Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands (Spanish: Islas Vírgenes) is an archipelago between the North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, located to the immediate east of the main island of Puerto Rico. It generally forms part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies of the Caribbean region.

Geologically separated from the Lesser Antilles by the Anegada Passage and from the Greater Antilles by the Mona passage, all the islands except for Saint Croix lie on the same carbonate platform and insular shelf, known as the Puerto Rico Bank, and same tectonic plate, known as the Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands microplate.

Politically, the islands fall into three jurisdictions: the easternmost British overseas territory of the Virgin Islands, commonly referred to as the British Virgin Islands; the central unincorporated American territory of the Virgin Islands of the United States, commonly known as the U.S. Virgin Islands; and the westernmost island-municipalities of the unincorporated American territory of Puerto Rico, officially named Vieques and Culebra but generally called the Spanish Virgin Islands or Puerto Rican Virgin Islands.