UPFRONT.

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The Real Spanish Virgins

I am writing in response to Larry Luxner's article, "Puerto Rico's Spanish Virgins," in your May/June edition. He refers to the existence of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands and to the proposition that the islands of Vieques and Culebra be named the Spanish Virgins.

It is important that a magazine like Americas, which is a publication of the OAS, be aware of the historical realities of Vieques and Culebra, which are part of Puerto Rico.

What today are known as the U.S. Virgins and the British Virgins, as well as other adjacent islands, are in reality the Spanish Virgin Islands. When Admiral Christopher Columbus made his second voyage, during October and November of 1493, he took a route south that brought him to the Lesser Antilles. At first he and his crew began to name each island, but there were so many that he decided to baptize them all with the name of the "Eleven Thousand Virgins." This designation covered a large area, from what is today known as the Virgin Islands to the southernmost islands. The islands remained Spanish during all of the sixteenth century, or for more than one hundred years.

Continuing on his voyage toward the Island of Hispaniola (today Dominican Republic and Haiti), which the Indians called "Ayti," Columbus and his men arrived at an island called Bieke (today Vieques), and from there they went southwest to the island of Boriquen (Puerto Rico), before arriving at Ayti.

Bieke always conserved its indigenous name and was never really part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. Since the Spaniards found no gold, silver, or other precious metals in the "Eleven Thousand Virgins," they were not interested in colonizing them. The French, Dutch, and English arrived years later, establishing the ethnic configuration that exists today in the Lesser Antilles.

The Spanish Virgin Islands that include Saint Thomas were colonized by the Dutch from...