Virgin Islands, archipelago of the Caribbean, located east of Puerto Rico.Virgin Islands consists of the British colony British Virgin Islands (153 km2 , 31700 inhabitants, 2018) in the east and the US territory of the Virgin Islands of the United States (355 km2, 105,000 inhabitants, 2018) in the west. Geologically speaking, Virgin Islands form part of the Greater Antilles. The archipelago, which was originally covered by tropical rainforests, is now deforested and often suffers from a lack of fresh water. The inhabitants are mainly of African descent. Tourism, which replaced sugar cane cultivation as the main industry, gives Virgin Islands a high per capita GDP. The largest islands in the US are Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix; In addition, there are about 50 small islands. The main resort is Charlotte Amalie at Saint Thomas. The US Virgin Islands also have some industry; In addition to plants for traditional production of rum and sugar, there are oil refineries and chemical factories. Most of the food needs in Virgin Islands are covered by imports.
Population and ethnography
More than 80 percent of the population is mulattoes or of African origin. The remainder are mainly Hispanic immigrants from Puerto Rico or newly immigrated whites. The islands are characterized by great immigration; only half of the population is native.
Language
English is the official language of both British and American V., but the majority of the population speaks an English-based Creole language. Previously, the Negro Dutch, a Dutch-based Creole language, dominated, whose last speaker died in 1987.