Coat of arms of the British Virgin Islands

The coat of arms of the British Virgin Islands was first granted in 1960.

The arms consist of a shield, featuring a woman in a white dress holding a golden lamp, with 11 other golden lamps surrounding her on a green field.^[1] It is a representation of the semi-legendary Saint Ursula, a Christian saint who is said to have taken a pilgrimage across Europe with 11,000 virgin handmaidens.^[2] When Christopher Columbus sighted the islands in 1493, the islands were said to have reminded him of the story of Saint Ursula, and that is how the islands got their name; the arms were later chosen as a representation of this story. The Latin motto under the coat of arms, Vigilate, means “Be Vigilant”.

References

^ "CIA World Factbook- British Virgin Islands". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
^ "CIA World Factbook- British Virgin Islands". Retrieved 13 July 2019.

Sources

Heraldry of the World: British Virgin Islands

This British Virgin Islands–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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[1] "CIA World Factbook- British Virgin Islands". Retrieved 13 July 2019.

[2] "CIA World Factbook- British Virgin Islands". Retrieved 13 July 2019.

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v t e Coats of arms of the United Kingdom and dependencies
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
Constituent countries	England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Overseas territories	Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Montserrat Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Helena Ascension Island Tristan da Cunha South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands
Crown Dependencies	Guernsey Alderney Herm Sark Jersey Isle of Man

v t e Armorial of North America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

See also

References

Sources