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The Land

The Tidewater Region is an It is located near the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Several important bodies of water are located in this region, including the The Tidewater Region also includes the area of mostly low, flat land. four major rivers, the Great Dismal Swamp, and Lake Drummond. Eastern Shore and three other peninsulas; t
he Peninsula, t he Middle Peninsula, and t he Northern Neck.

Products & Industries

The Tidewater Region produces many different products, or items produced to sell. The location near the water has provided a rich layer of soil, making the region a top producer of The region's location near water also effects the many different industries. peanuts, cotton, and soybeans. The Atlantic Ocean also makes the Tidewater Region a top seafood producer. Shipbuilding, fishing/seafood, military bases, and tourism are important industries located within the Tidewater Region.

Points of Interest

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The Tidewater Region is an It is located near the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Several important bodies of water are located in this region, including the The Tidewater Region also includes the area of mostly low, flat land. four major rivers, the Great Dismal Swamp, and Lake Drummond.

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The Regions of Virginia | Virginia Museum of History & Culture

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The geography of Virginia has shaped both the history and economy of the state.

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The Land

The Tidewater Region is an It is located near the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Several important bodies of water are located in this region, including the The Tidewater Region also includes the area of mostly low, flat land. four major rivers, the Great Dismal Swamp, and Lake Drummond. Eastern Shore and three other peninsulas; t
he Peninsula, t he Middle Peninsula, and t he Northern Neck.

Products & Industries

The Tidewater Region produces many different products, or items produced to sell. The location near the water has provided a rich layer of soil, making the region a top producer of The region's location near water also effects the many different industries. peanuts, cotton, and soybeans. The Atlantic Ocean also makes the Tidewater Region a top seafood producer. Shipbuilding, fishing/seafood, military bases, and tourism are important industries located within the Tidewater Region.

Points of Interest

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The Tidewater Region is an It is located near the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Several important bodies of water are located in this region, including the The Tidewater Region also includes the area of mostly low, flat land. four major rivers, the Great Dismal Swamp, and Lake Drummond.

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The Land

The Piedmont Region is a low plateau with rolling plains and many rivers and streams. Much of the land of the Piedmont is full of rolling hills and valleys. The land also includes grassy meadows, farmlands, and forests.

At the Fall Line, the four major rivers become shallow, rough, and rocky. Several waterfalls and rapids have formed along the natural border.

Products & Industries

During the time of the early settlers, the Piedmont Region, the rivers were used to transport many products. . These products include Some industries in the Piedmont Region include federal & state government, the horse industry, and farming. The history of the Piedmont plays a large roll in the federal and state government industry. The geography of the region explains why farming and the horse industry are large industries. textiles (clothing), tobacco products, cotton, corn, and information technology.

Click the button below to learn more about the tourism industry in the Piedmont Region.

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The Piedmont Region is a low plateau with rolling plains and many rivers and streams. Much of the land of the Piedmont is full of rolling hills and valleys. The land also includes grassy meadows, farmlands, and forests. At the Fall Line, the four major rivers become shallow, rough, and rocky.

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Blue Ridge Mountains Products/Industry and Geography

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Blue Ridge Mountains Products/Industry and Geography

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The Land

The Blue Ridge Mountain Region has a forest covered, mountainous landscape. Where there are mountains, there are valleys. Valleys are the low stretches of land between mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains are also the source for many rivers, especially the four major rivers in Virginia.

Products & Industries

The main industry of the Blue Ridge Mountains is the tourism industry. People come to the Blue Ridge Mountains from around the world to see the gorgeous, mountainous trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Another important industry in the Blue Ridge Mountain Region is farming. The low, rich soil of the valleys are perfect for growing crops such as the Blue Ridge Mountain Region's major products,
apples.

Points of Interest

The Blue Ridge Mountains offer several interesting places that tourists visit regularly. The Mountains are filled with national and state parks, trails, camp grounds, and museums.

The Blue Ridge Parkway

Shenandoah National Park

Booker T. Washington National Monument

History Museum of Western Virginia

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The Blue Ridge Mountain Region has a forest covered, mountainous landscape. Where there are mountains, there are valleys. Valleys are the low stretches of land between mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains are also the source for many rivers, especially the four major rivers in Virginia.

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Valley & Ridge Products/Industry and Geography

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Valley & Ridge Products/Industry and Geography

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The Land

The Valley and Ridge Region includes hills and long ridges with valleys between them. The region includes part of the Great Valley, which runs through the Appalachian Mountains. The valleys within the region are separated by ridges. Ridges are long, narrow hilltops or mountain ranges. The Shenandoah Valley was the first part of the Great Valley to be settled.

Products & Industries

The low valleys and rich soil of the Valley and Ridge Region, have produced rich soil that is perfect for farming. Farming is the top industry of the region.

The farming industry provides several top products to consumers in the region. The top products of the Valley and Ridge Region include poultry, apples, dairy, and beef.

Points of Interest

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The Valley and Ridge Region includes hills and long ridges with valleys between them. The region includes part of the Great Valley, which runs through the Appalachian Mountains. The valleys within the region are separated by ridges. Ridges are long, narrow hilltops or mountain ranges.

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The Appalachian Plateau Region is sometimes called the toe of the boot. It is a series of gaps, ridges, and valleys that are a part of a raised plateau that extends into Kentucky and Tennessee. A plateau is a broad, flat area of high land. The Appalachian Plateau is the western most region of Virginia. It is located in southwest Virginia, east of Kentucky. The Appalachian Plateau Region is the smallest region in Virginia.

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The Appalachian Plateau Region is sometimes called the toe of the boot. It is a series of gaps, ridges, and valleys that are a part of a raised plateau that extends into Kentucky and Tennessee. A plateau is a broad, flat area of high land. The Appalachian Plateau is the western most region of Virginia.

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The state of Virginia's place in American history was assured more than 400 years ago when the first permanent English settlement in North America was established on its shores in 1607 at Jamestown. Just 12 years later, in 1619, the state of the colony was solidified when Jamestown became the meeting place of the first representative assembly in the New World.

As the first of the 13 original colonies, Virginia continued to play a dominant role in the leadership of the country. During the American Revolution it contributed such dedicated statesmen as George Washington, Patrick Henry, George Rogers Clark, Light-Horse Harry Lee, and Thomas Jefferson to the cause of freedom. After independence was achieved, the state earned the nickname Mother of Presidents because of the large number of Virginians who served in the country's highest office. Four of the first five presidents of the United States-Washington, Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe-were born in the colony. Since then four other Virginia-born men have also served as president- William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson.

Two of the greatest conflicts fought on U.S. soil came to a close in Virginia. The American Revolution virtually ended at Yorktown when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his British army to General Washington. Less than a hundred years later, the Virginian commander of the Confederate forces, Gen. Robert E. Lee, presented his sword to the Union commander Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox-thus ending the American Civil War. Some of that war's bloodiest battles-Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville-were fought within the state. The capital of Virginia since 1779, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederacy and became one of the chief targets of the Union Army. In addition to Lee, several other Virginia-born generals won wide respect for their military leadership-the Confederacy's Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart, Jubal Early, Joseph E. Johnston, and George Pickett, and the Union's George Thomas.

The terrible conflict between the North and the South left Virginia's cities and countryside in ruins. However, the devastated state managed to solve the problems of Reconstruction and lay the foundations of its modern era. Today the huge cotton and tobacco plantations are gone, but in their place modern farms produce a diversified and abundant quantity of crops. From Richmond to Norfolk the state's riverbanks and coast are lined with busy ports and shipyards. Its cities support giant industrial complexes. Its mines extract valuable minerals from the earth. Still, the lives led by many of Virginia's mountain families remain beyond the reach of this prosperity.

Virginia was named for the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I of England. Its nickname of Old Dominion dates back to about 1660, when Charles II of England placed the arms of Virginia on the royal shield. This gave the American colony equal rank with the other dominions- England, Scotland, France, and Ireland. Another nickname, the Cavalier State, comes from the name given to supporters of King Charles I, many of whom came to the colony for refuge during England's Civil War of the 1640s. Virginia is known as the Mother of States because all or part of eight other states were created from the land it covered during the colonial era. Area 42,775 square miles (110,787 square kilometers). Population (2020) 8,654,542.

Part of the South, the Old Dominion is in the southeastern part of the United States. It is shaped roughly like a triangle with its southern boundary as the base. Virginia is bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean for 112 miles (180 kilometers). Two of its eastern counties-Northampton and Accomack-are on the Delmarva Peninsula. The name of the peninsula was formed from letters of the three states that occupy the area ( Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia). This region is separated from the main body of the state by Chesapeake Bay.

On the northeast, Virginia is separated from Maryland and the District of Columbia by the Potomac River. To the northwest and west are West Virginia and Kentucky. Tennessee and North Carolina are the border states to the south of Virginia.

Natural Regions
Virginia lies within two of the large natural regions of the continental United States: the Atlantic Plain and the Appalachian Highlands. Eastern Virginia is part of the Coastal Plain province of the Atlantic Plain. To the west are four provinces of the Appalachian Highlands: the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Valley and Ridge, and the Appalachian Plateaus. ( See also Appalachian Mountains.)

Coastal Plain
© Wendy Farrington/Shutterstock.com

In Virginia the Coastal Plain province occupies the so-called Tidewater region of the state, a mostly flat, low-lying area that is deeply interlaced by tidal rivers and their estuaries. The province, which also includes the two counties in the state located on the Delmarva Peninsula, extends inland from the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles (161 kilometers) to a line running north and south through King George county, Richmond, and Emporia. Along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay are three peninsulas cut out by the long, wide mouths of the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James rivers. The area south of the James River contains the 750-square-mile (1,942-square-kilometer) Dismal Swamp, which extends southward into North Carolina.

Lying immediately to the west of the Coastal Plain is the Piedmont province. It is a region of low rolling hills. They reach from the Blue Ridge to the fall line -the place where rivers descend, often in rapids, from higher and geologically older regions onto the flatter coastal plains. This region is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) wide in the northern part of the state and 165 miles (266 kilometers) wide along the southern border.

The Blue Ridge province crosses the whole state in a northeast-southwest direction for about 300 miles (480 kilometers). This rugged highlands region is widest near the North Carolina border. In the north the Potomac river cuts a deep notch through the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Maryland border. In the south the Roanoke River flows through the province in a southeasterly direction on its way toward North Carolina. On the border of Smyth and Grayson counties is Mount Rogers. At 5,729 feet (1,746 meters), it is the highest point in the state.

Valley and Ridge
Courtesy of the Virginia Division of Tourism

Most of western Virginia is covered by the Valley and Ridge province. Its outstanding feature is the Shenandoah Valley, a part of the Great Appalachian Valley. It stretches for about 150 miles (240 kilometers) between the Alleghenies of West Virginia and the Blue Ridge. The limestone soils of the valley make it one of the most fertile parts of the state. The ridges of this region include the Massanutten, North, Shenandoah, and Cumberland. In the extreme west where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet is the Cumberland Gap through the Appalachians.

Appalachian Plateaus
The Appalachian Plateaus province covers a small part of Virginia in Wise, Dickenson, and Buchanan counties. The elevation here is from 2,700 to 3,000 feet (800 to 900 meters). Streams have channeled the region into a maze of deep ravines and winding ridges.

Virginia's climate is generally mild and pleasant. There are marked differences in temperatures, however, between the eastern and western parts of the state. The Coastal Plain, tempered by ocean breezes, has an even climate throughout most of the year and has become popular as a winter residential area. In the west the Appalachian Highlands have cold winters and cool summers. Average annual temperatures vary from 54 °F (12 °C) in the southwestern mountains to about 59 °F (15 °C) along the coast.

The average annual precipitation (rain and snow) varies from 50 inches (127 centimeters) in the extreme southeastern section to about 35 inches (90 centimeters) in the northwestern part of the state. The western shore of Chesapeake Bay around Norfolk has the longest growing season in the state-some 250 days. At the other extreme are parts of Tazewell county in western Virginia with about 140 frost-free days a year.

Natural Resources
The soils of Virginia are generally fertile. Much of the soil in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions was worn out by intensive tobacco growing, but it has been rebuilt, mainly by crop rotation. The southwestern part of the state has good grazing land. The industrial resources are minerals, fisheries, waterpower, and lumber. The chief commercial trees are pine in the Coastal Plain, hardwoods in the mountains, and mixed pine and hardwoods in the Piedmont.

Virginia's two largest flood-control and hydroelectric projects-Philpott Dam on the Smith River and John H. Kerr Dam on the Roanoke-were completed during the 1950s. Most of the conservation work is directed by the State Department of Conservation and Recreation. Other agencies are the Marine Resources Commission and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The majority of Virginia's residents are of white European descent. According to the 2010 census, whites made up about 69 percent of the population. Most of the state's white population stems from two immigrant groups. In the Tidewater region nearly all the early settlers were English colonists. The other group consisted of Germans and Scots-Irish who had pushed down into the Shenandoah Valley from Pennsylvania beginning in about 1730.

Today African Americans constitute a substantial minority in Virginia-about one-fifth of the population-serving as a reminder of the important role that African slaves and their descendants played in the early development of the state. Virginia's Hispanic and Asian communities have been growing rapidly since the late 20th century. About 8 percent of the state's residents identified themselves as Hispanic in 2010, while Asians accounted for 5.5 percent of the population. Native Americans make up a tiny fraction of the population.

Between 2000 and 2010 Virginia's population rose 13 percent to surpass 8 million. The greatest growth during that time span occurred in the northern counties surrounding Washington, D.C. In particular, Loudoun county experienced a population increase of more than 84 percent, which made it the fifth fastest-growing county in the United States. Many of the counties in south-central and western Virginia, however, remain largely rural.

The state's largest city is Virginia Beach-a resort city on the Atlantic that has military installations. Norfolk, Virginia's second most populous city, is a port on Hampton Roads at the site where the James River enters Chesapeake Bay-a natural harbor for both naval and air bases. Nearby in the Hampton Roads section is Chesapeake, the state's third largest city, which is an industrial and residential center. The state capital, situated in the east-central part of the state at the head of navigation of the James River, is Richmond, one of the leading industrial cities of the South.

Newport News and Hampton are ports on the peninsula between the York and the James rivers. Roanoke, the largest city of western Virginia, stands at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley. Portsmouth, southwest of Norfolk, is also a port on Hampton Roads. Alexandria, on the Potomac, is a residential city.

Recreation
The natural beauty of Virginia offers much in the way of recreation. Shenandoah National Park, in the Blue Ridge, has an abundance of wildlife and unusual geological formations. Assateague Island National Seashore, off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula and divided between Virginia and Maryland, is especially noted for its wild horses. The broad sands of Virginia Beach attract many visitors annually. Among the many scenic routes are the 105-mile (169-kilometer) Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway on the top of the western mountains; both offer spectacular views and park facilities.

The state is especially appealing to vacationers devoted to the study of American history. Iron markers along the highways point out the state's many historic spots-battlefields of the American Revolution and the Civil War; famous mountain routes; and the homes of such national figures as Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Wilson, General Robert E. Lee, and Chief Justice John Marshall. Of particular historical interest is the peninsula between the York and James rivers. Here are located Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America; Williamsburg, the restored colonial capital of Virginia; and Yorktown, the site of General Cornwallis's surrender in the American Revolution.

The state has no major professional sports teams, but collegiate athletics, particularly the Virginia Tech and University of Virginia football and basketball teams, attract a broad following. The James River provides challenging rapids for enthusiasts of white-water canoeing, rafting, and other aquatic adventure sports, and the state's mountain resorts, including Homestead, Bryce, Massanutten, and Wintergreen, offer fine slopes for downhill skiing. Golfing is also a popular pastime.

The first free school in colonial Virginia was founded in Elizabeth City county in 1635. Virginia's first college, the College of William and Mary, was chartered in Williamsburg in 1693. It was the second college to be founded in the colonies. (Only Harvard, dating from 1636, is older.)

First to advocate a free public educational system was Thomas Jefferson. Virginia's present public school system, however, was not established until 1870. The state system of higher education was started in 1819 when Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. It has a branch campus in Wise. Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, formerly the women's division of the University of Virginia, became an independent coeducational school in 1972.

Other state-supported schools include Virginia Tech (in full Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), at Blacksburg; Virginia Commonwealth University, at Richmond; Old Dominion University, at Norfolk; Virginia State University, at Petersburg; Norfolk State University, at Norfolk; Radford University, at Radford; James Madison University, at Harrisonburg; Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington; Longwood College, at Farmville; and George Mason University, at Fairfax.

The state is also the site of the University of Richmond, at Richmond; Virginia Union University, at Richmond; Hampton University, at Hampton; Washington and Lee University, at Lexington; and Lynchburg College, at Lynchburg. Other Virginia colleges include Randolph-Macon College, at Ashland; Randolph College, at Lynchburg; Sweet Briar College, at Sweet Briar; and Hampden-Sydney College, at Hampden-Sydney.

Virginia has developed a diversified economy far beyond its original agricultural base. Farming now accounts for just a tiny percentage of the state's gross product. Manufacturing, a leading sector in the mid-20th century, has been surpassed by the services sector.

Agriculture, Fishing, and Forestry
The early history of Virginia centered around growing tobacco -still one of the most valuable crops. Virginia ranks with the two Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee as the chief sources of tobacco in the United States. Most of the crop is grown in the southern Piedmont region. Other leading crops are soybeans, corn, and wheat. The state's most important agricultural commodities today, however, are livestock and related products: chickens, turkeys, eggs, cattle, and dairy products. Nursery and greenhouse products are also valuable.

The Old Dominion is one of the major fishery states, with a significant commercial catch. The leading finfish catches include menhaden, croaker, striped bass, and flounder. Even more valuable are shellfish, especially sea scallops and blue crabs. Aquaculture, focusing primarily on hard clams and oysters, has grown notably in the 21st century.

Virginia's forest resources provide the basis for a lumber industry that contributes billions of dollars per year to the state's economy. Since the 1970s the government has implemented reforestation programs to counter the risk of overharvesting, particularly of pine resources.

During the 1900s the Old Dominion steadily became a new dominion of manufacturing. Today the income from manufacturing is well above the total income from Virginia's farms, forests, and fisheries. In 2010 the sector accounted for more than 8 percent of the state's gross product and for a similar portion of the state's workforce.

The largest manufacturing industry in Virginia is the processing of food, beverage, and tobacco products. Also important for the state's economy are chemicals, transportation equipment, machinery, computers and electronic products, fabricated metal products, plastics and rubber, electrical equipment, and paper and wood products.

One of Virginia's most valuable minerals is bituminous coal. Almost all the state's coal production takes place in the southwest. Other important minerals are crushed stone, cement, and sand and gravel.

The major source of employment in the state is the service sector, which provides jobs for a large percentage of the workforce. This sector encompasses wholesale and retail trade, tourism, public administration, health and social services, education, and professional and business services. The federal government maintains a notable presence in the state. The U.S. Department of Defense not only is a major employer in Virginia but also conducts a significant amount of business through contracts with private firms within the state. Military facilities, including the Defense Department's headquarters at the Pentagon building in Arlington county, cover more than 400 square miles (1,000 square kilometers) in Virginia and have a considerable effect on local economic conditions.

Transportation
The first transportation system in the area was based on the waters of Chesapeake Bay and its river tributaries. During the early 1800s canals were dug along the Potomac and James rivers as far inland as the mountains. These interior waterways gradually lost traffic with the coming of railroads and highways. The state's many ports, however, continued to grow in importance. Today Virginia's port facilities are among the busiest in the country.

A well-developed network of highways covers the state. Interstates 95, 85, 81, and 77 are major north-south routes, adding to Virginia's status as a "bridge" state between the country's northeastern and southeastern regions. The striking 17.6-mile (28.3-kilometer) Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel complex links Cape Charles on the Delmarva Peninsula with the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area. Comprising a trestled roadway raised above the mouth of the bay and two tunnels (under the main shipping channels), it is one of the largest structures of its kind.

Virginia's first railroad was a horse-drawn line that hauled coal from Chesterfield county to Richmond beginning in 1831. The state's first steam-powered railroad connected Petersburg with Weldon, N.C. During the Civil War the railroads suffered great damage. Later many of the smaller lines were absorbed by the major railroads that serve the state today. A number of large railroad-based interstate transportation companies have their headquarters in Virginia. Several other companies operate shorter-line routes pitched primarily to commuters in the state's major metropolitan areas.

Washington Dulles International Airport, one of the world's largest airports, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are both located in northern Virginia. Richmond International, Norfolk International, and Newport News-Williamsburg International airports have expanded notably since the late 20th century.

When Virginia was a British colony, its first capital was Jamestown. In 1699 the seat of the colonial government was moved to Williamsburg. Richmond has been the state capital since 1779.

Virginia, which is officially a commonwealth, is governed under its sixth constitution, adopted in 1970. The chief executive officer of the state is the governor, who serves a four-year term and is prohibited from serving consecutive terms. Lawmaking is in the hands of the General Assembly, a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Delegates. The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court.

The original inhabitants of Virginia arrived some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. These were Paleo-Indians who lived mainly by hunting and fishing. From about 1000 bc the Eastern Woodland culture began to make pottery and to grow such crops as corn, beans, and squash. At the time of European settlement, in the early 17th century, various tribal groups lived in the area. The early English settlers, however, dealt mostly with the Powhatan Confederacy, an alliance of some 30 Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Tidewater region, united under the powerful chief Powhatan.

The Colonial Period
In May 1607, during the reign of James I of England, three ships arrived along a marshy peninsula 30 miles (48 kilometers) inland from Chesapeake Bay. The men who went ashore the next day founded the first permanent English settlement in America-named Jamestown, for the English king.

The tiny colony established by the Virginia Company of London almost failed during its first years. The new governor, Lord De la Warr (Delaware), arrived with supplies in 1610, just as the colony was being deserted. The pioneers fared better after 1612, when colonist John Rolfe introduced tobacco cultivation with seeds that he had brought from the West Indies. Hostility from the local indigenous peoples plagued the colony's early years, but Rolfe's marriage in 1614 to Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, brought temporary peace.

In 1619 a new charter went into effect that allowed each free colonist a tract of land. A House of Burgesses was established to provide local government for the Virginia planters; it was the first representative assembly formed in America. In 1624 the settlement became a royal colony, with governors chosen by the king. During the governorship of Sir William Berkeley, Native Americans began attacking the small frontier plantations in the Piedmont. In 1676 western settlers, under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon, carried out an expedition against the Native Americans and then staged a revolt against Berkeley. This uprising, during which Jamestown was burned, became known as Bacon's Rebellion. Though short-lived, the rebellion led to Berkeley's recall as governor by Charles II and attracted much attention in England to the growing desire among the colonists for more self-government.

During the colonial period, Virginia became the primary site for the development of black slavery in the Americas. The first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619; these were indentured servants, like many of the early white settlers, who were trying to earn their way in the New World. By the 1650s some of the indentured servants had earned their freedom. Because replacements, whether black or white, were in limited supply and more costly, the Virginia plantation owners considered the advantages of the "perpetual servitude" policy exercised by Caribbean landowners. Following the lead of Massachusetts and Connecticut, Virginia legalized slavery in 1661. In 1672 Charles II chartered the Royal African Company to bring the shiploads of slaves into trading centers such as Jamestown, Hampton, and Yorktown.

Independence and Statehood
As the years went by, tobacco crops made the Tidewater plantation owners wealthy. Most of the work was done by slaves. Farther west in the Piedmont, farms were smaller and the number of slaves few. The prosperity of Virginia led to heavy tax collections. As new taxes were added after 1764 the House of Burgesses protested until the governor ordered it dissolved. Patrick Henry's ringing speech against the Stamp Act in 1765 echoed through the colonies. In May 1776 Virginia patriots asked the Continental Congress for a declaration of independence. The Virginia delegate, Richard Henry Lee, introduced the resolution that was adopted on July 2, 1776. The declaration was written largely by another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson.

Meanwhile, Virginia adopted a state constitution, including George Mason's bill of rights. Jefferson and two other men then revised Virginia law to make it conform to the new constitution. Some of the changes included the outlawing of the African slave trade (but not slavery) and the outlawing of entail-laws that restricted the inheritance of land and other wealth to one line of descendants. Virginia's land and its people were in the forefront of the American Revolution. When the national Constitution was drafted in 1787 much of it was based on the Virginia Plan of organization.

The Civil War and After
The institution of slavery continued to thrive in Virginia in the early 1800s, especially as slave owners began to sell their slaves to new plantation areas in the South. In 1831 Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Southampton county that resulted in many deaths and spread fear throughout the Southern states. Legislation was soon enacted in the South that established even stricter slave controls than had previously been in place.

At the same time, however, a wave of democratic and social reform was sweeping the North, where leaders increasingly began to denounce slavery in the South and to take measures to block its spread into new territories. In 1859 abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry (now in West Virginia). Although this raid failed to spark a general slave revolt, as Brown had intended, the action heightened tensions between the North and the South and helped bring on the American Civil War. Virginia seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy in 1861. (Forty-eight counties in northwestern Virginia that opposed secession broke away to form the state of West Virginia in 1863.) The Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond from May to June 1861 and remained there until 1865. In the state, within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Richmond occurred some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

After the conflict ended near Appomattox in 1865, Virginians had to rebuild housing, public structures, and railroad tracks on their war-torn land. Virginia was readmitted as a state of the Union in 1870, but its economy was slow to recover from the devastation of the war. ( See also Reconstruction period.)

The Modern State
During the 1900s Virginia made steady progress. In the years following World War I the state's prosperity increased as agriculture diversified, manufacturing grew in importance, and tourism became a major enterprise. World War II brought tens of thousands of soldiers to Virginia's military facilities. The Hampton Roads area had a great boom with the expansion of the Norfolk naval base and the shipbuilding activities in Newport News. Employment remained at high levels after the war, with ongoing growth in the nonagricultural sectors, including government.

The issue of equal rights continued to present a major challenge to the state. In 1926 Virginia was the first Southern state to adopt an antilynching law, but politically the state remained strongly segregationist. As recently as the 1960s, for example, Prince Edward county schools remained closed for five years as a part of a strategy of avoiding racial integration. Despite this heritage, Virginia in 1990 became the first state to elect an African American as governor. He was L. Douglas Wilder, the grandson of Richmond-area slaves.

During the last quarter of the 20th century and the early 21st century, Virginia experienced rapid suburban growth, especially in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., but also around Richmond and in the Hampton Roads area. Economically, Virginia was among the most prosperous states in the South and in the country as a whole. It ranked highest among all the Southern states in per capita income, and its unemployment rate consistently stood below the national average. ( See also United States, "The South.")

Barrett, Tracy. Virginia (Benchmark, 2004). DuBois, M.L. Virginia (Gareth Stevens, 2006). Fradin, D.B. Jamestown, Virginia (Benchmark, 2007). Kaminski, J.P. The Great Virginia Triumvirate: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson & James Madison in the Eyes of Their Contemporaries (Univ. of Va. Press, 2010). Lange, K.E. 1607: A New Look at Jamestown (National Geographic, 2007). Pollack, Pam. Virginia, the Old Dominion (World Almanac Library, 2002). Pobst, Sandy. Virginia, 1607-1776 (National Geographic, 2005).Smith, Karla. Virginia History (Heinemann Library, 2003).

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The state of Virginia's place in American history was assured more than 400 years ago when the first permanent English settlement in North America was established on its shores in 1607 at Jamestown. Just 12 years later, in 1619, the state of the colony was solidified when Jamestown became the meeting place of the first representative assembly in the New World.