Virgin Islands of the United States |
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Motto: "United in Pride and Hope"
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Anthem: "Virgin Islands March"
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Location of United States Virgin Islands (circled in red)
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Status | Unincorporated and organized territory | ||||
Capital and largest city |
Charlotte Amalie 18°21′N 64°56′W / 18.350°N 64.933°W |
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Official languages | English | ||||
Common languages |
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Ethnic groups |
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Demonym | Virgin Islander | ||||
Sovereign state | United States | ||||
Government | Territorial presidential constitutional republic | ||||
Donald Trump (R) | |||||
• Governor
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Kenneth Mapp (I) | ||||
Osbert Potter (I) | |||||
• Delegate
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Stacey Plaskett (D) | ||||
Legislature | Legislature of the Virgin Islands | ||||
Unincorporated and organized territory of the United States | |||||
March 31, 1917 | |||||
July 22, 1954 | |||||
Area | |||||
• Total
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346.36 km2 (133.73 sq mi) (202nd) | ||||
• Water (%)
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negligible | ||||
Population | |||||
• 2016 estimate
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102,951 | ||||
• 2010 census
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106,405 | ||||
• Density
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768/sq mi (296.5/km2) (n/a) | ||||
GDP (PPP) | 2007 estimate | ||||
• Total
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$4.580 billion (n/a) | ||||
• Per capita
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$40,124 (n/a) | ||||
HDI (2008) |
0.894 very high · 59th |
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Currency | United States dollar (USD) | ||||
Time zone | AST (UTC−4) | ||||
• Summer (DST)
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none (UTC−4) | ||||
Date format | MM/DD/YYYY | ||||
Drives on the | left | ||||
Calling code | +1-340 | ||||
ISO 3166 code | VI | ||||
Internet TLD | |||||
The United States Virgin Islands (U.S.V.I.; also called the American Virgin Islands), officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
The U.S. Virgin Islands consist of the main islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas, and many other surrounding minor islands. The total land area of the territory is 133.73 square miles (346.36 km2). The territory's capital is Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas.
In 2010 the population was 106,405, and mostly Afro-Caribbean. Tourism is the primary economic activity, although there is a significant rum manufacturing sector. Farming is done on a relatively small scale on the islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas, although it has seen a slow revival in recent years.
Previously the Danish West Indies of the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916. They are classified by the U.N. as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, and are currently an organized, unincorporated United States territory. The U.S. Virgin Islands are organized under the 1954 Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands and have since held five constitutional conventions. The last and only proposed Constitution, adopted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention in 2009, was rejected by the U.S. Congress in 2010, which urged the convention to reconvene to address the concerns Congress and the Obama Administration had with the proposed document. The convention reconvened in October 2012 to address these concerns, but was not able to produce a revised Constitution before its October 31 deadline.