Quick & Simple Answer: A European renamed them.
As you read above, the Arawakan & Caribbean Islands had their names changed by the now notorious “discoverer” Christopher Columbus, who so-called the island group ‘The Virgin Islands”, after the Catholic fable about Saint Ursula and her Eleven Thousand Virgins 😑😮💨 I’ll leave you to researching Ursula and her silly fable for yourself, but for now, I have another question for you, especially family, those of you who live or trace your lineage back to the Caribbean islands: Why do you continue to use the byword “Virgin” when referencing the Caribbean (or your) islands? Especially considering what Europeans with power (through the European Catholic Church), did to the people of the islands, as you can read below…
I have been to multiple islands over the years but (as I hinted towards in my last blog), it wasn’t until my wife and I were in the middle of our anniversary island cruise trip this past January, that the question came to my mind: “Why are The Virgin Islands called The Virgin Islands?” My first thought in considering an answer was: “someone must have called them that, because of how pristine & untouched (virgin) the beaches are”… don’t laugh lol, I said it was my first thought. So, after a couple of minutes of googling, and learning the origin of the name/renaming, that’s when I asked myself the next question: “Why do we continue to call them The Virgin Islands today?” I have been working on casting off the bywords which were labeled on our people, and being that the people of the Caribbean Islands are also our people, let us cast off the byword of calling their islands after Columbus’ mythical 11,000 virgins.
Oh yes, we are not merely a dispersed people identified by the bywords of “Blacks descended from African slaves”, no, not at all— we are The Scattered Hebrew Israelites, the chosen people of The Most High YAH! We might be born in varied lands across the world, and we might be citizens of these various worldwide countries, but we must come back to and restore the knowledge & understanding that we are the descendants of the Nation of Israel — Our bloodline is not Black, American, Virgin Islander, etc… We are the bloodline Hebrew Israelites, we have been scattered, but its time to reunite again—HalleluYAH! And we must teach this truth to our children, the next generations need to know the truth.
In upcoming blogs, I hope to share some pictures & thoughts about how we saw the lasting power & influence of European Christianity & Supremacy all over the islands, but until those blogs, please share your comments, letting me know if you already knew why the Caribbean Islands were so-called The Virgin Islands, and what reasons you might have to continue calling them what Columbus named them.
Until next time, shalom ✌🏾
~Yahrahn
