Flag: U.S. Virgin Islands Emoji

The flag of the United States Virgin Islands: a simplified US coat of arms on a white field, flanked by the blue letters V and I. The yellow eagle holds a laurel branch in its right talon (peace and victory) and three blue arrows in its left (the three main islands: St Thomas, St Croix, and St John). The eagle's shield carries thirteen red-and-white vertical stripes, mirroring the original thirteen US colonies. Designed by Percival Wilson Sparks, an assistant Navy paymaster stationed in Charlotte Amalie, and adopted on May 17, 1921, four years after the US bought the islands from Denmark for $25 million in gold. The flag has not changed since.

The USVI is the last piece of Denmark's colonial empire. Denmark held the Danish West Indies from 1672 to 1917, running the Caribbean's most profitable sugar plantations on St Croix and operating one of Atlantic slavery's busiest transshipment ports at Charlotte Amalie. Emancipation came in 1848, not 1834, and not from London: it was forced on the Danish governor Peter von Scholten by a slave revolt led by General Buddhoe at Fort Frederik on St Croix. Sixty-nine years later, with Denmark broke and World War I threatening German U-boat bases in the Caribbean, the US bought the islands. Transfer Day was March 31, 1917. USVI residents became US citizens in 1927 but cannot vote for president.

Socially, 🇻🇮 runs on four parallel tracks. The biggest is US cruise tourism, driven by Charlotte Amalie's megaship port (2.7 million cruise passengers in 2024). Second is rum and Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton spent his formative years in Christiansted on St Croix, the musical revived American interest in his backstory, and the territory remains the home of Cruzan and Captain Morgan's main US distilleries. Third is Tim Duncan, the five-time NBA champion from Christiansted who took up basketball only because Hurricane Hugo destroyed his Olympic swimming pool. Fourth is Carnival, one of the richest in the Caribbean, held on each of the three main islands at different times of the year. Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015 as the regional indicator sequence U+1F1FB U+1F1EEU+1F1FB U+1F1EE.

🇻🇮 has four main posting engines. Charlotte Amalie cruise content drives the biggest raw volume. The St Thomas harbor hosts up to six megaships a day in peak season (January to April), and the downtown duty-free district and Magens Bay beach feed constant Instagram traffic. Transfer Day on March 31 is the most politically specific window: anniversary coverage of the 1917 handover from Denmark, often paired with reflections on the territory's unvoting status in presidential elections. The 2017 centennial was the biggest single-day 🇻🇮 event in a decade.

Carnival is split across the three main islands, which keeps the flag active for months. St Thomas Carnival in late April / early May, St John Festival in early July, and Crucian Christmas Festival on St Croix running from mid-December through Three Kings Day (January 6) each generate distinct cultural-content cycles. The Mocko Jumbies (stilt dancers with African roots) are the Virgin Islands' signature Carnival image and drive strong 🇻🇮 reach on TikTok.

Diaspora content from the mainland US runs year-round. Tens of thousands of Crucians and Thomians live in New York (particularly Brooklyn and Westchester), Atlanta, and South Florida; the flag appears at West Indian Day Carnival (Brooklyn, Labor Day), Calle Ocho (Miami), and in tight-knit diaspora Facebook groups. Virgin Islanders in the mainland use 🇻🇮 alongside 🇺🇸 to signal the dual American-Caribbean identity. Younger Virgin Islanders post it alongside Hamilton references.

Rum and Hurricane Irma / Maria content fills in the rest. The 2017 hurricane season (Irma September 6, Maria exactly two weeks later, both Category 5) ended the territory's post-2008 boom and launched a long recovery cycle that's still being discussed every August through November. The territory is now pitching 1.9 million cruise passengers for 2026 as megaships return.

• 🏛️
  Capital: Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas. Major cruise port and duty-free district.
• 👥
  Population: ~87,150 (2020 census). Population has been shrinking since 2010 peak.
• 🏝️
  Main islands: St Thomas, St Croix, St John. Water Island is a fourth, much smaller, inhabited island.
• 🗺️
  Area: 346 km² (134 sq mi).
• 💵
  Currency: US dollar.
• 🗣️
  Languages: English (official); Virgin Islands Creole in everyday speech; some Spanish and Haitian Creole in immigrant communities.
• 🏛️
  Government: Unincorporated US territory. Legislature of 15 elected senators; Governor elected by residents; non-voting delegate in US House; no presidential vote.
• 📞
  Calling code: +1-340.
• ⏰
  Time zone: AST (UTC-4), no daylight saving.
• 🌐
  Internet TLD: .vi (lightly used).

Foods that show up next to 🇻🇮

Landmarks that anchor travel content

The Ciboney, Carib, and Arawak peoples inhabited the islands for millennia. Columbus sighted them in 1493 and named the cluster 'Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes' (the BVI flag still carries Saint Ursula imagery). Denmark began settling St Thomas in 1672 and Christiansted on St Croix in 1733. The Danish West Indies became the most profitable Caribbean colony per capita, with St Croix sugar plantations running on enslaved African labor shipped through Charlotte Amalie's port. Slavery was abolished in 1848 after General Buddhoe led a mass slave revolt at Fort Frederik on St Croix, forcing Danish Governor Peter von Scholten to emancipate the enslaved population on the spot, 14 years after the British did the same thing across the rest of the Caribbean.

Plantation agriculture collapsed in the late 19th century. Denmark began negotiating a US sale as early as 1867, but successive deals failed (Congress rejected one in 1870, the Danish Rigsdag rejected another in 1902). The 1917 sale went through because World War I made Caribbean US bases suddenly critical: German U-boats were sinking ships across the Atlantic, and the US didn't want Denmark's islands to fall to Berlin via occupation. Denmark held a referendum (64% voted to sell), and the deal closed for $25 million in gold. Transfer Day was March 31, 1917.

Percival Wilson Sparks, an assistant Navy paymaster stationed in Charlotte Amalie, designed the territorial flag in 1921. His brothers Benton and Percy, who ran the local paint shop, helped refine the colors. Sparks went simple: US coat of arms, simplified, flanked by the VI initials. The flag was officially adopted May 17, 1921. Residents got US citizenship in 1927 under the Jones Act, but the territory remains unincorporated; Virgin Islanders cannot vote for president and have only a non-voting delegate in the House. The 2017 double-hurricane disaster (Irma and Maria) and the rum-cover-over subsidy wars with Puerto Rico are the two defining economic stories of the 21st century so far.

• 🎉
  January 1: New Year's Day: Public holiday. Three Kings Day parade on St Croix follows on January 6.
• 👑
  January 6: Three Kings Day: Epiphany. Parade in Frederiksted, St Croix, closes the [Crucian Christmas Festival](https://www.stxfestival.com/).
• ✊
  January 19, 2026: MLK Day: Third Monday of January. Federal holiday.
• 🇺🇸
  February 16, 2026: Presidents' Day: Third Monday of February. Federal holiday.
• 🇻🇮
  March 31: Transfer Day: The USVI's distinctive national day. Commemorates the March 31, 1917 transfer from Denmark to the US for $25 million in gold. Peak reflections on territorial status and voting rights.
• 🎭
  April 20 to May 2, 2026: St Thomas Carnival: Children's parade, adult parade, J'ouvert, calypso competition, Mocko Jumbie stilts. Peak 🇻🇮 window for St Thomas.
• 🇺🇸
  May 25, 2026: Memorial Day: Federal holiday.
• ✊
  July 3: Emancipation Day: Commemorates General [Buddhoe's 1848 slave revolt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Gottlieb) that forced Danish emancipation on St Croix.
• 🇺🇸
  July 4: Independence Day: US federal holiday. Celebrated across the territory.
• 🙏
  July 27, 2026: Hurricane Supplication Day: Unique USVI holiday. Churches pray for protection during the June-November hurricane season. Especially resonant after [Irma and Maria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Atlantic_hurricane_season) in 2017.
• 🇺🇸
  September 7, 2026: Labor Day: US federal holiday.
• 🇵🇷
  October 12, 2026: Puerto Rico Friendship Day: Observed in USVI as Puerto Rico Friendship Day, recognizing deep family ties across the 100-mile Anegada Passage between the territories.
• 📰
  November 1: D. Hamilton Jackson Day: Honors [D. Hamilton Jackson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Hamilton_Jackson), the labor leader who won press freedom from the Danish crown in 1915.
• 🇺🇸
  November 11: Veterans Day: Federal holiday.
• 🦃
  November 26, 2026: Thanksgiving: Federal holiday. Local twist: fungi and saltfish often served alongside turkey.
• 🎄
  Mid-December to January 6: Crucian Christmas Festival: [The USVI's biggest annual festival](https://www.stxfestival.com/). Queen shows, food fairs, live calypso, Three Kings Day parade. A 12-day run overlapping the US mainland holiday season.
• 🎄
  December 25 and 26: Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

• •The USVI is the only place under the US flag where people drive on the left side of the road, a holdover from Danish colonial rule. Most cars have left-side steering wheels imported from the mainland, which makes passing a project.
• •Tim Duncan, widely considered the greatest power forward in NBA history, grew up on St Croix training to swim in the Olympics. Hurricane Hugo destroyed the island's only Olympic pool in 1989, and his fear of sharks pushed him toward basketball. His sister Tricia swam for the USVI at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
• •Alexander Hamilton spent his formative years in Christiansted, St Croix. The essay he wrote at age 17 about surviving the August 1772 hurricane so impressed local merchants that they funded his passage to New York, launching the career of America's first Treasury Secretary.
• •The US paid $25 million in gold for the islands in 1917, roughly $575 million in 2025 dollars. Denmark held a referendum first, with 64% voting to sell. The islands had been losing money for Denmark for decades after the sugar economy collapsed.
• •Buck Island's underwater snorkeling trail, established by JFK in 1961, was one of the first underwater national monument trails in the world. Elkhorn coral forms fortress-like walls around the island, sheltering 250+ fish species.
• •The rum cover-over program returns federal excise taxes on USVI-made rum back to the territory, generating over $250 million annually. Rum production is a cornerstone of the USVI economy, not just a beverage industry. Cruzan has produced rum on St Croix since 1760; Captain Morgan moved its main distillery there in 2010.
• •The USVI population has been shrinking for decades: from 106,405 in 2010 to 87,146 in 2020, a 19% drop driven by hurricanes, high living costs, and limited economic opportunity. Most young Virgin Islanders eventually relocate to the mainland US.
• •The Mocko Jumbie stilt dancers of USVI Carnival trace their origins to West African spirit-dancer traditions brought to the Caribbean through slavery. The name derives from 'moko,' a healing god from Central Africa. The stilt dancers are now UNESCO-recognized as intangible cultural heritage.

• •🇻🇮 is a regional indicator sequence: U+1F1FBU+1F1FB (V) + U+1F1EEU+1F1EE (I). ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code: VIVI.
• •Shortcode: :flag_vi::flag_vi: or :us_virgin_islands::us_virgin_islands: on most platforms.
• •The .vi.vi TLD is administered by the University of the Virgin Islands. Lightly used outside local institutions.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.