Virgin Islands,

Virgin Islands, a group of islands in the West Indies, about fifty in number, but only a few of them of any considerable size or importance. The total area is about 260 sq. m., and the population is near 45,000. Three of the islands, St Thomas, Santa Cruz, and St John, belong to Denmark, having a total area of 120 sq. m. and a pop. of 34,000. Bieque or Crab Island, Culebra, and other dependencies of Porto Rico (total area, 184 sq. m.; pop. about 6000) were ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898. The others are British; total area, 58 sq. m.; pop. (1881) 5287; (1891) 4639, of whom only about 150 are whites. The chief of the British Islands, which form a district of the colony of the Leeward Islands, are Tortola, Virgin-Gorda, and Anegada. The exports have a value of near £5000, and the imports of from £3000 to £7000. Extensive tracts of land, possessed by the emancipated blacks, form good pasturage for cows, sheep, and goats; cotton, sugar, and fish are the other principal products.