The United States Virgin Islands or Virgin Islands of the United States are an archipelago of the the Caribbean. It is a dependence of the the United States and belong to the Virgin Islands.
Geography
detailed Article: Geography of the United States Virgin Islands
The United States Virgin Islands are located between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, to approximately 80 km in the east of Puerto Rico and the south of the British Virgin Islands. The islands are made up of three principal islands: Saint-Thomas (83 km ²), Saint-John (52 km ²) and Holy-Cross (207 km ²). One counts also about fifty small islands, smaller and for the majority uninhabited.
The islands are known for their Plage S of white Sable and their ports, of which Charlotte Amalie and Christiansted. The majority of the islands are volcanic origins with an undulating relief. The most point is Crown Mountain , on the island of Saint-Thomas, with a height of 474 Mr. Holy-Cross, which is in the south, is the vastest island with a flatter relief. The national park of Virgin Islands covers approximately half of the island of Saint-John, almost the integrality of Hassel Island, and several others of coral Récif.
The islands are located at the border of the Tectonic plate of North America and the plate of the Caribbean which place them in a zone at the risk for the Tsunami S. They also locates in the zone of passage of the hurricanes with Hugo in 1989 and Marilyn in 1995. The climate is tropical.
History
detailed Article: History of the United States Virgin Islands .The first inhabitants of Virgin Islands were Arawaks towards 1500 av. J. - C., they were driven out by it towards half of the 15th century by the Caribes.
Christophe Colomb discovered Virgin Islands in 1493, at the time of its second voyage. It named these islands Las Viergens (“Virgins”) in homage to a legend relating to Sainte Ursule and the virgins martyrized with it.
These islands were colonized by the Danish in 1672 under the name of the the Danish Western Indies.
In 1917, these territories and its then 26.000 inhabitants passérent under control of the the United States against the sum of 25 million US dollars.
Policy
detailed Article: Political of the United States Virgin IslandsVirgin Islands are directed by a government elected for four years, with the head of which a governor is, currently John deJongh (since January 1st, 2007). The legislative power is ensured by a Sénat of 15 elected members every two years. This political system is strongly inspired by that of the United States.
Economy
detailed Article: Economy of the United States Virgin IslandsThe principal activity of the islands is tourism which attracts approximately 2 million visitors per annum with in particular cruisings in boats. The other center of tourist interest is the national park of Virgin Islands which receives the visit of 750.000 visitors each year.
The industrial sector is represented by the refining of the Pétrole, the Drug company, the Textile, the clock industry (watch), the electronic and the distillation of Rhum. Hovensa on the island of Holy-Cross, is one of the largest refineries of oil in the world.
Demography
detailed Article: Demography of the United States Virgin Islands
Culture
detailed Article: Culture of the United States Virgin Islands
Codes
The United States Virgin Islands have as codes;- ISV, according to the Code list country of the CIO,
- NR, according to the List of prefixes ICAO of registration of the aircraft,
- TI, according to the List of the prefixes of codes ICAO of the airports,
- VI, according to the standard ISO 3166-1, code alpha-2 (code list country),
- .vi, according to the List of Internet TLD (Signal level domain),
- VIR, according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (code list country), code alpha-3,
See too
Simple: United States Virgin Islands Zh-min-nan: Bí-kok Virgin Kûn-tó
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