Jamestown Jamestowne, James Towne
—  Fort (1607); Town (1619)  —
The Susan Constant, a replica of Christopher Newport's ship docked in the harbor.
Jamestown Location in the United States
Coordinates: 37°12′33″N 76°46′39″W / 37.20917°N 76.7775°W / 37.20917; -76.7775Coordinates: 37°12′33″N 76°46′39″W / 37.20917°N 76.7775°W / 37.20917; -76.7775
Present Country	United States of America
State	Virginia
Historic Country	England
Colony	Colony of Virginia
Established	1607
Abandoned	after 1699
Founder	Virginia Company of London
Named for	James I of England

Jamestown^[1] was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 (O.S., May 24, 1607 N.S.),^[2] it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It would serve as capital of the colony for 83 years (from 1616 until 1699).

The settlement was located within the territory of a political entity known as Tsenacommacah, the state of the Powhatan Confederacy, with around 14,000 native inhabitants, and specifically was in part of the subdivision known as the Paspahegh tribe. The natives initially gave the English a lavish welcome, and provided crucial provisions and support for the survival of the colonists, who were not agriculturally inclined, although relations with the newcomers also soured fairly early on, leading to the total annihilation of the Paspahegh in warfare within 3 years.

Within a year of Jamestown's founding, the Virginia Company brought Polish and Dutch colonists to help improve the settlement.^[3] In 1619, the first documented Africans were brought to Jamestown, though the modern conception of slavery in the future United States did not begin in Virginia until 1660.^[4] When the colony was subdivided into the original eight shires of Virginia in 1634, the town became located in the eponymous James City Shire.^[5]

The London Company's second settlement, Bermuda, claims to be the site of the oldest town in the English New World, as St. George's, Bermuda was officially established (as New London) in 1612, whereas James Fort, in Virginia, was not to be converted into James towne until 1619, and further did not survive into the present day.^[6] In 1699, the capital was relocated from Jamestown to what is today Williamsburg, after which Jamestown ceased to exist as a settlement, existing today only as an archaeological site.

Today, Jamestown is one of three locations comprising the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, along with Williamsburg and Yorktown, with two primary heritage sites. Historic Jamestowne,^[7] the archaeological site on Jamestown Island, is a cooperative effort by Jamestown National Historic Site (part of Colonial National Historical Park), and Preservation Virginia. The Jamestown Settlement, a living history interpretive site, is operated by the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation in conjunction with the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Settlement (1607–1705)[link]

Location of Jamestown

Although Spain and Portugal moved quickly to establish a presence in the New World, other European countries moved more slowly. Not until many decades after the explorations of John Cabot did the English attempt to found colonies. Early efforts were failures, most notably the Roanoke Colony, which vanished about 1590.

Arrival and early years (1607-1610)[link]

Late in 1606, English entrepreneurs set sail with a charter from the Virginia Company of London to establish a colony in the New World. After a particularly long voyage of five months duration including stops in Puerto Rico, they finally departed for the American mainland on April 10, 1607. The three ships, named Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, under Captain Christopher Newport, made landfall on April 26, 1607 at a place they named Cape Henry. Under orders to select a more secure location, they set about exploring what is now Hampton Roads and an outlet into the Chesapeake Bay they named the James River in honor of their king, James I of England.^[8]

On May 14, 1607, Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, elected president of the governing council on April 25, selected a piece of land on a large peninsula, some 40 miles (64 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, as a prime location for a fortified settlement. The Peninsula was surrounded by the York river in the north, the James river in the south and the Chesapeake bay in the east of the peninsula. The piece of land had deep water, making it a navigable and defensible strategic point. Perhaps the best thing about it, from an English point of view, was that it was not inhabited by nearby Virginia Indian^[9] tribes, who regarded the site as too poor and remote for agriculture.^[10] However, the island was swampy, isolated, offered limited space and was plagued by mosquitoes and brackish tidal river water unsuitable for drinking.

Marshes on Jamestown Island

In addition to the malarial swamp the settlers arrived too late in the year to get crops planted.^[3] Many in the group were gentlemen unused to work, or their manservants, equally unaccustomed to the hard labor demanded by the harsh task of carving out a viable colony.^[3] One of these was Robert Hunt, a former vicar of Reculver, England, who "probably celebrated the first known service of holy communion in what is today the United States of America [at Jamestown, on June 21 1607]."^[11] In a few months, fifty-one of the party were dead; some of the survivors were deserting to the Indians whose land they had invaded.^[3] In the "starving time" of 1609–1610, the Jamestown settlers were in even worse straits. Only 61 of the 500 colonists survived the period.^[3]

Virginia Indians had already established settlements long before the English settlers arrived, and there were an estimated 14,000 natives in the region, politically known as Tsenacommacah, who spoke an Algonquian language. They were the Powhatan Confederacy, ruled by their paramount chief known as Wahunsenacawh, or "Chief Powhatan". Wahunsenacawh initially sought to resettle the English colonists from Jamestown, considered part of Paspahegh territory, to another location known as Capahosick, where they would make metal tools for him as members of his Confederacy, but this never transpired.

The first explorers had been greeted by the natives with lavish feasts and supplies of maize, but as the English, lacking the inclination to grow their own food, became hungry and began to strong-arm more and more supplies from nearby villages, relations quickly deteriorated and eventually led to conflict. The resulting Anglo-Powhatan War lasted until Samuel Argall captured his daughter Matoaka, better known by her nickname Pocahontas, after which the chief accepted a treaty of peace.

The Zuniga map, depicting the fort in about 1608

Despite the early leadership of explorer Captain John Smith, most of the colonists and their replacements died within the first five years. Two-thirds of the settlers died before arriving ships brought supplies and experts from Poland and Germany in the next year, 1608,^[12] who would help to establish the first manufactories in the colony. As a result, glassware became the "first" American product to be exported to Europe.

After Smith was forced to return to England due to an explosion during a trading expedition,^[13] the colony was led by George Percy, who proved incompetent in negotiating with the native tribes. During what became known as the "Starving Time" in 1609–1610, over 80% of the colonists perished, and the island was briefly abandoned that spring.^[14] However, on June 10, 1610, retreating settlers were intercepted a few miles downriver by a supply mission from London headed by a new governor, Lord De La Warr, who brought much-needed supplies and additional settlers.^[15] Lord De La Warr's ship was named The Deliverance. The English called this The Day of Providence, and the state of Delaware was eventually named after the timely governor.

Fortuitously, among the colonists inspired to remain was John Rolfe, who carried with him a cache of untested new tobacco seeds from the Caribbean. (His first wife and their infant daughter had already died in Bermuda, after being shipwrecked on the island during the voyage from England.)^[16]

Rising fortunes (1610-1624)[link]

Due to the aristocratic backgrounds of many of the new colonists, a historic drought and the communal nature of their work load, progress through the first few years was inconsistent, at best. By 1613, six years after Jamestown's founding, the organizers and shareholders of the Virginia Company were desperate to increase the efficiency and profitability of the struggling colony. Without stockholder consent, Governor Dale assigned 3-acre (12,000 m²) plots to its "ancient planters" and smaller plots to the "settlement's" later arrivals. Measurable economic progress was made, and the settlers began expanding their planting to land belonging to local native tribes. That this turnaround coincided with the end of a drought that had begun the year before the English settlers arrival probably indicates multiple factors were involved besides the colonists' ineptitude.^[17]

The following year, 1614, John Rolfe began to successfully harvest tobacco.^[18] Prosperous and wealthy, he married Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, bringing several years of peace between the English and natives.^[19] (Through their son, Thomas Rolfe, many of the First Families of Virginia trace both Virginia Indian and English roots.) However, at the end of a public relations trip to England, Pocahontas became sick and died on March 21, 1617.^[20] The following year, her father also died. As the English continued to appropriate more land for tobacco farming, relations with the natives worsened. Powhatan's brother, a fierce warrior named Opchanacanough, became head of the Powhatan Confederacy.

In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in a Jamestown church, "to establish one equal and uniform government over all Virginia" which would provide "just laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people there inhabiting." This became known as the House of Burgesses (forerunner of the Virginia General Assembly, which last met in Jamestown in January, 2007). Individual land ownership was also instituted, and the colony was divided into four large "boroughs" or "incorporations" called "citties" (sic) by the colonists. Jamestown was located in James Cittie. Initially only men of English origin were permitted to vote. The Polish artisans protested and refused to work if not allowed to vote. On July 12, the court granted the Poles equal voting rights.^[21]

Graves at Jamestown, beneath the foundations of one of the later capitol buildings

After several years of strained coexistence, Chief Opchanacanough and his Powhatan Confederacy attempted to eliminate the English colony once and for all. On the morning of March 22, 1622, they attacked outlying plantations and communities up and down the James River in what became known as the Indian Massacre of 1622. The attack killed over 300 settlers, about a third of the English-speaking population.^[17]

This event is often incorrectly reported to have occurred on a Good Friday. Sir Thomas Dale's progressive development at Henricus, which was to feature a college to educate the natives, and Wolstenholme Towne at Martin's Hundred, were both essentially wiped out. Jamestown was spared only through a timely warning by a Virginia Indian employee. There was not enough time to spread the word to the outposts. Of the 6,000 people who came to the settlement between 1608–1624, only 3,400 survived.^[17]

Later years (1624-1699)[link]

In 1624, King James revoked the Virginia Company's charter, and Virginia became a royal colony. Despite the setbacks, the colony continued to grow. Ten years later, in 1634, by order of King Charles I, the colony was divided into the original eight shires of Virginia (or counties), in a fashion similar to that practiced in England. Jamestown was now located in James City Shire, soon renamed the "County of James City", better-known in modern times as James City County, Virginia, the nation's oldest county.

Another large-scale "Indian attack" occurred in 1644. In 1646, Opchanacanough was captured and while in custody an English guard shot him in the back-against orders-and killed him, and the Powhatan Confederacy began to decline. Opechancanough's successor then signed the first peace treaties between the Powhatan Indians and the English. The treaties required the Powhatan to pay yearly tribute payment to the English and confined them to reservations.^[22]

A generation later, during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, Jamestown was burned, eventually to be rebuilt. During its recovery, the Virginia legislature met first at Governor William Berkeley's nearby Green Spring Plantation, and later at Middle Plantation, which had been started in 1632 as a fortified community inland on the Virginia Peninsula about 8 miles (13 km) distant.^[23]

When the statehouse burned again in 1698, this time accidentally, the legislature again temporarily relocated to Middle Plantation, and was able to meet in the new facilities of the College of William and Mary, which had been established after receiving a royal charter in 1693. Rather than rebuilding at Jamestown again, the capital of the colony was moved permanently to Middle Plantation in 1699. The town was soon renamed Williamsburg, to honor the reigning monarch, King William III. A new Capitol building and "Governor's Palace" were erected there in the following years.

Aftermath and preservation[link]

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1854 image of the ruins of Jamestown showing the tower of the old Jamestown Church built in 1639

Due to the movement of the capital to Williamsburg, the old town of Jamestown began to slowly disappear from view. Those who lived in the general area attended services at Jamestown's church until the 1750s, when it was abandoned. By the mid-18th century, the land was heavily cultivated, primarily by the Travis and Ambler families.

During the American Revolutionary War, although the Battle of Green Spring was fought nearby at the site of former Governor Berkeley's plantation, Jamestown was apparently inconsequential. In 1831, David Bullock purchased Jamestown from Travis and Ambler families.

American Civil War[link]

During the American Civil War, in 1861, Confederate William Allen, who owned the Jamestown Island, occupied Jamestown with troops he raised at his own expense with the intention of blockading the James River and Richmond from the Union Navy. He was soon joined by Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones who directed the building of batteries and conducted ordnance and armor tests for the first Confederate ironclad warship CSS Virginia which was under construction at the Gosport Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth in late 1861 and early 1862. Jamestown had a force of 1,200 men which was augmented in early 1862 by an artillery battalion.

During the Peninsula Campaign which began later that spring, Union forces under General George B. McClellan moved up the Peninsula from Fort Monroe to attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Union forces captured Yorktown in April 1862, and the Battle of Williamsburg was fought the following month. With these developments, Jamestown and the lower James River were abandoned by the Confederates, and the Virginia was blown up off Craney Island on Hampton Roads to avoid capture. Some of the forces from Jamestown and the crew of the Virginia shifted to Drewry's Bluff, a fortified and strategic position located high above the river about 8 miles (13 km) below Richmond. There, they successfully blocked the Union Navy from reaching the Confederate capital.

Once in Federal hands, Jamestown became a meeting place for runaway slaves who burned the Ambler house, an eighteenth-century plantation which along with the old church were the few remaining signs of Jamestown. When Allen sent men to assess damage in late 1862, they were killed by the former slaves. Following the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, the oath of allegiance was administered to former Confederate soldiers at Jamestown.

Preservation[link]

In the years after the Civil War, Jamestown became quiet and peaceful once again. In 1892, Jamestown was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Barney. The following year, the Barneys donated 22½ acres of land, including the 1639 church tower, to Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities).

By this time, erosion from the river had eaten away the island's western shore; visitors began to conclude that the site of James Fort lay completely underwater. With federal assistance, a sea wall was constructed in 1900 to protect the area from further erosion. The archaeological remains of the original 1607 fort, which had been protected by the sea wall, were discovered in 1994. (See Jamestown Rediscovery section below)

In 1932, George Craghead Gregory of Richmond was credited with discovering the foundation of the first brick statehouse (capitol) building, circa 1646, at Jamestown on the land owned by Preservation Virginia.^[24] Around 1936, Gregory, who was active with the Virginia Historical Society, founded the Jamestowne Society for descendants of stockholders in the Virginia Company of London and the descendants of those who owned land or who had domiciles in Jamestown or on Jamestown Island prior to 1700.^[25]

Since its founding, the Society has helped with genealogical records and expanded into dozens of branches, called "Companies." (In the Jamestowne Society, "Companies" are similar to chapters in most lineage societies). Membership in Companies is elective, while membership in the national Society is acquired at the time a member joins. In 1958, the Jamestowne Society was formally organized as a non-profit corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (1954, as amended). It frequently holds meetings and events.^[26]

Colonial National Monument was authorized by the U.S. Congress on July 3, 1930 and established on December 30, 1930. In 1934, the National Park Service obtained the remaining 1,500 acre (6.1 km²) portion of Jamestown Island which had been under private ownership by the Vermillion family. The National Park Service partnered with Preservation Virginia to preserve the area and present it to visitors in an educational manner. On June 5, 1936, the national monument was re-designated a national historical park, and became known as Colonial National Historical Park.

Jamestown Rediscovery[link]

Since 1994, a major archaeological campaign at Jamestown known as the Jamestown Rediscovery project has been conducted, originally in preparation for the quadricentennial of Jamestown's founding. The primary goal of the archaeological campaign was to locate archaeological remains of "the first years of settlement at Jamestown, especially of the earliest fortified town; [and the] the subsequent growth and development of the town".^[27]

Early on, the project discovered early colonial artifacts. This was something of a surprise to some historians as it had been widely thought that the original site had been entirely lost due to erosion by the James River. Many others suspected that at least portions of the fort site remained and subsequent excavations have shown that only one corner of the first triangular fort (which contained the original settlement) turned out to have been destroyed. The sea wall built in 1900 to limit the erosion turned out to be a rich investment in the past and the future.

Since it began, the extended archaeological campaign has made many more discoveries including retrieving hundreds of thousands of artifacts, a large fraction of them from the first few years of the settlement's history. In addition, it has uncovered much of the fort, the remains of several houses and wells, a palisade wall line attached to the fort and the graves of several of the early settlers.

Today[link]

In the present time, Jamestown is home to two heritage tourism sites related to the original fort and town: Historic Jamestowne and the Jamestown Settlement. Nearby, the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry^[28] service provides a link across the navigable portion of the James River for vehicles and affords passengers a view of Jamestown Island from the river.

Archeologists at Historic Jamestowne kicked off their 19th field season in 2012 on April 7th.^[29]

Historic Jamestowne[link]

View of Historic Jamestowne,^[30] which is on Jamestown Island, today looking toward the statue of Captain John Smith which was erected in 1909. The Jamestown Church Tower, circa 1639, is in the left background (the church behind the tower was built in 1907).^[31]

Historic Jamestowne, located at the downtown original site of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, is administered by Colonial Williamsburg and the National Park Service. The central 22½ acres of land, where the archaeological remains of the original James Fort are, were donated to Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) in 1893 and the remaining 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) were acquired by the National Park Service in 1934 and are now part of the Colonial National Historical Park.

The site gained renewed importance when in 1993 the Jamestown Rediscovery project of Preservation Virginia began excavations in search of the original James Fort site. Despite obstacles and naysayers, the archaeologists found what other historians had said was lost, the fort site and approaching two million 17th century artifacts.

Today, visitors to Historic Jamestowne can view the site of the original 1607 James Fort, the 17th century church tower and the site of the 17th century town, as well as tour an archaeological museum called the Archaearium and view many of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by Jamestown Rediscovery. They also may participate in living history and ranger tours. Visitors can also often observe archaeologists from the Jamestown Rediscovery Project at work, as archaeological work at the site continues and is greatly expanding knowledge of what happened at Jamestown in its earliest days.

Among the discoveries, a grave site with indications of an important figure was located. The Jamestown Rediscovery staff, as well as physical anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution theorize the remains to be that of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold^[32] though others have claimed it to be the remains of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr. It had long been thought that Baron De La War, who died en route back to the colony from England on his second trip, had been buried elsewhere but some recent research concluded that his body was in fact brought to Jamestown for burial.^[33]

As of 2009^[update], the archaeological work and studies are ongoing.^[34] New discoveries are frequently reported in the local newspaper, the Virginia Gazette based in nearby Williamsburg, and by other news media, often worldwide.^[35]

Jamestown Settlement[link]

Jamestown Settlement is a living-history park located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) from the original location of the colony and adjacent to Jamestown Island. Initially created for the celebration of the 350th anniversary in 1957, Jamestown Settlement is operated by the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, and largely sponsored by the Commonwealth.

Commemorations[link]

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200th anniversary (1807)[link]

The bicentennial of Jamestown on May 13–15, 1807 is said to have been a dignified celebration, commonly called the Grand National Jubilee. Over 3,000 people attended the event, many arriving on vessels which anchored in the river near the island.

May 13 was the opening day of the festival, which began with a procession which marched to the graveyard of the old church, where the attending bishop delivered the prayer. The procession then moved to the Travis mansion, where the celebrants dined and danced in the mansion that evening. Also during the festivities, Students of the College of William and Mary gave orations. An old barn on the island was used as a temporary theater, where a company of players from Norfolk performed. Attending were many dignitaries, politicians, and historians. The Bicentennial celebration concluded on May 14 with a dinner and toast at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg.

250th anniversary (1857)[link]

In 1857, the Jamestown Society organized a celebration marking the 250th anniversary of Jamestown's founding. According to the Richmond Enquirer, the site for the celebration was on 10 acres (40,000 m²) on the spot where some of the colonists' houses were originally built. However, it is also speculated that the celebration was moved further east on the island closer to the Travis grave site, in order to avoid damaging Major William Allen's corn fields.

The attendance was estimated at between 6,000 and 8,000 people. Sixteen large steam ships anchored offshore in the James River and were gaily decorated with streamers. Former US President John Tyler of nearby Sherwood Forest Plantation gave a 2½ hour speech, and there were military displays, a grand ball and fireworks.^[36]

300th anniversary (1907): Jamestown Exposition[link]

Exposition Seal

The 100th anniversary of the Surrender at Yorktown in 1781 had generated a new interest in the historical significance of the colonial sites of the Peninsula. Williamsburg, a sleepy but populated town of shops and homes, was still celebrating Civil War events. However, as the new century dawned, thoughts turned to the upcoming 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. The Preservation Virginia started the movement in 1900 by calling for a celebration honoring the establishment of the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown to be held on the 300th anniversary in 1907.

As a celebration was planned, virtually no one thought that the actual isolated and long-abandoned original site of Jamestown would be suitable for a major event because Jamestown Island had no facilities for large crowds. The original fort housing the Jamestown settlers was believed to have been long ago swallowed by the James River. The general area in James City County near Jamestown was also considered unsuitable, as it was not very accessible in the day of rail travel before automobiles were common.

As the tricentennial of the 1607 Founding of the Jamestown neared, around 1904, despite an assumption in some quarters that Richmond would be a logical location, leaders in Norfolk began a campaign to have a celebration held there. The decision was made to locate the international exposition on a mile-long frontage at Sewell's Point near the mouth of Hampton Roads. This was about 30 miles (48 km) downstream from Jamestown in a rural section of Norfolk County. It was a site which could become accessible by both long-distance passenger railroads and local streetcar service, with considerable frontage on the harbor of Hampton Roads. This latter feature proved ideal for the naval delegations which came from points all around the world.

The Jamestown Exposition of 1907 was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the early part of the 20th century. Held from April 26, 1907 to December 1, 1907, attendees included US President Theodore Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, the Prince of Sweden, Mark Twain, Henry H. Rogers, and dozens of other dignitaries and famous persons. A major naval review featuring the United States' Great White Fleet was a key feature. U.S. Military officials and leaders were impressed by the location, and the Exposition site later formed the first portion of the large U.S. Naval Station Norfolk in 1918 during World War I.

350th Anniversary (1957): Jamestown Festival[link]

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and her consort Prince Phillip inspect replica of Susan Constant at Jamestown Festival Park in Virginia on October 16, 1957

With America's increased access to automobiles, and with improved roads and transportation, it was feasible for the 350th anniversary celebration to be held at Jamestown itself in 1957. Although erosion had cut off the land bridge between Jamestown Island and the mainland, the isthmus was restored and new access provided by the completion of the National Park Service's Colonial Parkway which led to Williamsburg and Yorktown, the other two portions of Colonial Virginia's Historic Triangle. There were also improvements of state highways. The north landing for the popular Jamestown Ferry and a portion of State Route 31 were relocated.

Major projects such were developed by non-profit, state and federal agencies. Jamestown Festival Park was established by the Commonwealth of Virginia adjacent to the entrance to Jamestown Island. Full-sized replicas of the three ships that brought the colonists, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery were constructed at a shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia and placed on display at a new dock at Jamestown, where the largest, the Susan Constant, could be boarded by visitors. On Jamestown Island, the reconstructed Jamestown Glasshouse, the Memorial Cross and the visitors center were completed and dedicated. A loop road was built around the island.

Special events included army and navy reviews, air force fly-overs, ship and aircraft christenings and even an outdoor drama at Cape Henry, site of the first landing of the settlers. This celebration continued from April 1 to November 30 with over a million participants, including dignitaries and politicians such as the British Ambassador and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon. The highlight for many of the nearly 25,000 at the Festival Park on October 16, 1957 was the visit and speech of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and her consort, Prince Philip. Queen Elizabeth II loaned a copy of the Magna Carta for the exhibition. It was her first visit to the United States since assuming the throne.

The 1957 Jamestown Festival was so successful that tourists still kept coming long after the official event was completed. Jamestown became a permanent attraction of the Historic Triangle, and has been visited by families, school groups, tours, and thousands of other people continuously ever since.

400th anniversary: Jamestown 2007[link]

Virginia State Quarter(Reverse)

Obverse of Jamestown 400th Anniversary silver dollar, the "Three Faces of Diversity" of Jamestown

Obverse of the Jamestown 400th Anniversary gold five dollar coin

Obverse of the Jamestown 400th Anniversary gold five dollar coin

Coins released in commemoration of the 400th anniversary

Early in the 21st century, new accommodations, transportation facilities and attractions were planned in preparation for the quadricentennial of the founding of Jamestown. Numerous events were promoted under the banner of America's 400th Anniversary and promoted by the Jamestown 2007 Commission. The commemoration included 18 months of statewide, national and international festivities and events, which began in April 2006 with a tour of the new replica Godspeed.

In January 2007, the Virginia General Assembly held a session at Jamestown. On May 4, 2007, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip attended a ceremony commemorating the 400th anniversary of the settlement's arrivals, reprising the honor they paid in 1957.^[37]

In addition to the Virginia State Quarter, Jamestown was also the subject of two United States commemorative coins celebrating the 400th anniversary of its settlement. A silver dollar and a gold five dollar coin were issued in 2007.

Other commemoration[link]

In 1987, John Otho Marsh, Jr., the Secretary of the Army of the United States of America, planted an oak tree at Runnymede England commemorating and linking the bicentenary of the Constitution with the establishment of the Jamestown settlement

Jamestown in film[link]

A highly fictionalized version of the Jamestown settlement is depicted in the animated Disney film Pocahontas (1995). Among other inaccuracies it is shown as being near mountains, when it was actually located on a coastal plain.

A feature length film, The New World (2006), directed by Terrence Malick, covers the story of Jamestown's colonization. Although the historical details are accurate in most ways, the plot focuses on a dramatized relationship between John Smith, played by Colin Farrell, and Pocahontas, played by Q'orianka Kilcher. It also features John Rolfe, played by Christian Bale. Many scenes were filmed on-location along the James and Chickahominy Rivers and at Henricus Historical Park in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Another feature length film, First Landing: The Voyage from England to Jamestown (2007), documents the 1607 landing of English colonists.^[38]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jamestown, Virginia

• History Channel Web Site telling the story from the standpoint of the three major cultural nuclei.
• APVA web site for the Jamestown Rediscovery project
• Historic Jamestowne
  • Where are We Digging Now?
• America's 400th Anniversary
• Jamestown 1607
• National Geographic Magazine Jamestown Interactive
• Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center
• Virtual Jamestown
• National Park Service: Jamestown National Historic Site
• New Discoveries at Jamestown by John L. Cotter and J. Paul Hudson, (1957) at Project Gutenberg
• First Landing State Park
• State Tourism Website – Virginia is for Lovers
• Jamestown Discovery Trail
• Time Team Special: Jamestown – America's Birthplace
• Jamestown Four-Hundred Years
• The Poles in Jamestown
• Following in Godspeeds Wake
• NBC News Interview with Dr. William Kelso
• Jamestown records on The UK National Archives' website.

v t e Municipalities and communities of James City County, Virginia, United States County seat: Williamsburg Unincorporated communities Croaker Grove Jamestown Lanexa Lightfoot Norge Toano

Commonwealth of Virginia
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Old Dominion; Mother of Presidents; Mother of states.
Motto(s): Sic Semper Tyrannis (Latin)[1]
Official language(s)	English
Spoken language(s)	English 94.6%, Spanish 5.9%
Demonym	Virginian
Capital	Richmond
Largest city	Virginia Beach
Largest metro area	Northern Virginia
Area	Ranked 35th in the U.S.
- Total	42,774.2 sq mi (110,785.67 km2)
- Width	200 miles (320 km)
- Length	430 miles (690 km)
- % water	7.4
- Latitude	36° 32′ N to 39° 28′ N
- Longitude	75° 15′ W to 83° 41′ W
Population	Ranked 12th in the U.S.
- Total	8,096,604 (2011 est)[2]
- Density	204/sq mi  (79.0/km2) Ranked 14th in the U.S.
- Median household income	$61,044[3] (8th)
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Rogers[4][5] 5,729 ft (1746 m)
- Mean	950 ft  (290 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[4] sea level
Before statehood	Colony of Virginia
Admission to Union	June 25, 1788 (10th)
Governor	Bob McDonnell (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Bill Bolling (R)
Legislature	General Assembly
- Upper house	Senate
- Lower house	House of Delegates
U.S. Senators	Jim Webb (D) Mark Warner (D)
U.S. House delegation	8 Republicans, 3 Democrats (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC −5/−4
Abbreviations	VA US-VA
Website	www.virginia.gov

Virginia (ⁱ/vərˈdʒɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.^[2]

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.^[6]

The Virginia General Assembly is the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. The state government has been repeatedly ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States.^[7] It is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginia's economy has many sectors: agriculture in the Shenandoah Valley; federal agencies in Northern Virginia, including the headquarters of the Department of Defense and CIA; and military facilities in Hampton Roads, the site of the region's main seaport. Virginia's public schools and many colleges and universities have contributed to growing media and technology sectors. As a result, computer chips have become the state's leading export.^[8]

Geography[link]

Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.7 km²), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km²) of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area.^[9] Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by 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. Virginia's boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. extends to the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River.^[10] The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, though surveyor error led to deviations of as much as three arcminutes.^[11]

Geology and terrain[link]

Virginia is divided into five geographic regions.

The Chesapeake Bay separates the contiguous portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginia's Eastern Shore. The bay was formed following a meteoroid impact crater during the Eocene.^[12] Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, which create three peninsulas in the bay.^[13][14] Geographically and geologically, Virginia is divided into five regions from east to west: Tidewater, Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau.^[15]

The Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay. The Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic.^[16] The region, known for its heavy clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains.^[17] The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the chain of Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state, the tallest being Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet (1,746 m).^[18] The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains, and includes the Great Appalachian Valley. The region is carbonate rock based, and includes Massanutten Mountain.^[19] The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the south-west corner of Virginia, below the Allegheny Plateau. In this region rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin.^[20]

Deciduous and evergreen trees give the Blue Ridge Mountains their distinct color^[21]

The state's carbonate rock is filled with more than 4,000 caves, ten of which are open for tourism.^[22] The Virginia seismic zone has not had a history of regular activity. Earthquakes are rarely above 4.5 on the Richter magnitude scale because Virginia is located away from the edges of the North American Plate. The largest earthquake, at an estimated 5.9 magnitude, was in 1897 near Blacksburg.^[23] A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Virginia on August 23, 2011, near Mineral. The earthquake was reportedly felt as far away as Toronto, Canada.^[24] Coal mining takes place in the three mountainous regions at 40 distinct coal beds near Mesozoic basins.^[25] Other resources such as slate, kyanite, sand, and gravel are mined, with an annual value of nearly $2 billion as of 2006^[update].^[26]

Climate[link]

The climate of Virginia becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east.^[27] Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of 26 °F (−3 °C) in January to average highs of 86 °F (30 °C) in July. The Atlantic ocean has a strong effect on eastern and southeastern coastal areas of the state. Influenced by the Gulf Stream, coastal weather is subject to hurricanes, most pronouncedly near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.^[28]

Virginia has an annual average of 35–45 days of thunderstorm activity, particularly in the western part of the state,^[29] and an average annual precipitation of 42.7 inches (108 cm).^[28] Cold air masses arriving over the mountains in winter can lead to significant snowfalls, such as the Blizzard of 1996 and winter storms of 2009–2010. The interaction of these elements with the state's topography creates distinct microclimates in the Shenandoah Valley, the mountainous southwest, and the coastal plains.^[30] Virginia averages seven tornadoes annually, most F2 or lower on the Fujita scale.^[31]

In recent years, the expansion of the southern suburbs of Washington, D.C. into Northern Virginia has introduced an urban heat island primarily caused by increased absorption of solar radiation in more densely populated areas.^[32] In the American Lung Association's 2011 report, 11 counties received failing grades for air quality, with Fairfax County having the worst in the state, due to automobile pollution.^[33][34] Haze in the mountains is caused in part by coal power plants.^[35]

Flora and fauna[link]

Forests cover 65% of the state, primarily with deciduous, broad leaf trees.^[36] Lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of moisture-loving hemlocks and mosses in abundance, with hickory and oak in the Blue Ridge.^[27] However since the early 1990s, Gypsy moth infestations have eroded the dominance of oak forests.^[37] In the lowland tidewater yellow pines tend to dominate, with bald cypress wetland forests in the Great Dismal and Nottoway swamps. Other common trees and plants include chestnut, maple, tulip poplar, mountain laurel, milkweed, daisies, and many species of ferns. The largest areas of wilderness are along the Atlantic coast and in the western mountains, where the largest populations of trillium wildflowers in North America are found.^[27][38] The Atlantic coast regions are host to flora commonly associated with the South Atlantic pine forests and lower Southeast Coastal Plain maritime flora, the latter found primarily in southeastern Virginia.

White-tailed deer, also known as Virginia deer, graze at Tanner Ridge in Shenandoah National Park

Mammals include White-tailed deer, black bear, beaver, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, skunk, groundhog, Virginia Opossum, gray fox, red fox, and eastern cottontail rabbit.^[39] Birds include cardinals, barred owls, Carolina chickadees, Red-tailed Hawks, Ospreys, Brown Pelicans, Quail, Sea gulls, Bald Eagles, and Wild Turkeys. The Peregrine Falcon was reintroduced into Shenandoah National Park in the mid-1990s.^[40] Walleye, brook trout, Roanoke bass, and blue catfish are among the 210 known species of freshwater fish.^[41] Running brooks with rocky bottoms are often inhabited by a plentiful amounts of crayfish and salamanders.^[27] The Chesapeake Bay is host to many species, including blue crabs, clams, oysters, and rockfish (also known as striped bass).^[42]

Virginia has 30 National Park Service units, such as Great Falls Park and the Appalachian Trail, and one national park, the Shenandoah National Park.^[43] Shenandoah was established in 1935 and encompasses the scenic Skyline Drive. Almost 40% of the park's area (79,579 acres/322 km²) has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System.^[44] Additionally, there are 34 Virginia state parks and 17 state forests, run by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Forestry.^[36][45] 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 extends into North Carolina, as does the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which marks the beginning of the Outer Banks.^[46]

History[link]

The story of Pocahontas, an ancestress of many of the First Families of Virginia, was romanticized by later artists.

Jamestown 2007 marked Virginia's quadricentennial year, celebrating 400 years since the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. The celebrations highlighted contributions from Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, each of which had a significant part in shaping Virginia's history.^[47][48] Warfare, including among these groups, has also had an important role. Virginia was a focal point in conflicts from the French and Indian War, the American Revolution and the Civil War, to the Cold War and the War on Terrorism.^[49] Stories about historic figures, such as those surrounding Pocahontas and John Smith, George Washington's childhood, or the plantation elite in the slave society of the antebellum period, have also created potent myths of state history, and have served as rationales for Virginia's ideology.^[50]

Colony[link]

The first people are estimated to have arrived in Virginia over 12,000 years ago.^[51] By 5,000 years ago more permanent settlements emerged, and farming began by 900 AD. By 1500, the Algonquian peoples had founded towns such as Werowocomoco in the Tidewater region, which they referred to as Tsenacommacah. The other major language groups in the area were the Siouan to the west, and the Iroquoians, who included the Nottoway and Meherrin, to the north and south. After 1570, the Algonquians consolidated under Chief Powhatan in response to threats from these other groups on their trade network.^[52] Powhatan controlled more than 30 smaller tribes and over 150 settlements, who shared a common Virginia Algonquian language. In 1607, the native Tidewater population was between 13,000 to 14,000.^[53]

Several European expeditions, including a group of Spanish Jesuits, explored the Chesapeake Bay during the 16th century. In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Walter Raleigh a charter to plant a colony north of Spanish Florida.^[54] In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America.^[55] The name "Virginia" may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the "Virgin Queen", and may also be related to a native phrase, "Wingandacoa", or name, "Wingina".^[56] Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda.^[57] The London 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, it was founded in May 1607 by Christopher Newport.^[58] In 1619, colonists took greater control with an elected legislature called the House of Burgesses. With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624, the settlement was taken into royal authority as a British crown colony.^[59]

Williamsburg was the capital from 1699 to 1780.

Life in the colony was perilous, and many died during the "starving time" in 1609 and the Anglo-Powhatan Wars, including the Indian massacre of 1622, which fostered the colonists' negative view of all tribes.^[60][61] By 1624, only 3,400 of the 6,000 early settlers had survived.^[62] However, European demand for tobacco fueled the arrival of more settlers and servants.^[63] The headright system tried to solve the labor shortage by providing colonists with land for each indentured servant they transported to Virginia.^[64] African workers were first imported in 1619, and their slavery was codified after a 1654 lawsuit over the servant John Casor.^[65]

Tensions and the geographic differences between the working and ruling classes led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, by which time current and former indentured servants made up as much as 80% of the population.^[66] Rebels, largely from the colony's frontier, were also opposed to the conciliatory policy towards native tribes. Colonists appropriated tribal land by force and treaty, including the Treaty of 1677, which made the signatory tribes tributary states. Williamsburg became the colonial capital in 1699, following the founding of The College of William & Mary in 1693.^[67] In 1747, a group of Virginian speculators formed the Ohio Company, with the backing of the British crown, to start English settlement and trade in the Ohio Country west of the Appalachian Mountains.^[68] France, which claimed this area as part of their colony of New France, viewed this as a threat, and the ensuing French and Indian War became part of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). A militia from several British colonies, called the Virginia Regiment, was led by then-Lieutenant colonel George Washington.^[69]

Statehood[link]

1851 painting of Patrick Henry's speech before the House of Burgesses on the Virginia Resolves against the Stamp Act of 1765

The British Parliament's efforts to levy new taxes following the French and Indian War were deeply unpopular in the colonies. In the House of Burgesses, opposition to taxation without representation was led by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, among others.^[70] Virginians began to coordinate their actions with other colonies in 1773, and sent delegates to the Continental Congress the following year.^[71] After the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the royal governor in 1774, Virginia's revolutionary leaders continued to govern via the Virginia Conventions. On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence from the British Empire and adopted George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was then included in a new constitution.^[72] Another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, drew upon Mason's work in drafting the national Declaration of Independence.^[73]

When the American Revolutionary War began, George Washington was selected to head the colonial army. During the war, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Williamsburg's location would make it vulnerable to British attack.^[74] In 1781, the combined action of Continental and French land and naval forces trapped the British army on the Virginia Peninsula, where troops under George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau defeated British General Cornwallis in the Siege of Yorktown. His surrender on October 19, 1781, led to peace negotiations in Paris and secured the independence of the colonies.^[75]

Virginians were instrumental in writing the United States Constitution. James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789.^[73] Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788. The three-fifths compromise ensured that Virginia, with its large number of slaves, initially had the largest bloc in the House of Representatives. Together with the Virginia dynasty of presidents, this gave the Commonwealth national importance. In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, though the Virginian area was retroceded in 1846.^[76] Virginia is sometimes called "Mother of States" because of its role in being carved into states like Kentucky, which became the 15th state in 1792, and for the numbers of American pioneers born in Virginia.^[77]

Civil War and aftermath[link]

Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States of America, was burned prior to its capture by the Union.

In addition to agriculture, slave labor was increasingly used in mining, shipbuilding and other industries.^[78] Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 and John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 showed deep social discontent about slavery and its role in the plantation economy. By 1860, almost half a million people, roughly 31% of the total population of Virginia, were enslaved.^[79] This division contributed to the start of the American Civil War.

Virginia voted to secede from the United States on April 17, 1861, after the Battle of Fort Sumter and Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers. On April 24, Virginia joined the Confederate States of America, which chose Richmond as its capital.^[77] After the 1863 Wheeling Convention, 48 counties in the northwest separated to form a new state of West Virginia, which chose to remain loyal to the Union. Virginian general Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, and led invasions into Union territory, ultimately becoming commander of all Confederate forces. During the war, more battles were fought in Virginia than anywhere else, including Bull Run, the Seven Days Battles, Chancellorsville, and the concluding Battle of Appomattox Court House.^[80] After the capture of Richmond in 1865, the capital was briefly moved to Danville.^[81] Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of the Committee of Nine.^[82]

During the post-war Reconstruction era, Virginia adopted a constitution which provided for free public schools, and guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights.^[83] The populist Readjuster Party ran an inclusive coalition until the conservative white Democratic Party gained power after 1883.^[84] It passed segregationist Jim Crow laws and in 1902 rewrote the Constitution of Virginia to include a poll tax and other voter registration measures that effectively disfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites.^[85] Though their schools were segregated and underfunded, as were services, due to a lack of political representation, African Americans were able to create their own communities.^[86]

Modern era[link]

Many Pre-Dreadnought and World War I-era warships were built in Newport News, including the USS Virginia.

New economic forces also changed the Commonwealth. Virginian James Albert Bonsack invented the tobacco cigarette rolling machine in 1880 leading to new industrial scale production centered around Richmond. In 1886, railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington founded Newport News Shipbuilding, which was responsible for building six major World War I-era battleships for the U.S. Navy from 1907–1923.^[87] During the war, German submarines like U-151 attacked ships outside the port.^[88] In 1926, Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Williamsburg's Bruton Parish Church, began restoration of colonial-era buildings in the historic district with financial backing of John D. Rockefeller, Jr..^[89] Though their project, like others in the state, had to contend with the Great Depression and World War II, work continued as Colonial Williamsburg became a major tourist attraction.^[90]

Protests started by Barbara Rose Johns in 1951 in Farmville against segregated schools led to the lawsuit Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. This case, filed by Richmond natives Spottswood Robinson and Oliver Hill, was decided in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the segregationist doctrine of "separate but equal". But, in 1958, under the policy of "massive resistance" led by the influential segregationist Senator Harry F. Byrd and his Byrd Organization, the Commonwealth prohibited desegregated local schools from receiving state funding.^[91]

The Civil Rights Movement gained many participants in the 1960s. It achieved the moral force and support to gain passage of national legislation with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1964 the United States Supreme Court ordered Prince Edward County and others to integrate schools.^[92] In 1967, the Court also struck down the state's ban on interracial marriage with Loving v. Virginia. From 1969 to 1971, state legislators under Governor Mills Godwin rewrote the constitution, after goals such as the repeal of Jim Crow laws had been achieved. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected as governor in the United States.^[93]

The Cold War led to the expansion of national defense government programs housed in offices in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., and correlative population growth.^[94] Among the federal developments was the Pentagon, built during World War II as the headquarters for the Department of Defense. It was one of the targets of the September 11 attacks; 189 people died at the site when a jet passenger plane crashed into the building.^[95]

Cities and towns[link]

The population of the Hampton Roads area is over 1.6 million.

Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which both operate the same way since independent cities are considered to be county-equivalent.^[96] This method of treating cities and counties equally is unique to Virginia, with only three other independent cities in the United States outside Virginia.^[97] Virginia limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand laws expressly allowed by the Virginia General Assembly under what is known as Dillon's Rule.^[98] In addition to independent cities, there are also incorporated towns which operate under their own governments, but are part of a county. Finally there are hundreds of unincorporated communities within the counties. Virginia does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.

Virginia has 11 Metropolitan Statistical Areas; Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Richmond-Petersburg are the three most populous. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and its metropolitan area has a population of over 1.2 million.^[99] As of 2010^[update], Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the Commonwealth, with Norfolk and Chesapeake second and third, respectively.^[100] Norfolk forms the urban core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which has a population over 1.6 million people and is the site of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.^[99][101] Suffolk, which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at 429.1 square miles (1,111 km²).^[102]

Fairfax County is the most populous locality in Virginia, with over one million residents, although that does not include its county seat Fairfax, which is one of the independent cities.^[103] Fairfax County has a major urban business and shopping center in Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest office market.^[104] Neighboring Loudoun County, with the county seat at Leesburg, is both the fastest-growing county in Virginia and has the highest median household income ($114,204) in the country as of 2010^[update].^[105] Arlington County, the smallest self-governing county in the United States by land area, is an urban community organized as a county.^[106] The Roanoke area, with an estimated population of 300,399, is the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in western Virginia.^[107]

Demographics[link]

Virginia has metropolitan areas located throughout the state.

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the state population was 8,096,604 on July 1, 2011, a 1.19% increase since the 2010 United States Census,^[2] which showed Virginia had a population of 8,001,024.^[108] This includes an increase from net migration of 314,832 people into the Commonwealth since the 2000 census. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 159,627 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 155,205 people.^[109] The center of population is located in Goochland County outside of Richmond.^[110]

English was passed as the Commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and again in 1996, though the status is not mandated by the Constitution of Virginia.^[111] English is the only language spoken by 6,245,517 (86.7%) Virginians, though it is spoken "very well" by an additional 570,638 (7.9%) for a total of 94.6% of the Commonwealth. Among speakers of other languages, Spanish is the most common with 424,381 (5.9%). 226,911 (3.2%) speak Asian and Pacific Islander languages, including Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino.^[112]

Ethnicity[link]

The state's most populous ethnic group, Non-Hispanic White, has declined from 76% in 1990 to 64.8% in 2010.^[113][114] People of English heritage settled throughout the Commonwealth during the colonial period, and others of British and Irish heritage have since immigrated.^[115] Those who self-identify as having "American ethnicity" are predominantly of English descent, but have ancestry that has been in North America for so long that they choose to identify simply as American.^[116][117] Of the English immigrants to Virginia in the 1600s, 75% came as indentured servants.^[118] The western mountains have many settlements that were founded by Scots-Irish immigrants before the American Revolution.^[119][120] There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley.^[121]

The largest minority group in Virginia is African American, at 19.4% as of 2010^[update].^[114] Most African American Virginians have been descendants of enslaved Africans who worked on tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. These men, women and children were brought from west-central Africa, primarily from Angola and the Bight of Biafra. The Igbo ethnic group of what is now southern Nigeria were the single largest African group among slaves in Virginia.^[122][123] Though the black population was reduced by the Great Migration, since 1965 there has been a reverse migration of blacks returning south.^[124] 2.9% of Virginians also describe themselves as biracial.^[125] Additionally, 0.4% of Virginians are American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.1% are Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.^[114] Virginia has extended state recognition to eight Native American tribes resident in the state, though all lack federal recognition status. Most Native American groups are located in the Tidewater region.^[126]

More recent immigration in the late 20th century and early 21st century has fueled new communities of Hispanics and Asians. As of 2010^[update], 7.9% of Virginians are Hispanic or Latino (of any race), and 5.5% are Asian.^[114] The state's Hispanic population rose by 92% from 2000 to 2010, with two-thirds of Hispanics living in Northern Virginia.^[125] Hispanic citizens in Virginia have higher median household incomes and educational attainment than the general Virginia population.^[127] Northern Virginia also has a signigicant population of Vietnamese Americans, whose major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War,^[128] and Korean Americans, whose migration has been more recent and was induced in part by the quality school system.^[129] The Filipino American community has about 45,000 in the Hampton Roads area, many of whom have ties to the U.S. Navy and armed forces.^[130]

Ethnicity (2010)   Largest Ancestries by County Ancestry (2000) Non-Hispanic White 64.8% U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 special tabulation. American Factfinder provides census data and maps.   African American  19.6% Black or African American 19.4%   German 11.7% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 7.9%   American 11.4% Asian 5.5%   English 11.1% American Indian and Alaska Native  0.4%   Irish 9.8%

Religion[link]

Virginia is predominantly Christian and Protestant; Baptists are the largest single group with 27% of the population as of 2008^[update].^[131] Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with more than 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention.^[132][133] Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group, and the group which grew the most in the 1990s.^[134][135] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest.

Christ Church in Alexandria was frequented by George Washington and Robert E. Lee.

The Virginia Conference is the regional body of the United Methodist Church and the Virginia Synod is responsible for the congregations of the Lutheran Church. Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians each composed 1–3% of the population as of 2001^[update].^[136] The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches.

In November 2006, 15 conservative Episcopal churches voted to split from the Diocese of Virginia over the ordination of openly gay bishops and clergy in other dioceses of the Episcopal Church; these churches continue to claim affiliation with the larger Anglican Communion through other bodies outside the United States. Though Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation, the diocese claims the secessionist churches' properties. The resulting property law case is a test for Episcopal churches nationwide.^[137]

Among other religions, adherents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints constitute 1% of the population, with 190 congregations in Virginia as of 2010^[update].^[138] Fairfax Station is the site of the Ekoji Buddhist Temple, of the Jodo Shinshu school, and the Hindu Durga Temple. While the state's Jewish population is small, organized Jewish sites date to 1789 with Congregation Beth Ahabah.^[139] Muslims are a growing religious group throughout the Commonwealth through immigration.^[140] Megachurches in the Commonwealth include Thomas Road Baptist Church, Immanuel Bible Church, and McLean Bible Church.^[141] Several Christian universities are also based in the state, including Regent University, Liberty University, and Lynchburg College.

Economy[link]

The Department of Defense is headquartered in Arlington at The Pentagon, the world's largest office building.^[142]

While Virginia is an employment-at-will state,^[143] its economy has diverse sources of income, including local and federal government, military, farming and business. Virginia has 4.1 million civilian workers, and one-third of the jobs are in the service sector.^[144][145] The unemployment in Virginia in among the lowest in the nation, at 5.6%, as of March 2012.^[146] The second fastest job growth town in the nation is Leesburg, as of 2011.^[147] The Gross Domestic Product of Virginia was $24 billion in 2010.^[148] According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Virginia had the most counties in the top 100 wealthiest in the United States based upon median income in 2007.^[149] Northern Virginia is the highest-income region in Virginia, having six of the twenty highest-income counties in the United States, including the three highest as of 2011^[update].^[150] According to CNN Money Magazine the highest-income town in the nation is Great Falls, as of 2011.^[151]

Virginia has the highest concentration of technology workers of any state.^[152] Computer chips became the state's highest-grossing export in 2006, surpassing its traditional top exports of coal and tobacco combined.^[8] Northern Virginia, once considered the state's dairy capital, now hosts software, communication technology, and consulting companies, particularly in the Dulles Technology Corridor. Northern Virginia's data centers currently carry more than 50% of the nation's internet traffic, and by 2012 Dominion Power expects that 10% of all its electricity in Northern Virginia will be used by data centers.^[153] Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States as of 2011^[update].^[105]

Virginia companies received the fourth-highest amount of venture capital funding in the first half of 2011 after California, Massachusetts, and New York.^[154] In 2009, Forbes Magazine named Virginia the best state in the nation for business for the fourth year in a row,^[155] while CNBC named it the top state for business in 2007, 2009, and 2011.^[156] Virginia has 20 Fortune 500 companies, ranking the state eighth nationwide.^[157]

Virginia has the highest defense spending of any state per capita, providing the Commonwealth with around 900,000 jobs, and 10% of all U.S. federal procurement money is spent in Virginia.^[158][159] Virginia has over 800,000 veterans, more than any other state, and is second to California in total Department of Defense employees.^[159][160] Many Virginians work for federal agencies in Northern Virginia, which include the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, as well as the National Science Foundation, the United States Geological Survey and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Many others work for government contractors, including defense and security firms, which hold more than 15,000 federal contracts.^[161] The Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military bases and facilities of any metropolitan area in the world. The largest of the bases is Naval Station Norfolk.^[101]

Ocean tourism is an important sector of Virginia Beach's economy.