US Virgin Islands History, Language and Culture

History of US Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands are a group of islands regarded as an insular area of the United States.

First inhabited by Carib and Arawak Indians, in common with the rest of the Caribbean, they endured various waves of European invasion and settlement from the 1490s onwards, finally becoming part of the Danish West Indies. The US government purchased the islands in 1917 and they are now an unincorporated territory of the USA. A measure of self-government was introduced in 1954, along with the introduction of an elected Senate.