The Amerindians were the first discovers of the Virgin Islands around 900 BC.

Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493 on his 2nd voyage to the new world, and actually thought he was in some part of Asia or the Indies. (Hence the name 'West Indies'). The new territories (islands) which are now known as the British Virgin Islands, were, at various times occupied by the Dutch, Spanish, Danish, French and British. However, the British Virgin Islands were named Islas Virgines comparing the islands to the pristine and untouched beauty of the legend of St. Ursula and the 11,000 virgins who followed her to martyrdom.

Though the B.V.I were untouched for several 100 years many of the bays, sheltered coves were discovered by some of the most famous pirates and privateers of this era. Such as Black Beard, Norman and Jost Van Dyke. Several of the islands here, including Norman, Jost Van Dyke and Great and Little Thatch, are named after these legendary characters.

Soper's Hole provided both an excellent haven for this band of thieves and an advantageous spot from which to keep watch along the Sir Francis Drake channel for any ships ripe for plunder. Blackbeard's favorite targets were Spanish Galleons; although he did not seem to be too terribly picky about whom he murdered, robbed or raped. Blackbeard and his buccaneers would lay in wait for unsuspecting trade ships to approach and then pounce as swiftly as a scorpion's sting! They would systematically kill the crew without a second thought, steal the cargo and claim the ship as part of Blackbeard's growing fleet of pirate ships. 

The first European settlers arrived in the mid-17th century. All indications suggest that there was no serious Spanish settlement in the islands. There is evidence to suggest however, that there may have been a Spanish emplacement to protect their Copper Mine interests on Virgin Gorda. A hardy group of Dutchmen are believed to have constructed a fort at the West End of Tortola, but their stay here was short-lived as well. They were soon replaced by British settlers, and in 1672, The BVI was annexed by Britain and administered by the Government of the Leeward Islands. Although the islands' hillsides were steep and rocky, the English quickly set up plantations to grow cotton and sugar. Sugar eventually became king and by the end of the 18th century, sugar, molasses and rum were The BVI's main exports.