The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are a collection of 60 islands and cays located 62 miles east of Puerto Rico. Tortola is the largest of the BVI, measuring 12 miles long and 3 miles wide. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Sir Francis Drake Channel to the south.

The earliest inhabitants of the British Virgin Islands were Amerindians originating in Venezuela. These tribes were overthrown by the Arawaks around 200 AD, who were then enslaved by the Caribs in the 14th century. Christopher Columbus is said to have been the first European to glimpse the British Virgin Islands during his second voyage in 1493. Although he gave Tortola its name, meaning "Turtle dove," he did not claim the islands for Spain. The Dutch first settled the island with plantations and several forts. However, the Dutch gave way to the British in 1666 and Tortola has been in British hands ever since. During the next century, the colonists fostered a profitable sugar industry powered by African slave labor.

In 1773 the islands were granted a constitutional government with a House of Assembly and Legislative Council in return for an impost of 4.5 percent. In 1808 the slave trade was abolished and the plantation economy immediately began to crumble. British planters relocated back to Great Britain and many free slaves purchased the land they had left behind. 1834 saw the emancipation to the 5,133 remaining slaves in the BVI.

For the last half-century, Tortola has seen a steady increase in investments in infrastructure such as marina facilities, hospitals, fire departments, power plants and government buildings. The BVI has the benefit of a low population and a rising standard of living. The BVI ranks 3rd in the Caribbean basin with a per capita GDP of US$26,900. The BVI has a low crime rate with practically no serious crime (homicides totalled 3 from 1995 to 1998, the USVI had 27 in 1996). The island is not as overbuilt as St. Thomas or many of the larger islands, but it has facilities unavailable on many smaller islands. The population of the BVI has grown to about 18,737 people, according to a 1996 census.