The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory 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 to the east of Puerto Rico and west of the British Virgin Islands.The U.S. Virgin Islands consists of the main islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas, and 50 other surrounding minor islands and cays. 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 St. Thomas.
Previously known as the Danish West Indies of the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway (from 1754 to 1814) and the independent Kingdom of Denmark (from 1814 to 1917), they were sold to the United States by Denmark for $25,000,000 in the 1917 Treaty of the Danish West Indies, and have since been 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.
Tourism and related categories are the primary economic activities.
1917Jan, 17
The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
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Events on 1917
- 22Jan
Woodrow Wilson
World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. - 15Mar
Nicholas II of Russia
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne ending the 304-year Romanov dynasty. - 2Apr
Woodrow Wilson
World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. - 5Jun
Conscription
World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day". - 27Jul
Battle of Passchendaele
The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.