuries.
The Polidano Group is the largest private construction business in Malta.
