British Virgin Islands

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The British Virgin Islands are an internally governed British Overseas Territory.  Their capital is Road Town.  Queen Elizabeth II is Chief of State, and the Head of government is Chief Minister Dr. Orlando SMITH. 

First inhabited by Arawak and later by Carib Indians, the Virgin Islands were settled by the Dutch in 1648 and then annexed to 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.

Comprised of 16 inhabited and more than 20 uninhabited islands; the British Virgin Islands includes Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, and Jost van Dyke.  The climate is subtropical and humid.  The islands are both coral and volcanic, with the coral islands being flat, and the volcanic islands steep and hilly.  The British Virgin Islands have limited natural water resources. 

The population of BVI is 23, 552, with 83% of the population being black, and 17% white, Indian, and Asian.  The islands total land mass is slightly smaller than Washington D.C.

The economy is one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean.  It relies heavily on tourism, generating an estimated 45% of the national income. 820,000 tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 2005. 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. 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.

The Gross Domestic Product of the British Virgin Islands is $853.4 million.  The islands budget includes 205 million in revenues and 180 million in expenditures.  They export 25 million in fresh fruits, animals, gravel, and sand to The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  They import 187 million in building materials, automobiles, foodstuffs, and machinery from The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.