TORTOLA

largest of the British Virgin Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles chain, which separates the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Its name is from the Spanish trtola, meaning turtle dove. It lies about 60 miles (100 km) east of Puerto Rico and has an area of 21 square miles (54 square km). Tortola is composed of a long chain of hills uninterrupted by any transverse valley; although the island is only 3 miles (5 km) wide, one has to ascend to 1,200 feet (365 m) to cross it. The highest peak is Mount Sage (1,781 feet ). There is a fragment of an unusual xerophytic forest, with flora like that of the Greater Antilles, which contains species not found elsewhere on Tortola. The island is best suited by climate and topography to livestock raising. The export of livestock to the U.S. Virgin Islands is the principal economic activity. The government maintains a stock-breeding farm producing a hybrid that combines the heat resistance of tropical cattle with the greater production of breeds found in temperate climates. More than 80 percent of the population of the British Virgin Islands, mostly of African extraction, resides on Tortola. Pop. (1980) 9,119.