The United States Virgin Islands are a territory made up of a group of islands in the northeastern
Caribbean just east of Puerto Rico.
They are part of the Virgin Islands archipelago.
This group of islands includes the U.S. Virgin Islands (shown in red), the Spanish Virgin
Islands (shown in green), and the British Virgin Islands (shown in blue).
The Spanish Virgin Islands are a part of Puerto Rico, another territory of the U.S., while
the British Virgin Islands are a British Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.
The U.S. Virgin Islands contain three major islands, Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint
Thomas, as well as several smaller islands.
The first flags in what is now the U.S. Virgin Islands were those carried by Christopher
Columbus and his men who landed on all three of the major islands during Columbus’ second
voyage to the New World between 1493-1496.
The flags his expedition carried included the flag of the Kingdom of Castile and Leon,
the predecessor to the Kingdom of Spain.
The flag consisted of a combination of a lion wearing a crown on a field of white, representing
Leon, and a yellow castle on a field of red, representing Castile.
Another flag Columbus would have carried onto the Virgin Islands was a flag of white with
a green cross in the middle, representing Catholicism, flanked by the letters F and
Y, both green and topped with golden crowns.
The letters stood for the reigning monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Ysabel I of Castile,
Isabel being spelled with a Y in Old Spanish.
The Spanish held control of the islands in name through the 1500s during which time landings
by the Spanish navy likely carried the Cross of Burgundy flag that was used throughout
the Spanish Empire.
The French began colonizing Saint Croix in the early 1600s.
The flag of the Kingdom of France usually consisted of a field of white with several
fleur-de-lis.
In 1651, the Knights of St. John, also known as the Knights of Malta, known for their involvement
in the crusades in the Middle East during the middle ages, purchased the island of Saint
Croix.
The flag of the Knights of Malta flew on the island at the time.
It consists of a field of red with a white Latin cross of Christianity.
This was the symbol worn by the knights during the crusades and also represented their humanitarian
and medical activities, which the organization was also associated with.
The Knights of Malta governed the island of Saint Croix for 14 years until 1665 when they
sold their rights to the island to the new French West India Company.
The Danish West India Company colonized Saint Thomas in 1672, Saint John in 1694, and purchased
Saint Croix from the French in 1733.
In 1754, the islands became the Danish West Indies, royal colonies of the Kingdom of Denmark
and Norway.
During this time, Denmark was in personal union with Norway as one political entity
that also controlled Iceland and Greenland.
Denmark’s flag consists of a field of red with a white Scandinavian cross of Christianity.
The flag flew on what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands until the Danish West Indies were
sold by Denmark in 1917.
The United States had first attempted to purchase the islands from Denmark in 1899, but was
unsuccessful.
During World War I, a fear of rising German influence in the Caribbean led to another
attempt to purchase the islands.
A treaty was signed in 1917 between the U.S. and Denmark for the sale of the Danish West
Indies for $25 million, which is equivalent to about $463 million in 2016.
The American flag has flown on the islands ever since, with stars added as new states
have been admitted to the union.
Four years after the islands became part of the United States, a flag was adopted for
the new territory in 1921.
The governor of the islands asked for suggestions for a flag and Percival Wilson Sparks, a cartoonist,
drew up the design for the flag.
The flag consists of a simplified version of the coat of arms of the United States in
the center flanked by the letters V and I, which stand for the Virgin Islands.
The coat of arms includes a bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, with a
shield at its center.
The shield contains the red, white, and blue colors of the U.S., with 13 stripes, signifying
the 13 British colonies that originally formed the country.
The eagle holds an olive branch in one talon, symbolizing peace, and arrows in the other,
symbolizing war.
The eagle faces the olive branch, signifying the country’s desire for peace, but its
readiness for war if needed.
The eagle of the flag of the U.S. Virgin Islands is entirely gold, unlike the official coat
of arms of the nation.
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