Virgin Gorda

Virgin Gorda (/ˈvɜːrdʒɪn ˈɡɔːrdə/) is the third-largest (after Tortola and Anegada) and second-most populous island of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Located at about 18 degrees, 30 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area of about 8 square miles (21 km²).

The main commercial and residential area is Spanish Town on the southwestern part of the island.

An unusual geologic formation known as "The Baths", located on the southern end of the island, makes Virgin Gorda one of the BVI's major tourist destinations. At the Baths, in spite of evidence of the island's largely volcanic origins, huge granite boulders lie in piles on the beach, forming scenic grottoes that are open to the sea. Although formed from magma deep underground, granite is an intrusive rock rather than volcanic. It becomes visible at the Earth's surface only after long-term erosion removes the overlying material. Once exposed, weathering breaks the granite into large boulders and rounds their surfaces over time. North of the Baths is the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor, formerly owned by Little Dix Bay. The most notable ruin on Virgin Gorda is the old Copper Mine.

One of the great harbors of the world, North Sound, and historically Gorda Sound, lies at the northeast end of the island. It is bordered by four islands and connecting reef systems that keep the sound calm, creating one of the world's great watersports meccas, with over 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of protected waters. At the eastern end of the sound is the premier anchorage, in the lee of Biras Hill (elevation 435 ft (133 m)). The village, resort, and marina at this point (Jon'O'Point) is called the Bitter End Yacht Club, and runs for about a mile of coastline.

Christopher Columbus is said to have called the island Virgen Gorda (Spanish for "fat virgin") because the island's profile on the horizon looks like a fat woman lying on her side. The island was previously called Paneston or Peniston (a linguistic corruption of the "Spanish Town").

The island's earliest known settlers were the Taíno (also called Arawak) people, who migrated from South America between 100 and 300 CE. Evidence of Arawak settlements have been in Spanish Town. In the fifteenth century, the Taino were displaced by the Carib people.

In 1493, on his second voyage, Christopher Columbus sighted the island. The Spanish claimed Virgin Gorda and the other Virgin Islands, but never settled Virgin Gorda.