Virgin Gorda () is the third-largest (after Tortola and Anegada) and second-most populous island of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Geography
Located at about 18 degrees, 30 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area of about .
The main commercial and residential area is Spanish Town on the southwestern part of the island.
thumb|left|The Baths, 2013
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 of protected waters. At the eastern end of the sound is the premier anchorage, in the lee of Biras Hill (elevation ). 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.
thumb|Sunset at Road Harbour, Virgin Gorda
Etymology
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").
History
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 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. Hawkins and Drake returned to Virgin Gorda in 1595. In 1595, twenty-six ships anchored in the North Sound and used the large hill at Bitter End to practice for their attack on San Juan, to wrest Puerto Rico from Spain. With both admirals dying on the 1595/1596 voyage, the land at Bitter End may be the last place that these historical figures set foot on British soil.
In In 1631, the Dutch West India Company funded a settlement on Virgin Gorda, set up by Joost van Dyk, to mine copper on the island. Virgin Gorda residents are served by Robinson O'Neal Memorial Primary School and Bregado Flax Educational Centre, a combined primary and secondary school that opened in 1982. In 2000 the government created plans to create a primary school on the island.
Churches
- St. Ursula's Church, The Valley