News88 Blog Of The Day 04/29/2005: About The US Territory Of The UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS

Copyright 2005 News88, All Rights Reserved, #119.

Please refer back to the blog of the day for 03/05/2005. Saturday, March 05, 2005 for your information, for more information.

Yesterdays blog: About The US Territory Of The NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.
Todays blog: About The US Territory Of The UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS.
Tomorrows blog: About The US Territory Of The MIDWAY ISLANDS.

The Virgin Islands, consisting of nine main islands and some 75 islets, were explored by Columbus in 1493. They were originally inhabited by the Carib Indians. Since 1666, England has held six of the main islands; the remaining three (St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John), as well as about 50 of the islets, were eventually acquired by Denmark which named them the Danish West Indies. In 1917, these islands were purchased by the U.S. from Denmark for $25 million.
Congress granted U.S. citizenship to Virgin Islanders in 1927. Universal suffrage was given in 1936 to all persons who could read and write English. The governor was elected by popular vote for the first time in 1970; previously he had been appointed by the U.S. president. A unicameral 15-person legislature serves the Virgin Islands, and congressional legislation gave the islands a nonvoting representative in Congress. Residents of the islands substantially enjoy the same rights as those enjoyed by mainlanders, but they may not vote in presidential elections.
Tourism is the primary economic activity, accounting for most of the GDP and 70% of employment. All goods made in the Virgin Islands qualify for duty-free entry into the United States. Source: Time Almanac 2005.

Other than that, Free open thread.

P.S. More on the Politics1 and the Chat-Web 2 spinoff sites we are createing as spinoffs not only of them but of News88 too, on or by Sunday, May 01 2005, or 05/01/2005.
P.S.S. For more information on United States Virgin Islands, Please feel free to go to at my request and/or submission to http://www.politics1.com/vi.htm , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Virgin_Islands ,
or http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/?lvl=L . Thanks!