Timeline of Virgin Islands

Chronology

48 events spanning the history of Virgin Islands. BCE/CE dating.

1. 1493

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   Christopher Columbus, exploring for new lands and mineral wealth, discovered the islands and claimed them for Spain. It was evident that there was copper on Virgin Gorda. The Carib indians were so antagonistic and defended their territory so fiercely that, in 1550, Charles V of Spain decreed that they should be treated as enemies and they were exterminated.

2. 1550

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   Charles V of Spain decreed that they should be treated as enemies and they were exterminated. The Spanish, continuing their explorations, discovered the bounty of South America and abandoned the islands, which were left uninhabited for the last half of the 16th. century.

3. 1585

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   The sovereigns of Holland, England, and France became very interested in the wealth being acquired by Spain, and their representatives sailed through the waters of the islands on their way to harrass Spanish possessions and capture the Spanish treasure ships. One of those representatives was Sir Francis Drake, who passed through in 1585. The archipelago of the West Indies was becoming increasingly important as the New World was being opened up, and formal claims of possession were made on all the islands.

4. 1621

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   the Dutch made Tortola their base and despite spasmodic attacks from Spain, who still considered the islands to be theirs, persisted in their occupation and built a fort there. During their tenure, the islands became a haven for buccaneers.

5. 1625

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   Charles 1 of England issued letters of patent and a grant of ownership of the islands to the Earl of Carlisle in 1625; however, no attempt was made to occupy the islands because England was colonizing the larger islands of Barbados, St.Christopher, Nevis, Montserrat and Antigua, and, these were proving very profitable. Those islands eventually united to become the Colony of the Leeward Islands.

6. 1665

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   on the outbreak of war between England and Holland, Captain John Wentworth attacked the islands and the Dutch lost their foothold.

7. 1666

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   the islands were formally annexed by England to the government of the Leeward Islands, and came under some measure of civic control.

8. 1680

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   English planters from Anguilla began to settle on Virgin Gorda and Tortola. The islands became productive, sending sugar, rum and cotton to England. No taxes were levied.

9. 1684

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   Spain, weakened by aggression, agreed to recognize all the Dutch colonies in the West Indies

10. 1690

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    Virgin Gorda had fourteen planters, with their families and slaves, growing cotton. There was a settlement on Tortola, but the island was considered of little value, except for smuggling. The settlers hold on their land was tenuous, and they lived in constant threat of invasion by the Spanish. The islands were proving difficult to defend and were still accommodating smugglers and privateers.