Tortola Hotels
Many tourists like to visit Tortola. Some may want to see the culture, the history, the entertainment, the tourist attractions, the sports and the society of the island. Some may want to see the entertainment and sports of the island. Some tourists and other visitors may want to stay at a hotel for short term accommodation. Some tourists may want a hotel that has a good views of the island. Some tourists may want a hotel that is large or small. Some tourists may want a hotel that is cheap or luxury. Some tourists may require a hotel that has good access to transport and parking. Some visitors to the island may require a hotel that has a classic or new design.
Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands which form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. Local belief is that the name was originally given to the island by Christopher Columbus, meaning land of the Turtle Dove,
tortola hotels
Tortola is a mountainous island 13.5 miles long and 3 miles wide, with an area of 21.5 square miles. Formed by volcanic activity, its highest peak is Mount Sage at 1750 feet .
The principal settlement is Road Town, the capital of the British Virgin Islands.
Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. There is some ambiguity as to the precise geographical extent of Road Town. Approaching the town from the west, a sign at the bottom of Slaney Hill greets visitors to Road Town. But traditionalists assert that the town itself only starts from Road Reef and Fort Burt, and that Prospect Reef Hotel (which covers almost all the land in between) is not technically in Road Town. Approaching Road Town from the east, there is similar ambiguity if Road Town begins at the Port Purcell roundabout below Fort George, or whether it also includes Baughers' Bay. Fort Burt and Fort George were the historical markers of the western and eastern limits of the town which benefitted from the protection of the Crown. The name is derived from the nautical term "the roads", a place less sheltered than a harbour but which ships can easily get to. A 67-acre (27 ha) area called Wickhams Cay was reclaimed from the sea and is the centre of tourism. The oldest building in Road Town, the old HM Prison on Main Street, dates from the 1840s. The town is one of the principal centres for bareboating (self-hire yacht chartering) in the Caribbean. Road Town is the headquarters of Tortola Marine Management, located in the Road Reef Marina, and The Moorings, which are two of the main charter boat companies operating out of Road Town/Road Harbor.
Fort George is a colonial fort which was erected on the northeast edge of Road Town, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands above Baugher's Bay. The site is now a ruin.
The original structure is believed by some to have been built at an unascertained date by the original Dutch settlers of the islands to protect slave pens that were built in Port Purcell below. It is likely that the initial structure was built in response to a massacre of the inhabitants of the original settlement in Baugher's Bay in 1625.
However, the main fortification was built (or rebuilt) by the British in the late 18th century around the outbreak of the American war of independence as part of the general upgrade of the fortifications of Road Town. The fort was named (or re-named) after King George III. Fort George formed part of a formidable defensive network of forts around Road Town at this time, including the eponymous Road Town Fort (under what is now the site of the Boungainvillea clinic), Fort Burt above Road Reef on the south west side of the harbour, and Fort Charlotte set high above on Harrigan's Hill. Fort George never actually engaged in combat after restoration by the British. The combination of the formidable martial defences of Road Town, and relatively small strategic and economic importance of Tortola persuaded both foreign colonial powers and privateers and pirates alike to focus on other targets within the region.
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a British overseas territory, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S. Virgin Islands. Technically the name of the Territory is simply the Virgin Islands, but in practice since 1917 they have been almost universally referred to as the British Virgin Islands to distinguish the islands from the American Territory.
The Virgin Islands were first settled by the Arawak from South America around 100 BC (though there is some evidence of Amerindian presence on the islands as far back as 1500 BC). The Arawaks inhabited the islands until the fifteenth century when they were displaced by the more aggressive Caribs, a tribe from the Lesser Antilles islands, after whom the Caribbean Sea is named.
The first European sighting of the Virgin Islands was by Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage to the Americas. Columbus gave them the fanciful name Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes (Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins), shortened to Las Vírgenes (The Virgins), after the legend of Saint Ursula.
The Spanish Empire claimed the islands by discovery in the early sixteenth century, but never settled them, and subsequent years saw the English, Dutch, French, Spanish and Danish all jostling for control of the region, which became a notorious haunt for pirates. There is no record of any native Amerindian population in the British Virgin Islands during this period, although the native population on nearby St. Croix was decimated. The Dutch established a permanent settlement on the island of Tortola by 1648. In 1672, the English captured Tortola from the Dutch, and the British annexation of Anegada and Virgin Gorda followed in 1680. Meanwhile, over the period 1672–1733, the Danish gained control of the nearby islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix.
Fort Burt is a colonial fort which was erected on the southwest edge of Road Town, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands above Road Reef Marina. The site is now a hotel and restaurant of the same name, and relatively little of the original structure remains. However, one of the original cannons has survived, and is displayed on the veranda of the hotel vigilantly looking over the harbour.
The original structure is believed by some to have been built at an unascertained date by the original Dutch settlers of the islands, although this is not certain as Spanish documents from this time refer to other forts on Tortola (which they attacked) and they make no mention of a defensive fortification at Fort Burt although the route of their attack (from Soper's hole, through Fort Purcell and on to Fort George would have taken them directly by the site of Fort Burt. In his book, Vernon Pickering suggests that the British erected the Fort on a site that they "erroneously believed" to have been the site of an earlier Dutch fort However, the main fortification was built (or rebuilt) by the British in 1776 at the outbreak of the American war of independence.
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