The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita291recl Year: 1891 CHAPTER XI. Virgin Islands and Santa Cruz. HE Yirgin Islands were so named by Columbus because they covered the sea in a long procession like that of the ' eleven thousand virgins ' of the Christian legend. This chain of islands forms a prolongation of Puerto Rico, but bends round somewhat to the north- east before joining the Lesser Antilles. They form, so to say, the keystone of the vast semicircle described by the whole of the Antilles. But both as regards the submarine bed on which they re
The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita291recl Year: 1891 CHAPTER XI. Virgin Islands and Santa Cruz. HE Yirgin Islands were so named by Columbus because they covered the sea in a long procession like that of the ' eleven thousand virgins ' of the Christian legend. This chain of islands forms a prolongation of Puerto Rico, but bends round somewhat to the north- east before joining the Lesser Antilles. They form, so to say, the keystone of the vast semicircle described by the whole of the Antilles. But both as regards the submarine bed on which they rest and their general trend, they belong far more to the group of the Great than to that of the Lesser Antilles. On the east side the separating channel is over 1,000 fathoms deep, while the distance to the nearest members of the smaller group exceeds 250 miles. Santa Cruz, which is associated politically with the Virgin archipelago, is geographically distinct, for it is separated from the northern chain by a ' tongue of the ocean,' and on the other hand its marine bank forms an advanced prom- ontory of the Lesser Antilles. Thus the two insular systems overlap at their converging extremities. Culebra and Crab, depending politically on the neighbouring Puerto Rico, reall}'^ form part of the Virgin group. St. Thomas and St. John, the next two going eastwards, together with the outlying Santa Cruz, are Danish possessions, while all the rest as fur as Anegada form part of the British Colonial Empire. St. Thomas. Notwithstanding its small size, St. Thomas was formerly the most important of the Antilles as the general depot of European trade with the West Indies. It had originally been a rendezvous of the buccaneers, and then in the hands of a financial company became the chief centre of the contraband trade with the Spanish colonies, and one of the great markets for negroes imported from Africa. The Elector of Brandenburg was director of the company, and he having been succeeded by t
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