Located in the Caribbean's Leeward Islands, east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and northwest of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands form a British Overseas Territory in the West Indies, comprising around 60 islands. The main islands include Tortola, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, and Virgin Gorda.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus named these islands "Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes" after a legend about Saint Ursula and 11,000 virgins. Over time, it was shortened to the more commonly known "the Virgin Islands.
The territory's official name remains the "Virgin Islands," but it's often referred to with the prefix "British" to set it apart from its neighboring American territory, which changed its name from the "Danish West Indies" to the "Virgin Islands of the United States" in 1917.
The British Pound Sterling was officially used in the British Virgin Islands from 1833 until 1935. Since 1959, the British overseas territory has been using the US Dollars as their primary medium of exchange.
