 
<translate> Ndị mbụ biri na Virgin Islands gụnyere ndị Ciboney, ndị Arawaks, na ndị Carib Island. Ndị Europe mbụ a maara na ha letara àgwàetiti ndị ahụ bụ Christopher Columbus. Mba dị iche iche weghaara agwaetiti ndị ahụ n'ime narị afọ sochirinụ, gụnyere England, Dutch Republic, France, na Denmark. Na 1733, ụlọ ọrụ Danish West India Company zụtara Saint Croix n'aka ndị France ma jikọta Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, na Saint John dị ka Danish West Indies. E guzobere ebe ndị Denmark na-azụ ahịa n'àgwàetiti ndị ahụ, na-azụ ahịa shuga, ndị ohu na ngwongwo ndị ọzọ. Ịkụ ọkpọ bụ ọrụ dị mkpa e ji akpata ego ruo ọtụtụ afọ, a na-ejikwa ndị ohu arụ ọrụ. Agbanyeghị, na-eso mmụba nke mmata mmadụ, iwu megide ịgba ohu na nnupụisi ohu na 1848, gọvanọ Peter von Scholten tọhapụrụ ndị ohu ikpeazụ n'otu afọ ahụ. United States zụtara agwaetiti ndị ahụ n'aka ndị Denmark na 1917 n'okpuru nkwekọrịta nke Danish West Indies.  Zaa ajụjụ a dabere n'akụkụ Akwụkwọ Nsọ ahụ: olee mgbe ndị US nwetara agwaetiti ndị ahụ na-amaghị nwoke? Ka anyị buru ụzọ mee ka uche anyị dịrị n'ihe. <eng> Early inhabitants of the Virgin Islands included the Ciboney, Arawaks, and Island Caribs. The first documented Europeans to visit the islands arrived with Christopher Columbus. The islands were occupied by several nations over the next century, including England, the Dutch Republic, France, and Denmark. In 1733, the Danish West India Company purchased Saint Croix from the French and brought together Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, and Saint John as the Danish West Indies. Danish trading posts were set up on the islands, trading in sugar, slaves and other goods. Sugar cane cultivation was a major economic activity for many years, with slaves used as one of the labor sources. However, following increasing humanitarian awareness, laws against slavery and a slave rebellion in 1848, the governor Peter von Scholten officially freed the last slaves the same year. The islands were purchased from the Danish by the United States in 1917 under the Treaty of the Danish West Indies.

Answer this question based on the passage: when did the us acquire the virgin islands? Let's have some stream of consciousness first. 