Dutch Virgin Islands

Nederlandse Maagdeneilanden (Dutch Virgin Islands)
1625–1680
Flag Coat of arms
Status	Colony of the Dutch Republic
Common languages	Dutch, Negerhollands
Religion	Dutch Reformed
History
• Dutch West India Company fort established on Saint Croix	1625
• Dutch expelled from Saint Croix by British	1650
• Saint Thomas post established	1657
• Danish West India Company takes possession of Saint Thomas	1672
• Disestablished	1680
Currency	Gulden (WIC)
Succeeded by British Virgin Islands Danish West Indies

Part of a series on the
History of the United States Virgin Islands
Dutch Virgin Islands Danish West Indies Danish slave trade Danish West India Company 1733 slave insurrection on St. John Invasion of the Danish West Indies Treaty of the Danish West Indies Transfer Day
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The Dutch Virgin Islands is the collective name for the enclaves that the Dutch West India Company had in the Virgin Islands. The area was ruled by a director, whose seat was not permanent. The main reason for starting a colony here was that it lay strategically between the Dutch colonies in the south (Netherlands Antilles, Suriname) and New Netherland. The Dutch West India Company was mainly affected by the competition from Denmark, England and Spain. In 1680 the remaining islands became a British colony.