British Virgin Islands
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- Jan 5, 2021
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Updated: Oct 2, 2022
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Country Name
British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands.
Location
British Virgin Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the U.S. 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 British Virgin Islands consist of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke, along with more than 50 other smaller islands and cays. About 16 of the islands are inhabited.
Capital
Road Town.
Reason for naming the country
The islands were named "Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes" by Christopher Columbus in 1493 after the legend of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 virgins. The name was later shortened to "the Virgin Islands".
The official name of the territory is still simply the "Virgin Islands", but the prefix "British" is often used.
This is commonly believed to distinguish it from the neighboring American territory which changed its name from the "Danish West Indies" to "The Virgin Islands of the United States" in 1917.
Flag
The flag of the British Virgin Islands was adopted in 1956.
The official flag is composed of a blue background, a Union Jack(The flag of the UK) on the top left corner of the flag & in the middle of the right side of the flag is the coat of arms of the island which is composed of a green shield with Saint Ursula wearing a white dress surrounded by eleven oil lamps, under the shield there is a banner written on it "Vigilante"
The green color represents the green fields, Saint Ursula is surrounded by 10 lamps Legend said that Saint Ursula led a pilgrimage across Europe with 11,000 virgin handmaidens. Therefore, the oil lamps represent her handmaidens. There is one oil lamp per 1,000 handmaidens. The text below the shield “Vigilante” is Latin. Translated it means “Be Watchful.” As a territory of the United Kingdom, the flag represents the relationship between Great Britain & the British Virgin Islands.
Language
The primary language is British English, Virgin Islands Creole English, and Dutch Creole.
Spanish is spoken by Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Hispanic immigrants.
Religion
The majority of the population are Christians with the largest individual Christian denominations being Methodist (18.1%), Anglican (9.8%), Church of God (10.6%), and Roman Catholic (9.1%).
There is a minority population that follows Hindus and Islam.
Currency
United States dollar (US$) (USD).
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