The Spanish Virgin Islands (Spanish: Islas Vírgenes Españolas), formerly called the Passage Islands (Spanish: Islas del Pasaje), commonly known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands (Spanish: Islas Vírgenes Puertorriqueñas), consist of the islands of Vieques and Culebra, which are administratively part of the archipelago of Puerto Rico as municipalities. Located between the main island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the northeastern Caribbean, the islands are geographically part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

Geologically separated from the Greater Antilles island of Hispaniola by the Mona Passage and from the Lesser Antilles island arc by the Anegada Passage, the main island of Puerto Rico, the Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra, the British Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands except for the southernmost island of Saint Croix, all lie on the same carbonate platform and insular shelf, the Puerto Rico Bank, between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The archipelagos of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands except for Saint Croix also lie on the same tectonic plate, the Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands microplate.

Historically, the islands of Vieques and Culebra were included in maps and chronicles as part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands, which was named Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes by Christopher Columbus after the legend of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 virgins. The name was shortened to Islas Vírgenes (Virgins Islands).

Having been discovered during the second voyage of Columbus in 1493, the archipelago of the Virgin Islands was claimed by the Spanish Empire, but the Spaniards never settled them. Over the 17th century, the Spanish, Dutch, French, English, and Danish jostled for control of the islands.

The Dutch established a permanent settlement on the island of Tortola by 1648, frequently clashing with the Spanish who were based on nearby main island of Puerto Rico. In 1672, the English captured Tortola from the Dutch, and the English annexation of Anegada and Virgin Gorda followed in 1680. Meanwhile, over the period between 1672 and 1733, the Danish gained control of the nearby islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Saint Croix.

The islands under English control were known as the Virgin Islands, while the ones under Danish control were known as the Danish West Indies or Danish Virgin Islands. When the United States purchased the Danish islands in 1917, they became known as the United States Virgin Islands. To distinguish the American part of the Virgin Islands from the neighbouring British islands, those islands under the control of the British Empire began to be known as the British Virgin Islands.

As part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the islands of Vieques and Culebra, which along with the main island of Puerto Rico, remained under the control of the Spanish Empire throughout the European colonization of the Americas until the Spanish-American War in 1898, are known as the Spanish Virgin Islands, distinguishing them from the other islands in the archipelago: the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

As island-municipalities of Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra are mostly known as islas municipio (island municipality), with Vieques being also popularly known among residents of Puerto Rico as Isla Nena (“girl island”). As such, they are also known as the Islas Vírgenes Puertorriqueñas (Puerto Rican Virgin Islands) or the Islas Vírgenes de Puerto Rico (Virgin Islands of Puerto Rico).