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| » Virgin Islands (U.S.) Information |
| The United States Virgin Islands are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. These islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands. The U.S. Virgin Islands are made up of the four main islands of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix and Water Island and many smaller islands. It is the only part of the United States where traffic drives on the left.
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| » Virgin Islands (U.S.) General Information |
| Capital: Charlotte Amalie |
| Currency: U.S. dollar |
| Language: English |
| Telephone codes: 1-340 |
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| » Virgin Islands (U.S.) Useful Links |
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| » Virgin Islands (U.S.) Practical Information |
| › Public Holidays |
| New Year?s Day (01Jan); Three Kings? Day (06Jan); Martin Luther King Day (19Jan); Presidents? Day (14Feb); Holy Thursday (24Mar); Good Friday (25Mar); Easter Monday (28Mar); Memorial Day (23May); Danish West Indies Emancipation Day (03Jul); US Independence Day (04Jul); Hurricane Supplication Day (25Jul); Labor Day (05Sep); Columbus Day (11Oct); Virgin Islands Thanksgiving Day (17Oct); D Hamilton Jackson Day (01Nov); Veterans? Day (11Nov); US Thanksgiving Day (24Nov); Christmas Day (25Dec). |
| › Visas |
| Passports for U.S. Citizens are not required for the U.S. Virgin Islands, but you must be prepared to show evidence of citizenship upon leaving (such as a birth certificate and photo ID). Citizens of countries other than the U.S. should follow U.S. travel regulations. Travel outside the U.S. Virgin Islands requires a birth certificate or valid passport. Health certificates are not required if you're entering from the U.S. or Puerto Rico; citizens entering from other countries should follow the same guidelines as for the mainland U.S.
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| » Virgin Islands (U.S.) History |
The Virgin Islands were originally settled by the Ciboney, Carib, and Arawaks. The islands were named by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 for Saint Ursula and her virgin followers. Over the next three hundred years, the islands were held by many European powers, including Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, France, the Knights of Malta, and Denmark.
The Danish West India Company settled on Saint Thomas in 1672, on Saint John in 1694, and purchased Saint Croix from the French in 1733. The islands became royal Danish colonies in 1754, their name in Danish translating as Jomfruøerne. Sugarcane, produced by slave labor, drove the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries, until the abolition of slavery by Governor Peter von Scholten on July 3, 1848.
For the remainder of the Danish time, the islands were not economically viable and significant transfers were made from the Danish state budgets to the authorities in the islands. An attempt to sell the islands to the United States was made early in the 20th century, but a deal proved elusive. A number of reforms in the hope of reviving the islands' economy were attempted, but none having great success. The onset of World War I brought the reforms to a close, and again left the islands isolated and exposed.
During the submarine warfare phases of the First World War, the United States, fearing that the islands might be seized by Germany as a submarine base, once again approached Denmark to sell the islands to the United States. After a few months of negotiations a selling sum of $25 million was agreed. The Danish Crown may have felt some pressure to accept the sale, thinking that the United States would seize the islands, if Denmark was invaded by Germany. However, at the same time the economics of continued possession weighed heavily on the minds of Danish decisionmakers, and a bipartisan consensus in favour of selling emerged in the Danish parliament. A subsequent referendum held in late 1916 confirmed the decision to sell by a wide margin. The deal was thus ratified and finalised on January 17, 1917, when the United States and Denmark exchanged their respective treaty ratifications. The U.S. took possession of the islands on March 31, 1917, when the territory was renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands.
U.S. citizenship was granted to the inhabitants of the islands in 1927.
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