History of The British Virgin Islands - Pre-Columbian Settlement

Pre-Columbian Settlement

The first recorded settlement of the Territory was by Arawak Indians who came from South America, in around 100 BC. However, there is some dispute about the dates. Some historians place it later, at around 200 AD, but they suggest that the Arawaks may have been preceded by the Ciboney Indians, who are thought to have settled in nearby St. Thomas as early as 300 BC. There is some evidence of Amerindian presence on the islands as far back as 1500 BC, although there is little academic support for the idea of a permanent settlement on any of the current British Virgin Islands at that time.

The Arawaks inhabited the islands until the 15th century when they were displaced by the more aggressive Caribs, a tribe from the Lesser Antilles islands, after whom the Caribbean Sea is named. Some historians, however, believe that this popular account of warlike Caribs chasing peaceful Arawaks out of the Caribbean islands is rooted in simplistic European stereotypes, and that the true story is more complex.

None of the later European visitors to the Virgin Islands ever reported encountering Amerindians in what would later be the British Virgin Islands, although Columbus would have a hostile encounter with the Carib natives of St. Croix.

Comparatively little is known about the early inhabitants of the Territory specifically (as opposed to the Arawaks generally). The largest excavations of Arawak pottery have been found around Belmont and Smuggler's Cove on the northwest of Tortola, but many other sites have been found, including at Soper's Hole, Apple Bay, Coxheath, Pockwood Pond, Pleasant Valley, Sage Mountain, Russell Hill (modern day Road Town), Pasea, Purcell, Paraquita Bay, Josiah's Bay, Mount Healthy and Cane Garden Bay. Modern archaeological excavations regularly cause local historians to revise what they thought they knew about these early settlers. Discoveries reported in the local newspapers in 2006 have caused postulation that the settlement of the islands by Arawaks may have been much more significant than had earlier been thought.