Page 215 - The Virgin Islands
P. 215
Key Historical Dates
100BC - Arawak from South America settled Virgin Islands 1680 English settled Anegada and Virgin Gorda
1400s - 1600s (1493) Islands sighted by Christopher Columbus on 1700s - 1800s (1713) British crown colony was established (British
his second voyage, named them Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes Virgin Islands)
(Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins) 1773 British Virgin Islands administratively united (Tortola, Anegada,
1555 Spanish claimed the Islands Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Peter, Norman, Guana, Ginger and Salt
1615 Dutch privateer, Joost van Dyk, organized first permanent settle- Islands
ment on Tortola 1834 Slaves were emancipated
1625 Dutch settled on Tortola; Spanish led full assault on Tortola, de- 1837 Hurricane struck, destroyed 17 of the territory’s sugar works
stroyed settlements 1846 United Kingdom passed Sugar Duties Act 1846, equalized duties
1628 Islands claimed by England on sugar grown in the colonies, prices fell, caused severe economic
1631 Dutch West India Company built a settlement on Virgin Gorda blow to plantations
after copper was discovered 1853 Outbreak of cholera killed almost 15% of the population; pro-
1647 Spanish attacked Dutch on Tortola, massacred them; went on to tests on new taxes and poor economics led to violence, several consta-
Road Town, killed everyone, destroyed the settlement bles, magistrates were badly beaten, most of Road Town was burned,
1665 English occupied Tortola large number of plantation houses and sugar mills destroyed, cane
1672 Britain ousted the Dutch; Islands became a British colony; Quak- fields burned
ers established settlements and plantations; sugar cane was introduced 1872 Islands were incorporated into the British colony of the Leeward
and became main crop, slaves brought in from Africa to work the Islands
plantations 1960 Islands became separate administered entity
1672 - 1733 Dutch gained control of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix 1967 Islands became autonomous
