HISTORY

The Old and the Unexplored
a Fresh Look at B.V.I. History



Road Harbour some 200 years ago as depicted
in a fresco by Margaret Barwick at
Government House, Tortola
(photo courtesy of Vernon Pickering - copyright)

 By Vernon Pickering (copyright)

As early as 300 BC Amerindians from the Ciboney tribe of Venezuela reached the Virgin group and were later overthrown by the Taino Arawaks at about 200 AD. Recent archaeological finds have confirmed that the Arawaks had settlements throughout the archipelago that later became known as the BritishVirgin Islands. Just one century before the arrival of Europeans the Caribs, another Amerindian tribe, invaded the area and enslaved the indigenous population.

  On November 16th, 1493, while en route to Puerto Rico, the Italian Admiral Christopher Columbus commanding a Spanish fleet of three large galleons and fourteen caravels financed by the Spanish Treasury and the Genoese bankers discovered Virgin Gorda and the neighbouring islands and named the entire archipelago "Santa Ursula y Las Once Mil Virgenes" (St Ursula and 11,000 Virgins). Columbus was told by some Amerindian women he was using as guides that the islands were not inhabited but on sendinga caravel to one of the islets some fishermen's huts were sighted.

The arrival of the Spanish meant very little for the Virgin Islands except for the fact that many of the islands came out of anonymity by getting their own names: Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Santa Ana (Tortola) and San Pedro (St Peter, later abbreviated as Peter Island). Actually, the origin ofthe name Tortola has fuelled a limited number of theories: some suggest the name Tortola is derived from the Spanish word for the turtle dove, others prefer to believe that the island was called "Thertolen" by the Dutch (whence its anglicized version). There is also the possibility that the island owes its name to accidental misreading or erroneous transcript of a Spanish map. Since Columbus named the entire group "St. Ursula" it is possible that due to the peculiar calligraphy of the time the maps bore an inscription of this kind: "fT urfula" -- a misreading could easily produce Tartala or Turtula.



The Dungeon, Tortola, Pockwood Pond: said to be one of the oldest military structures on Tortola it was built in the 1740s-50s by the Royal Engineers on the ruins of a pre-existing fort erected by the Dutch.
(Photo by Marge Doran, copyright)

Although the Spanish attributed no value to the Virgin Islands their location placed them on one of the most strategic sea highways, and in1517 Sir Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert passed through the Virgin Islands on their way home from exploring Brazilian waters. Sir Sebastian was the son of John Cabot, a Venetian explorer who had made his fortune and fame in England. John Hawkins, an English seaman trading African slaves, came to the Caribbean in 1542 and passed by the Virgin Islands. In 1585, Sir Richard Grenville passed through the Virgin Islands on his way to Puerto Rico. By this time a 20-year war between Spain and England had erupted.

Later that same year Sir Francis Drake sailed through the Virgins with a cargo of gold. On his last voyage to the West Indies (1595)Drake, in the company of Sir John Hawkins, moored his fleet of 27 shipsand 2500 men at Gorda Sound. In 1597, the Earl of Cumberland, on his way to besiege Puerto Rico, describe the archipelago as a "knot of little islands, wholly uninhabited, sandy, barren and craggy." Eventually the BVI's major seaway, known as "Freebooters Gangway", changed its name to "Sir Francis Drake Channel" because of its recurrent use by the famous British explorer.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to make permanent settlement in Tortola; their presence in the islands dates back to 1621 when they utilized the islands as a base from which to pillage and harass the Spanish settlements in the bigger islands. Thus a small number of smart buccaneers, pirates and, later on, privateers and planters settled on the island.

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Tombstone at Towers, Tortola inscribed with the following words -"Here lieth the Body of John Soper son of McCuthbert Soper, who departed this life the 4th Day of January 1749 aged 7 years...." - This family gave the name to a West End harbour called Soper's Hole, very often misspelled by misinformed people as Sopher

(Photo by Marge Doran, copyright)

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