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.
1848Jul, 3
Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands).
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Events on 1848
- 15May
1848 revolutions
Serfdom is abolished in the Habsburg Galicia, as a result of the 1848 revolutions. The rest of monarchy followed later in the year. - 18May
Frankfurt Parliament
Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. - 19Jul
Seneca Falls Convention
Women's rights: A two-day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York. - 29Sep
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Battle of Pákozd: Stalemate between Hungarian and Croatian forces at Pákozd; the first battle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. - 1Nov
Boston University
In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens.