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HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS
Arawak Indians settled the Virgin Islands around 100 BC, sailing from South America in dugout canoes. The Arawaks lived in the Islands for many years and even now we still use some of their words: tobacco, barbecue, potato, hurricane, and cannibal. The Arawaks were a peace-loving tribe, but they were chased (or eaten) by the meaner Carib Indians, cannibals who arrived from South America in the 1400s. In 1493, Columbus “discovered” the Virgin Islands on his way to finding America. He must have missed having his female friends along, because he named the islands, Las Virgines.
The Spanish did not think much of these islands (they must have been crazy), so they stopped here only long enough to mine copper sometime in the 1600s. The Europeans who tried to move here were harassed by the Caribs and pirates, who attached ships carrying treasure back to Spain. As Spain began to lose their power, ownership of the Islands shifted back and forth between different countries until the Dutch established a permanent settlement on Tortola in 1648.
Eventually, the English threw the Dutch out of Tortola in 1672. The new rulers introduced two features of the colonial era in the Caribbean – sugar cane and slaves. Between the mid 1700s and the early |
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