British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands is a overseas territory of the the United Kingdom, located in the Caribbean.

Background

First inhabited by Arawak and later by Carib Indians, the Virgin Islands were settled by the Dutch in 1648 and then annexed by the English in 1672. The islands were part of the British colony of the Leeward Islands from 1872-1960; they were granted autonomy in 1967. The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to the west; the US dollar is the legal currency.

Economy

The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism generating an estimated 45% of the national income. More than 934,000 tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 2008. In the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and incorporation fees now generate substantial revenues. Roughly 400,000 companies were on the offshore registry by yearend 2000. The adoption of a comprehensive insurance law in late 1994, which provides a blanket of confidentiality with regulated statutory gateways for investigation of criminal offenses, made the British Virgin Islands even more attractive to international business. Livestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands' ability to meet domestic food requirements. Because of traditionally close links with the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands has used the US dollar as its currency since 1959.

Head of State

• Queen Elizabeth II (₩) (February 6, 1952 - )

Governor

• William Boyd McCleary (₩) (August 20, 2010 - )

Premier

• Ralph T. O'Neal (₩) (August 23, 2007 - )

Nation

• United Kingdom (Overseas)

British Overseas Territories

• Anguilla (From 1980)
• Bermuda (From 1684)
• British Antarctic Territory (From 1962)
• British Indian Ocean Territory (From 1965)
• Cayman Islands (From 1962)
• Falkland Islands (From 1833)
• Gibraltar (From 1704)
• Montserrat (From 1962)
• Turks and Caicos Islands (From 1962)
• Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands (From 1970)
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (From 2009)
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (From 1985)
• Akrotiri and Dhekelia (From 1960)

Polities

• United States Virgin Islands (From 1917)
• Flag Leeward Islands colony
• Flag Danish West Indies

See also

• Virgin Islands (United States)

References

• Islands of the Commonwealth Caribbean: a regional study (Library of Congress)
  
• Islands of the Commonwealth Caribbean: a regional study (archive.org)
  
• British Virgin Islands: Location Map 2013 (UN OCHA, PNG)
  
• The World Factbook (CIA)
  
• Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments (CIA)
  
• BBC News Country Profile
  
• World Statesmen.org
  
• Wikipedia