VIRGIN GORDA ISLAND

one of the British Virgin Islands, in the West Indies, lying 80 miles (130 km) east of Puerto Rico. It has an area of 8.25 square miles (21 square km) and forms two rectangles joined by a spit, or point, of land. The peninsula in the southwest is flat and strewn with enormous granite boulders, some more than 30 feet (9 m) high. The north rises straight from the water to hills, the highest of which is Virgin Peak at 1,359 feet (414 m). Virgin Gorda was settled by planters leaving Anguilla after 1680. Agriculture is economically important, and tourism is increasing. There were once copper workings at Copper Mine Point. Pop. (1980) 1,412.