Virginia
About Virginia
History of Virginia
Native Americans
At the time of the English colonization of Virginia, among Native American people living in what now is Virginia were the Cherokee, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottaway, Pamunkey, Pohick, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Saponi, and Tuscarora. The natives are often divided into three groups. The largest group are known as the Algonquian who numbered over 10,000. The other groups are the Iroquoian (numbering 2,500) and the Siouan. [1]
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Virginia Colony: 1607–1776
At the end of the 16th century, when Great Britain began to colonize North America, Virginia was the name that Queen Elizabeth I of England (who was known as the “Virgin Queen” because she never married) gave to the whole area explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along the coast of North America, eventually applying to the whole coast from South Carolina to Maine. The London Virginia Company became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. The charter granted lands stretching from approximately the 34th parallel (North Carolina) north to approximately the 45th parallel (New York)and from the Atlantic Ocean westward. It swiftly financed the first permanent English settlement in the New World, which was at Jamestown, named in honor of King James I, in the Virginia Colony, in 1607, which settlement was founded by Captain Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith. Its Second Charter was officially ratified on May 23, 1609.
Jamestown was the original capital of the Virginia Colony, and remained so until the State House burned (not the first time) in 1698. After the fire, the colonial capital was moved to nearby Middle Plantation, which was renamed Williamsburg in honor of William of Orange, King William III. Virginia was given its nickname, “The Old Dominion”, by King Charles II of England at the time of the Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War.
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A new state
In 1780, during the American Revolutionary War, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who was afraid that Williamsburg’s location made it vulnerable to a British attack. In the autumn of 1781, American troops trapped the British on the Yorktown peninsula in the famous Battle of Yorktown. This prompted a British surrender on October 19, 1781, formally ending the war and securing the former colonies’ independence, even though sporadic fighting continued for two years.
Patrick Henry served as the first Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779, and again from 1784 to 1786. On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Convention adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that influenced the Bill of Rights added later to the United States Constitution. On June 29, 1776, the convention adopted a constitution that established Virginia as a commonwealth independent of the British Empire. In 1790 both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, but in an Act of the U.S. Congress dated July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac that had been ceded by Virginia was retroceded to Virginia effective 1847, and is now Arlington County and part of the City of Alexandria.
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American Civil War
Virginia is one of the states that seceded from the Union to become the Confederacy(on April 17, 1861) during the Civil War. When it did, some counties were separated as Kanawha (later renamed West Virginia), an act which was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1870. More battles were fought on Virginia soil than anywhere else in America during the Civil War. Virginia formally rejoined the Union on January 26, 1870, after a period of post-war military rule.
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20th century
When Douglas Wilder was elected Governor of Virginia on January 13, 1990, he became the first African-American to serve as Governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction.
Virginia
Abingdon Alexandria Altavista Appomattox Arlington Ashland Atkins Bailey’s Crossroads Barboursville Beaver Beckley Bedford Berryville Big Stone Gap Blacksburg Bluefield Bluefield Bracey Bridgeport Bristol Buckhannon Burkeville Cape Charles Carrollton Centreville Chantilly Chapmanville Charleston Charlottesville Chesapeake Chester Chilhowie Chincoteague Island Christiansburg Clarksburg Clarksville Claypool Hill Collinsville Colonial Beach Colonial Heights Covington Cross Lanes Culpeper Dahlgren Daleville Daniels Danville Davis Doswell Dublin Dulles Airport Dumfries Dunbar Elkins Elkview Emporia Exmore Fairfax Fairmont Falling Waters Falls Church Fancy Gap Farmville Fayetteville Fishersville Fort A.P. Hill Fort Belvoir Fort Chiswell Fort Lee Franklin Fredericksburg Front Royal Galax Ghent Glade Spring Glen Allen Gloucester Gordonsville Grundy Hampton Harpers Ferry Harrisonburg Herndon Hillsville Hopewell Hot Springs Huntington Hurricane Keswick Keyser Kilmarnock King George La Crosse Lebanon Leesburg Lewisburg Lexington Lorton Luray Lynchburg Madison Heights Manassas Marion Martinsburg Martinsville Max Meadows McLean Mechanicsville Middletown Midlothian Mineral Wells Morgantown Mount Hope Mount Jackson Nassawadox Natural Bridge New Market New Martinsville Newport News Norfolk Norton Oak Hill Onley Orange Parkersburg Petersburg Portsmouth Prince George Princeton Pulaski Radford Raphine Ravenswood Reston Richmond Ridgeway Ripley Roanoke Rocky Mount Rosslyn Ruther Glen Salem Sandston Shepherdstown Skippers Snowshoe South Boston South Charleston South Hill Springfield St. Albans Stafford Star City Staunton Stephens City Sterling Stony Creek Suffolk Summersville Sutton Tappahannock Teays Thornburg Triadelphia Triangle Troutville Verona Vienna Virginia Virginia Beach Warrenton Warsaw Waynesboro Weirton Weston Wheeling White Stone White Sulphur Springs Williamsburg Williamstown Winchester Wise Woodbridge Woodstock Wytheville Yorktown
