| Native Americans | | | | officially ratified on May 23, 1609. The |
| At the time of the English colonization | | | | Virginia Company was also left in |
| of Virginia, Native American people | | | | control of Bermuda from 1609, when its |
| living in what now is Virginia were the | | | | flagship was wrecked there en route to |
| Cherokee, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, | | | | Jamestown. Its Royal Charter was |
| Meherrin, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottaway, | | | | extended to include the Islands of |
| Pamunkey, Pohick, Powhatan, | | | | Bermuda, alias The Somers Isles |
| Rappahannock, Saponi and others. | | | | (sometimes known as Virgineola), in |
| Spanish failure | | | | 1612. Bermuda remained part of Virginia |
| A Spanish exploration party had come to | | | | until 1614, when its administration was |
| the lower Chesapeake Bay region of | | | | handed to the Crown (although a spin-off |
| Virginia around 1560 and met the Native | | | | of the Virginia Company, the Somers |
| Americans living on the Virginia | | | | Isles Company, would oversee it from |
| Peninsula. A 17-year old teenage | | | | 1615 to 1684). |
| Powhatan boy from the village of | | | | Jamestown was the original capital of |
| Chiskiack (located on the lands of the | | | | the Virginia Colony, and remained so |
| present-day U.S. Naval Weapons Station | | | | until the State House burned (not the |
| Yorktown), who was the son of a chief, | | | | first time) in 1698. After the fire, the |
| agreed to leave with them. He was | | | | colonial capital was moved to nearby |
| baptized and renamed Don Luis, in honor | | | | Middle Plantation, which was renamed |
| of his sponsor, Luis de Velasco. Don | | | | Williamsburg in honor of William of |
| Luis was educated in Mexico and Madrid, | | | | Orange, King William III. Virginia was |
| Spain. | | | | given its nickname, "The Old Dominion", |
| Ten years later, in the fall of 1570, | | | | by King Charles II of England at the |
| the native-convert Don Luis returned to | | | | time of The Restoration, because it had |
| Virginia to help as a guide and | | | | remained loyal to the crown during the |
| translator in the establishment of the | | | | English Civil War. |
| Jesuit's planned Ajacan Mission to be | | | | Independent commonwealth |
| named for St. Mary on the lower | | | | In 1780, during the American |
| peninsula. Shorty after they were | | | | Revolutionary War, the capital was moved |
| dropped off by a Spanish ship, Don Luis | | | | to Richmond at the urging of |
| abandoned the group, returning to his | | | | then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who was |
| people, where he became a Weroance. The | | | | afraid that Williamsburg's location made |
| following February, Don Luis and a group | | | | it vulnerable to a British attack. In |
| of Powhatans returned and killed the 8 | | | | the autumn of 1781, American troops |
| Jesuit missionaries, stealing their | | | | trapped the British on the Yorktown |
| clothes and possessions, sparing only | | | | peninsula in the famous Battle of |
| the life of a Spanish servant boy named | | | | Yorktown. This prompted a British |
| Alonzo. This young boy escaped and made | | | | surrender on October 19, 1781, formally |
| his way to a rival tribe, where he | | | | ending the war and securing the |
| stayed until later rescued by another | | | | independence of the former colonies, |
| Spanish ship bringing supplies. | | | | even though sporadic fighting continued |
| When told of the events by young Alonzo, | | | | for another two years. |
| in the early part of 1572, the Spanish | | | | Patrick Henry served as the first |
| Governor of Florida, Pedro Menendez de | | | | Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779, |
| Aviles, returned to Virginia to | | | | and again from 1784 to 1786. On June 12, |
| retaliate. The Spanish ultimately | | | | 1776, the Virginia Convention adopted |
| captured and hanged some of the Indians | | | | the Virginia Declaration of Rights |
| believed responsible for the massacre, | | | | written by George Mason, a document that |
| but they were unable to locate Don Luis. | | | | influenced the Bill of Rights added |
| While this marked the end of Spanish | | | | later to the United States Constitution. |
| efforts to colonize the area which | | | | On June 29, 1776, the convention adopted |
| became Virginia, some historians believe | | | | a constitution that established Virginia |
| that Don Luis and Opechancanough, who | | | | as a commonwealth independent of the |
| was later Chief of the Powhatan | | | | British Empire. In 1790, both Virginia |
| Confederacy, may have been the same | | | | and Maryland ceded territory to form the |
| individual. The name Opechancanough | | | | new District of Columbia, but in an Act |
| meant "He whose Soul is White" in the | | | | of the U.S. Congress dated July 9, 1846, |
| Algonquin language used by the Powhatan | | | | the area south of the Potomac that had |
| people. | | | | been ceded by Virginia was retroceded to |
| Virginia colony: 1607–1776 | | | | Virginia effective 1847, and is now |
| At the end of the 16th century, when | | | | Arlington County and part of the City of |
| England began to colonize North America, | | | | Alexandria. |
| Queen Elizabeth I of England (who was | | | | American Civil War |
| known as the "Virgin Queen" because she | | | | Virginia is one of the states that |
| never married) gave the name "Virginia" | | | | seceded from the Union (on April 17, |
| to the whole area explored by the 1584 | | | | 1861) and operated independently until |
| expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along | | | | it joined the Confederacy during the |
| the coast of North America. The name | | | | Civil War when it turned over its |
| eventually applied to the whole coast | | | | military on June 8 and ratified the |
| from South Carolina to Maine. The London | | | | Constitution of the Confederate States |
| Virginia Company became incorporated as | | | | on June 19. In 1863, during the Civil |
| a joint stock company by a proprietary | | | | War, 48 counties remaining loyal to the |
| charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. The | | | | Union in the northwest of the state |
| charter granted lands stretching from | | | | separated from Virginia to form the |
| approximately the 34th parallel (North | | | | State Kanawha (later renamed West |
| Carolina) north to approximately the | | | | Virginia), an act which was upheld by |
| 45th parallel (New York) and from the | | | | the United States Supreme Court in 1870. |
| Atlantic Ocean westward. It swiftly | | | | More battles were fought on Virginia |
| financed the first permanent English | | | | soil than anywhere else in America |
| settlement in the New World, which was | | | | during the Civil War. The city of |
| at Jamestown, named in honor of King | | | | Richmond served as the capital of the |
| James I, in the Virginia Colony, in | | | | Confederacy during the war. Virginia |
| 1607. The settlement was founded by | | | | formally rejoined the union on January |
| Captain Christopher Newport and Captain | | | | 26, 1870, after a period of post-war |
| John Smith. Its Second Charter was | | | | military rule. |