Discover Virginia


Virginia history

Native  Americansand Captain John Smith. Its Second Charter
was officially ratified on May 23, 1609. The
At the time of the English colonization ofVirginia Company was also left in control of
Virginia, Native American people living inBermuda from 1609, when its flagship was
what now is Virginia were the Cherokee,wrecked there en route to Jamestown. Its
Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Monacan,Royal Charter was extended to include the
Nansemond, Nottaway, Pamunkey, Pohick,Islands of Bermuda, alias The Somers Isles
Powhatan,  Rappahannock,  Saponi  and others.(sometimes known as Virgineola), in 1612.
Bermuda remained part of Virginia until 1614,
Spanish  failurewhen its administration was handed to the
Crown (although a spin-off of the Virginia
A Spanish exploration party had come to theCompany, the Somers Isles Company, would
lower Chesapeake Bay region of Virginiaoversee  it  from  1615  to  1684).
around 1560 and met the Native Americans
living on the Virginia Peninsula. A 17-yearJamestown was the original capital of the
old teenage Powhatan boy from the village ofVirginia Colony, and remained so until the
Chiskiack (located on the lands of theState House burned (not the first time) in
present-day U.S. Naval Weapons Station1698. After the fire, the colonial capital
Yorktown), who was the son of a chief, agreedwas moved to nearby Middle Plantation, which
to leave with them. He was baptized andwas renamed Williamsburg in honor of William
renamed Don Luis, in honor of his sponsor,of Orange, King William III. Virginia was
Luis de Velasco. Don Luis was educated ingiven its nickname, "The Old Dominion", by
Mexico  and  Madrid,  Spain.King Charles II of England at the time of The
Restoration, because it had remained loyal to
Ten years later, in the fall of 1570, thethe  crown  during  the  English  Civil  War.
native-convert Don Luis returned to Virginia
to help as a guide and translator in theIndependent  commonwealth
establishment of the Jesuit's planned Ajacan
Mission to be named for St. Mary on the lowerIn 1780, during the American Revolutionary
peninsula. Shorty after they were dropped offWar, the capital was moved to Richmond at the
by a Spanish ship, Don Luis abandoned theurging of then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who
group, returning to his people, where hewas afraid that Williamsburg's location made
became a Weroance. The following February,it vulnerable to a British attack. In the
Don Luis and a group of Powhatans returnedautumn of 1781, American troops trapped the
and killed the 8 Jesuit missionaries,British on the Yorktown peninsula in the
stealing their clothes and possessions,famous Battle of Yorktown. This prompted a
sparing only the life of a Spanish servantBritish surrender on October 19, 1781,
boy named Alonzo. This young boy escaped andformally ending the war and securing the
made his way to a rival tribe, where heindependence of the former colonies, even
stayed until later rescued by another Spanishthough sporadic fighting continued for
ship  bringing  supplies.another  two  years.
When told of the events by young Alonzo, inPatrick Henry served as the first Governor of
the early part of 1572, the Spanish GovernorVirginia, from 1776 to 1779, and again from
of Florida, Pedro Menendez de Aviles,1784 to 1786. On June 12, 1776, the Virginia
returned to Virginia to retaliate. TheConvention adopted the Virginia Declaration
Spanish ultimately captured and hanged someof Rights written by George Mason, a document
of the Indians believed responsible for thethat influenced the Bill of Rights added
massacre, but they were unable to locate Donlater to the United States Constitution. On
Luis. While this marked the end of SpanishJune 29, 1776, the convention adopted a
efforts to colonize the area which becameconstitution that established Virginia as a
Virginia, some historians believe that Doncommonwealth independent of the British
Luis and Opechancanough, who was later ChiefEmpire. In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland
of the Powhatan Confederacy, may have beenceded territory to form the new District of
the same individual. The name OpechancanoughColumbia, but in an Act of the U.S. Congress
meant "He whose Soul is White" in thedated July 9, 1846, the area south of the
Algonquin language used by the PowhatanPotomac that had been ceded by Virginia was
people.retroceded to Virginia effective 1847, and is
now Arlington County and part of the City of
Virginia  colony:  1607–1776Alexandria.
At the end of the 16th century, when EnglandAmerican  Civil  War
began to colonize North America, Queen
Elizabeth I of England (who was known as theVirginia is one of the states that seceded
"Virgin Queen" because she never married)from the Union (on April 17, 1861) and
gave the name "Virginia" to the whole areaoperated independently until it joined the
explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir WalterConfederacy during the Civil War when it
Raleigh along the coast of North America. Theturned over its military on June 8 and
name eventually applied to the whole coastratified the Constitution of the Confederate
from South Carolina to Maine. The LondonStates on June 19. In 1863, during the Civil
Virginia Company became incorporated as aWar, 48 counties remaining loyal to the Union
joint stock company by a proprietary charterin the northwest of the state separated from
drawn up on April 10, 1606. The charterVirginia to form the State Kanawha (later
granted lands stretching from approximatelyrenamed West Virginia), an act which was
the 34th parallel (North Carolina) north toupheld by the United States Supreme Court in
approximately the 45th parallel (New York)1870. More battles were fought on Virginia
and from the Atlantic Ocean westward. Itsoil than anywhere else in America during the
swiftly financed the first permanent EnglishCivil War. The city of Richmond served as the
settlement in the New World, which was atcapital of the Confederacy during the war.
Jamestown, named in honor of King James I, inVirginia formally rejoined the union on
the Virginia Colony, in 1607. The settlementJanuary 26, 1870, after a period of post-war
was founded by Captain Christopher Newportmilitary rule.



1 A B C 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100