Virgin Gorda Island History:
Columbus discovered Virgin Gorda Island on his second voyage to the New World, in 1493. He named the area “Las Once Mil Virgines” after the 11,000 followers of St. Ursula. Virgin Gorda Island was so named by Columbus because he felt the island resembled a reclining woman with a protruding belly when viewed from the sea. The pre-Columbian period of Virgin Gorda Island had a variety of native tribes whom inhabited the area. Carib and Arawak Indians survived for many years on Virgin Gorda Island through basic agriculture and fishing techniques.

The Spaniards officially laid claim to the territory, including Virgin Gorda Island, in 1555. For almost a full century; however, Virgin Gorda Island was considered too small and unimportant for Spanish settlement so they remained largely uninhabited during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Pirates terrorized the Caribbean shipping lanes near Virgin Gorda Island with the blessing of one European country or another and the Spanish Armada was finally defeated. Many of the islands were names after various pirates, such as Thatch Island, which is named after Edward Thatch (or Teach-also commonly known as Blackbeard). Many of these same pirates, including Bluebeard and Captain Kidd, used Virgin Gorda Island as a base of operations.

Virgin Gorda Island was claimed by England in 1628 but the Dutch were the first true settlers arriving in Tortola in 1648. In 1666, British planters took over control of the islands from the original Dutch settlers and they attained the status of a British Colony and remained part of the Leeward Islands from 1872-1956 when the British Virgin Islands became a separately administered entity. In 1967, a new constitution provided for a ministerial system of government and the islands remain under British control today.