Everything about Virginia totally explained
The
Commonwealth of Virginia is an
American state on the Atlantic Coast of the
Southern United States. Virginia is the 12th-most populous state in the U.S. with over residents, and the 35th-largest in area. It is named after
Queen Elizabeth I of
England, who, never having married, was known as the 'Virgin Queen'. The state is also known as the "The Old Dominion" as
King Charles II of England gave it the position of 'royal dominion' along with England, Scotland, and Ireland, and was the oldest of his settlements in America. It is sometimes known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it's the birthplace of the most
U.S. presidents, and occasionally as the 'Mother of States and Statesmen' due to the number of states originating from its territory and the number of statesmen having been born in Virginia.
The roots of modern Virginia trace back to the founding of the
Virginia Colony in 1607 by the
Virginia Company of London. Agriculture, colonialism and slavery played significant roles in Virginia's early economy and politics. It was the first permanent
New World English colony and became one of the
thirteen colonies that would take part in the
American Revolution, and subsequently became the heart of the
Confederacy in the
American Civil War.
The capital of the
commonwealth is
Richmond, while
Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and
Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. Although traditionally conservative and historically part of the
Southern United States, modern Virginia is a
politically competitive state for both major national political parties. Virginia is bordered by
Maryland and the
District of Columbia to the north and east; the
Atlantic Ocean to the east; by
North Carolina and
Tennessee to the south; by
Kentucky to the west and by
West Virginia to the north and west. Due to a peculiarity of Virginia's original charter, its boundary with Maryland doesn't extend past the low-water mark of the southern shore of the
Potomac River, meaning Maryland and the District of Columbia contain the whole width of the river rather than splitting it between them and Virginia.
Geology and terrain
The Chesapeake Bay divides the terresterially contiguous portion of the Commonwealth with a two county peninsula- Virginia's
Eastern Shore. Many of
Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake. The
Virginia seismic zone hasn't had a history of regular activity.
Earthquakes are rarely above 4.5 on the
Richter magnitude scale because Virginia is located centrally on the
North American Plate. The largest earthquake, at, came in 1897 in
Blacksburg. Besides
coal, resources such as
slate,
kyanite, and sand and gravel are mined with an annual value over $2 billion. Geographically and geologically, Virginia is divided into five regions from east to west:
Climate
Most of the state east of the
Blue Ridge Mountains, plus the southern part of the
Shenandoah Valley, has a
humid subtropical climate. In the mountainous areas west of the Blue Ridge, the climate becomes
humid continental. The moderating influence of the ocean from the east, powered by the
Gulf Stream, also creates the potential for
hurricanes near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, making the coastal area vulnerable. Although
Hurricane Gaston in 2004 inundated
Richmond hurricanes rarely threaten far inland.
Thunderstorms are an occasional concern, with the state averaging from of thunderstorm activity annually. The area of most frequent occurrence is in the west. The state averages in just in excess of per year, though most are F2 and lower on the
Fujita scale. Cold air masses arriving over the mountains, especially in winter, can lead to significant snowfalls in those regions, such as the
Blizzard of 1996. The interaction of these elements with the state's topography creates micro-climates in the Shenandoah Valley, the mountainous southwest, and the coastal plains that are distinct. In recent years the expansion of the southern suburbs of
Washington into
Northern Virginia, has created an
urban heat island due to the increased energy output of more densely used areas. In 2005, seventeen of the ninety-five counties received failing grades for air quality, with
Fairfax County having the worst in the state.
Flora and fauna
Virginia is sixty-five percent covered by forests. In some mountainous areas of the state, pine predominates and there's also the occasional naturally growing
prickly pear cactus. Lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of moisture-loving
hemlocks and
mosses in abundance. Other commonly found plants include
oak,
hickory,
chestnut,
maple,
tulip poplar,
mountain laurel,
milkweed,
daisies, and many species of
ferns.
Gypsy moth infestations beginning in the early 1990s have eroded the dominance of the oak forests.
Mammals include Whitetailed
deer,
black bear,
bobcat,
raccoon,
skunk,
opossum,
groundhog,
gray fox, and eastern cottontail
rabbit. Though unsubstantiated, there have been some reported sightings of
mountain lion in areas of the state. Birds include
Virginia cardinal,
barred owls,
Carolina chickadees,
Red-tailed Hawks, and wild
turkeys. The
Peregrine Falcon was reintroduced into Shenandoah National Park in the mid-1990s. Freshwater fish include
brook trout, longnose and blacknose dance, and the bluehead chub. The Chesapeake Bay is home to many species, including
blue crabs,
clams,
oysters, and
rockfish, also known as
striped bass.
Virginia has many
National Park Service units, including one
national park, the
Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah was established in 1935 and encompasses the scenic
Skyline Drive. Almost forty percent of the park's area (79,579 acres/322 km²) has been designated as
Wilderness and is protected as part of the
National Wilderness Preservation System. Other parks in Virginia, such as
Great Falls Park and
Prince William Forest Park are included in the many
areas in the National Park System. Additionally, there are thirty-four
Virginia state parks, run by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Department of Forestry. The Chesapeake Bay, while not a national park, is protected by both state and federal legislation, and the jointly run
Chesapeake Bay Program which conducts restoration on the bay and its watershed. The
Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is protected by both Virginia and
North Carolina.
History
Jamestown 2007 marked Virginia's quadricentennial year, celebrating four hundred years since the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. Over the centuries Virginia has been at the front of warfare from the
American Revolution and the
Civil War to the
Cold War and the
War on Terrorism. The far-reaching social changes of the mid- to late-20th century were expressed by broad-based celebrations marking contributions of three cultures to the state: Native American, European and African.
Colony
At the time of the English colonization of Virginia,
Native American people were living in what now is Virginia.
Native American tribes in Virginia included the
Cherokee,
Chesepian,
Chickahominy,
Mattaponi,
Meherrin,
Monacan,
Nansemond,
Nottoway,
Pamunkey,
Powhatan,
Rappahannock,
Saponi and others. The natives are often divided into three groups, based to a large extent upon language differences. The largest group are known as the
Algonquian led by
Chief Powhatan. It is estimated that at the time of English contact in the Tidewater region, the native Tidewater population of the Powhatan numbered 20,000. Powhatan controlled more than 32 chiefdoms in more than 150 town and settlements of various sizes. Two groups distinct from the Powhatan, the Nottoway and Meherrin, who numbered about 20,000 also, and lived in the Coastal Plain of Virginia beside other, more numerous Powhatan villages. They spoke dialects of the Iroquoian language and lived along the Nottoway and Meherrin Rivers. Like the coastal Algonquian (Powhatan), the people farmed and hunted, and their houses were similarly interspersed among fields of crops. Unlike members of the Powhatan chiefdom, however, the Nottoway and Meherrin lived as tribes in autonomous villages, with a local chief holding little sway beyond the village. A number of Indian tribes that spoke dialects of the Siouan language lived in the Piedmont of Virginia.
In 1583,
Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Sir
Walter Raleigh a charter to explore and plant a colony north of
Florida. In 1584, Sir
Walter Raleigh explored the
Atlantic coast of North America. Raleigh, or possibly the Queen herself, named the area "Virginia" after Queen Elizabeth, known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married. The name eventually applied to the whole coast from
South Carolina to
Maine, and included
Bermuda. The
London Virginia Company was incorporated as a
joint stock company by the proprietary
Charter of 1606, which granted
land rights to this area. The Company financed the first permanent
English settlement in the
New World.
Jamestown, named for
King James I, was founded on
May 13,
1607 by Captains
Christopher Newport and
John Smith. In 1609 many colonists died during the "
starving time" after the loss of the
Third Supply's flagship, the
Sea Venture.
The
House of Burgesses was established in 1619 as the colony's elected governance. After 1618 the
headright system led to more indentured servants from Europe. In this system, settlers received land for each servant they transported. Land from the Native Americans was appropriated by force and treaty, including the
Treaty of 1677, which made the signatory tribes
tributary states. The colonial capital was moved in 1698 to
Williamsburg, where the
College of William and Mary had been founded in 1693.
The House of Burgesses was temporarily dissolved in 1769 by the Royal governor
Lord Botetourt, after
Patrick Henry and
Richard Henry Lee led speeches on the distresses of the British
taxation without representation. In 1773, Henry and Lee formed a
committee of correspondence, and in 1774 Virginia sent delegates to the
Continental Congress. On
May 15,
1776, the
Virginia Convention declared independence from the
British Empire. Shortly after, the Virginia Convention adopted the
Virginia Declaration of Rights written by
George Mason, a document that influenced the
Declaration of Independence and the
Bill of Rights. Then on
June 29,
1776, the convention enacted a
constitution, drafted by
Thomas Jefferson, that formally declared Virginia as an independent commonwealth.
During the
American Revolutionary War, the capital was moved to
Richmond at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, fearing Williamsburg's location made it vulnerable to
British attack. In 1781, the combined action of
Continental and French land and naval forces trapped the British on the
Yorktown peninsula, where troops under
George Washington and French
Comte de Rochambeau defeated British
General Cornwallis in the
Battle of Yorktown. The British surrender on
October 19,
1781 so shifted British public opinion that it led to the end of major hostilities and secured the independence of the colonies.
Statehood
Virginians were instrumental in writing the
United States Constitution.
James Madison drafted the
Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789.
Virginia ratified the Constitution on
June 25,
1788. The
three-fifths compromise ensured that Virginia initially had the largest bloc in the
House of Representatives, which with the
Virginia dynasty of presidents gave the commonwealth national importance. In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new
District of Columbia, though in 1847 the Virginian area was retroceded.
Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 and
John Brown's raid on
Harpers Ferry in 1859 showed deep social discontent over the issue of slavery in Virginia and its role in the
plantation economy. Besides agriculture, slave labor was also increasingly used in mining, shipbuilding and other industries. By 1860, almost half a million people, roughly thirty-one percent of the total population of Virginia, were enslaved.
Virginia seceded from the Union on
April 17,
1861 after
Abraham Lincoln called for a response to the
Confederate States of America (CSA) attack on
Fort Sumter. Virginia turned over its military and ratified the CSA constitution in June 1861. The CSA then moved its capitol to Richmond. In 1863 forty-eight counties in the northwest of the state separated from Virginia to form the State of
West Virginia.
Virginia in the American Civil War saw more battles fought than anywhere else, including the
Battles of Bull Run, the
Seven Days Battles, the
Battle of Chancellorsville, and the concluding
Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. After the capture of Richmond, the Confederate capitol was moved to
Danville, Virginia. With the work of the
Committee of Nine during post-war
Reconstruction, Virginia formally rejoined the Union on
January 26,
1870, and adopted a constitution which provided for
Negro suffrage, a system of free
public schools, and guarantee of civil and political rights.
However during the culmination of the
Jim Crow era, legislators rewrote the
Constitution of Virginia to include a
poll tax and other measures on voter registration that effectively
disfranchised African Americans, leading to underfunding for segregated schools and services, and the lack of representation. From 1900 to 1904, estimated black voting in Presidential elections dropped to zero. African Americans still created vibrant communities and made progress. The first black students attended the
University of Virginia School of Law in 1950, and
Virginia Tech in 1953. Despite the determination of
Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia declared in 1958 that
desegregated schools wouldn't receive state funding, under the policy of "
massive resistance" spearheaded by the powerful segregationist Senator
Harry F. Byrd. In 1959
Prince Edward County closed their schools rather than
integrate them.
The subsequent lawsuit to open the schools,
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, was won by
Richmond natives
Spottswood Robinson and
Oliver Hill, beginning the slow integration of Virginia's schools.
World War II and the
Cold War led to massive expansion of government programs in the areas near Washington.
Northern Virginia was targeted in the
September 11, 2001 attacks because of the Pentagon site, where one hundred eighty-five people died.
Cities and towns
Virginia is divided into independent cities and counties, which function in the same manner. According to the
US Census Bureau, independent cities are considered
county-equivalent. As of 2006, thirty-nine of the forty-two
independent cities in the United States are in Virginia.
Incorporated towns are recognized as part of the
95 counties in Virginia, but are not independent. There are also hundreds of other
unincorporated communities in Virginia. Virginia doesn't have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.
Virginia has eleven
Metropolitan Statistical Areas.
Northern Virginia,
Hampton Roads, and
Richmond-Petersburg are the three most populated metropolitan areas of the state. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and the
Richmond metropolitan area has a population of over people.
Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the commonwealth, with
Norfolk and
Chesapeake second and third, respectively. Norfolk forms the urban core of this metropolitan area, which is home to over people and the world's largest naval base. Fairfax has a major urban business and shopping center in
Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest office market. Neighboring
Loudoun County, with the county seat at
Leesburg, is the fastest-growing county in the United States.
Arlington County, the smallest self-governing county in the United States by land area, is an urban community organized as a county.
Roanoke, with a, is the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in western Virginia.
Suffolk, which includes a portion of the
Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city geographically.
Demographics
As of 2006, Virginia had an estimated population, which is an increase, or one percent, from the prior year and an increase, or eight percent, since the year 2000. This includes an increase from net migration of into the commonwealth. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of, and migration within the country produced a net increase of .
English was passed as the commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and 1996, and by law in 2006, though the status isn't mandated by the
Constitution of Virginia. English is the only language spoken by, though it's spoken very well by an additional (for a total of 94.3% of the Commonwealth which speaks English.)
Spanish has the most speakers of other languages, with . Asian and Pacific Islander languages, including
Vietnamese and
Filipino.
Ethnicity
The five largest reported
ancestry groups in Virginia are:
African (19.6%),
German (11.7%), unspecified
American (11.4%),
English (11.1%), and
Irish (9.8%), which includes Scots-Irish. 20.8% of Virginians are African-American, most of whom are descendants of enslaved Africans who worked its
tobacco,
cotton, and
hemp plantations. Initially, they were imported from west central Africa, primarily
Angola. During the eighteenth century, however, half were derived from various ethnicities located in the
Niger Delta region of modern day
Nigeria. The twentieth century
Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to the North reduced Virginia's black population; however, in the past forty years there has been a reverse migration of blacks
returning to Virginia and the rest of the South. Virginia also continues to be the home to eight federally recognized and organized American Indian tribes. Six other incorporated groups are officially recognized as Indian tribes by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The western mountains have many settlements founded by
Scots-Irish immigrants before the Revolution. There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley. People of English heritage settled throughout the state during the colonial period, and others of British heritage have migrated there through the decades for work. As of 2007, 6.6% of Virginians are
Hispanic, 5.5% are
Asian, and 1.8% are American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
Further Information
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