The United States Virgin Islands are a group of several dozen islands and cays located in the Caribbean, about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) southeast of Florida, 600 miles (966 km) north of Venezuela, 40 miles (64 km) east of Puerto Rico, and immediately west and south of the British Virgin Islands.
Politics of the United States Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic dependency, whereby the Governor is the head of the territory's government, and of a multi-party system. United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior. Executive power is exercised by the local government of the Virgin Islands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) is the only place under United States jurisdiction where the rule of the road is to drive on the left. However, virtually all passenger vehicles are left hand drive due to imports of U.S. vehicles.
Charlotte Amalie, located on St. Thomas, is the capital and the largest city of the United States Virgin Islands. It was founded in 1666 as Taphus. In 1691, the town was renamed to Charlotte Amalie after the Danish queen Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (1650–1714). It has a deep-water harbor that was once a haven for pirates and is now one of the busiest ports of call for cruise ships in the Caribbean, with about 1.5 million-plus cruise ship passengers landing there annually. Protected by Hassel Island, the harbor has docking and fueling facilities, machine shops, and shipyards and was a U.S. submarine base until 1966. The Town has been inhabited for centuries. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, the area was inhabited by Caribs, Arawaks, Ciboney and Taíno native peoples. It is on the southern shore at the head of Saint Thomas Harbor. In 2010 the City had a population of 18,481, which makes it the largest city in the Virgin Islands Archipelago. Hundreds of ferries and yachts pass by the Town each week.
Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Saint Thomas is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, one of the three largest of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Along with surrounding minor islands, it is one of three county-equivalents in the USVI. Together with Saint John, it forms one of the districts of the USVI. The territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie is located on the island. As of the 2020 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 42,261, about 48.5% of the total population of the United States Virgin Islands. The island has a land area of 32 square miles (83 km2).
Frederiksted is both the town and one of the two administrative districts of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It is a grid-planned city, designed by surveyor Jens Beckfor, originally to 14x14 blocks but built 7x7 to enhance the island commerce in the 1700s. Frederiksted has fewer than 1,000 people in the town proper, but nearly 10,000 in the greater western side of the island. Christiansted is about 30 years older but commerce was limited by its natural, shallow protective reef. Frederiksted was built in the leeward side of the island for calm seas and a naturally deep port. It is home to Fort Frederik, constructed to protect the town from pirate raids and attacks from rival imperialist nations and named after Frederick V of Denmark, who purchased the Danish West Indies in 1754.
The Diocese of Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church for the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is the only suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Washington.
WVXF, virtual and UHF digital channel 17, is a dual This TV/Fox-affiliated television station serving the United States Virgin Islands that is licensed to Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas. Owned by Caribbean Broadcasting Network, it is a sister station to low-powered NBC affiliate WVGN-LD. WVXF's transmitter is located on Signal Hill.
WSVI, virtual channel 8, is an Ion Television-affiliated station serving the United States Virgin Islands that is licensed to Christiansted, Saint Croix. The station is owned by Atlas News and Information Services, as part of a duopoly with Charlotte Amalie-licensed independent station WZVI. The two stations share studios at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center in Christiansted; WSVI's transmitter is located on Blue Mountain.
WTJX-TV, virtual channel 12, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station serving the United States Virgin Islands that is licensed to Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas. Owned by the Virgin Islands Public Broadcasting System, it is sister to National Public Radio (NPR) member station WTJX-FM (93.1 MHz). The two stations share studios on Haypiece Hill in Charlotte Amalie; WTJX-TV's transmitter is located on Signal Hill.
WZVI is an independent television station serving the United States Virgin Islands that is licensed to Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas. The station is owned by Atlas News and Information Services, as part of a duopoly with Christiansted-licensed Ion Television affiliate WSVI. The two stations share studios at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center in Christiansted; WZVI's transmitter is located on Flag Hill. WZVI serves as a secondary station for the Virgin Islands Television Network.
Juan Francisco Luis was a Puerto Rican-U.S. Virgin Islander politician who served as the third elected Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. He is the territory's 23rd governor overall. Luis assumed the governorship on January 2, 1978, succeeding Governor Cyril King, who died in office. He held the governor's office from 1978 until 1987, becoming the longest-serving governor in the history of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base, also known as St. Croix Seaplane Base, is located in the harbor by Christiansted, Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. This private-use airport is owned by the Virgin Islands Port Authority.
Stateside Virgin Islands Americans are West Indian Americans who hold US citizenship and who have migrated from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the continental United States and Hawaii, and their descendants.
Derek M. Hodge was an American Virgin Islander politician and lawyer who served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands for two terms from 1987 to 1995 under Governor Alexander Farrelly. The Virgin Islands Daily News called him a "towering figure in local politics," referring to his political career, which spanned several decades.
Arnold Ray Highfield was an American professor, historian, writer, and poet, best known for his historical works on the Danish West Indies and the United States Virgin Islands.
U.S. Virgin Islands Governor's Mansion may refer to any one of the three official residences owned by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and provided to the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. One residence is located on each of the three largest inhabited islands of this U.S. territory in the Caribbean. The U.S. Virgin Islands maintains more official gubernatorial residences than any other state or territory of the United States.
Antilles Air Boats was a commuter airline founded by Charles F. Blair Jr. in 1963. It was based in the US Virgin Islands.