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Experience The British Virgin Islands (2329 words) |
 | The BVI is located 60 miles east of Puerto Rico between latitude 18.25 degrees north and longitude 64.37 degrees west, and 15 miles from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands (until 1917, known as the Danish West Indies). |
 | The next most populous islands are Virgin Gorda (8.5 square miles), Anegada (15.2 square miles), Jost Van Dyke (3.2 square miles), Peter Island, Marina Cay and Guana Island, They are all hilly and of volcanic origin, except for Anegada, the most northerly, which is low lying and of coral origins. |
 | The Virgin Islands' peaks made such an impression on Columbus in 1493 that he named them Las Once Mil Virgenes, after the legendary 11,000 virgins who St. Ursula (a British princess) was supposed to have led to their martyrdom near Cologne in Germany. |
| U.S. Virgin Islands - definition of U.S. Virgin Islands in Encyclopedia (422 words) |
 | The Virgin Islands of the United States is a group of islands in the Caribbean that is a dependency of the United States. |
 | This part of the islands had been in economic decline since the abolition of slavery in 1848. |
 | The islands of Culebra and Vieques are often considered related to the Virgin Islands and are within view over the horizon. |