the islands were originally lived in by caribbean indians called arawaks. by the time the first european explorers discovered the british virgin islands all of the arawaks had left. the first europeans to try and settle in the british virgin islands were the dutch, but the english came soon after and the english and the dutch settlers used to fight. the spanish also claimed the islands, but no spanish people ever tried to settle there. but the spanish did attack the british and dutch settlers.