The Virgins: A Descriptive and Historical Profile

Varlack, Pearl; Harrigan, Norwell

In keeping with the selected theme for the celebrations in the Virgin Islands, "Look back and be Proud; Look ahead and Achieve," the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission expressed interest in the preparation of relevant historical work. Time and money did not permit major research effort but interested persons attempted to collect material from various perspectives. The present work, which began several years ago as an outgrowth of research we were conducting on the Virgin Islands and laid aside because of pressures from other directions, was resuscitated, revised and updated not only because we felt it contained signposts for pride in our islands' past and achievements in their future but also because the islands, British and Danish as they were in 1776, played a part, if only peripherally, in the birth of the new nation. The latter reason is, however, and unfortunately, only incidental since it could not be the focus of the task we undertook. Much has been written over the years of the history of the United States Virgin Islands, though it cannot be said that the magnum opus, complete with documentation from Danish sources, has yet arrived on the scene. The British Virgin Islands have only recently become the subject of comprehensive published effort; interested readers should, however, find no difficulty in locating the literature on either group of islands. This booklet makes no pretense at being another in a series of detailed writings on the islands. It is a compendium dealing only with geographical description and the statement of significant fact in chronological order for which we see a place as a "ready reference." And we have departed from the traditional manner of writing about the islands in purely political terms; thinking of the archipelago as a unit, we have described them and highlighted their history as such. We hope that this is merely the beginning of a recognition of the ecosystem which the islands form.

The Virgins: A Descriptive and Historical Profile

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