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Virgin Islands definition

Virgin Islands

group of islands of the Leeward group in the West Indies, east of Puerto Rico, comprising the British Virgin Islands, easternmost islands of this group, constituting a British territory (59 sq mi, 153 sq km; pop. 17,000), & the Virgin Islands of the United States, the islands of this group closest to Puerto Rico, constituting a territory of the U.S. (134 sq mi, 347 sq km; pop. 109,000; cap. Charlotte Amalie: abbrev. VI)

Etymology: < Sp Las Virgenes, the virgins, so named (1493) by Christopher Columbus in honor of the legendary 11,000 followers of St. Ursula

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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