U.S. States Codexery

Virginia

First permanent English colony in the New World.

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Virginia is a U.S. state located in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions, bordered by Maryland, Washington D.C., the Atlantic Ocean, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia.[1] According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Virginia's resident count stood at 8,631,393, reflecting growth of 7.9% compared to the 2010 census figures.[2]

Key facts and history

The name "Virginia" was used by Captain Arthur Barlowe in a 1584 expedition report and may have been suggested by Walter Raleigh or Queen Elizabeth I.[3] Laws passed in Jamestown defined slavery as race-based in 1661 and as inherited maternally in 1662.[4] On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention declared independence and adopted George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights.[5] The capital was moved to Richmond in April 1780.[6]

On February 2, 1959, Stratford Junior High School in Arlington was the first public school in Virginia to be integrated.[7] Within the present-day borders of Virginia, the indigenous population during the 1500s is estimated to have been around 50,000 people.[8] An expedition funded by the Virginia Company of London, led by Christopher Newport, founded the Jamestown settlement in the year 1607.[9] Virginia's official readmission to the United States took place in 1870.[10]

What the cited sources add

The Virginia Department of Forestry's 2021 annual report notes that Virginia launched an ambitious partnership to improve hardwood forest management and create wildlife habitat.[11] Demographer Hamilton Lombard at the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center mapped how Virginia's population center moved northward due to growth in Northern Virginia.[12] The western tip of Virginia is closer to nine other state capitals than it is to Richmond.[12] A 2017 article describes how the Army chose Newport News as a World War I port of embarkation, with construction beginning 19 days after the port commander's arrival.[13]

An editorial notes that the Red Summer of 1919 spilled blood in Virginia on July 21.[14] The Geology of Virginia resource explains that a thick sequence of carbonate rocks underlies the Shenandoah Valley, deposited in a shallow tropical ocean.[15]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mid-Atlantic Home : Mid–Atlantic Information Office: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics", www.bls.gov; "United States Regions", National Geographic Society, January 3, 2012; "2000 Census of Population and Housing", United States Census Bureau, April 2004, p. 71 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "2020 Census Apportionment Results", U.S. Census Bureau, April 26, 2021; "Fertility Rate: Virginia, 2010–2020", March of Dimes, January 2022; "American Community Survey: Age and Sex", U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2021; Yancey, "Virginia's population center is moving closer to Fredericksburg each year", Cardinal News, 2025-11-18; Yancey, "Virginia's population center is moving closer to Fredericksburg each year", Cardinal News, 2025-11-18 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Glanville, Jim, "16th Century Spanish Invasions of Southwest Virginia", Historical Society of Western Virginia Journal, 2009, p. 34–42; Wallenstein 2007, p. 8–9; Moran 2007, p. 8; Stewart 2008, p. 22; Hulette, "What's in a name?", The Virginian-Pilot, March 19, 2012; Vollmann 2002, p. 695–696 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Eschner, "The Horrible Fate of John Casor, The First Black Man to be Declared Slave for Life in America", March 8, 2017; Hashaw 2007, p. 76–77, 239–240 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heinemann Kolp Parent Shade 2007, p. 30; Schwartz, "George Mason: Forgotten Founder, He Conceived the Bill of Rights", Smithsonian, May 2000, p. 142 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Glass, "Articles of Confederation adopted, Nov. 15, 1777", Politico, November 15, 2010; Cooper 2007, p. 58; Ketchum 2014, p. 155 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Jones, "It Happened Here First: Arlington Students Integrate Virginia Schools", WETA, February 2, 2013. facts only, no text reused. boundarystones.weta.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Egloff Woodward 2006, p. 2–14; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Conlin 2009, p. 30–31 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Virginia" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heinemann Kolp Parent Shade 2007, p. 30; Medford, "Land and Labor: The Quest for Black Economic Independence on Virginia's Lower Peninsula, 1865–1880", Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, October 1992, p. 567–582; Davis 2006, p. 125, 208–210; Morgan 1992, p. 160–166 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Farrell, "State of the Forest Annual Report on Virginia's Forests – 2021", Virginia Department of Forestry, 2022. facts only, no text reused. rga.lis.virginia.gov
  12. Yancey, "Virginia's population center is moving closer to Fredericksburg each year", Cardinal News, 2025-11-18. facts only, no text reused. cardinalnews.org
  13. Erickson, "On this day in 1917, a giant WWI port of embarkation began to transform Hampton Roads", Virginia Daily Press, July 29, 2017. facts only, no text reused. dailypress.com
  14. "Editorial: Remembering the Red Summer of 1919", The Roanoke Times, July 21, 2019. facts only, no text reused. roanoke.com
  15. "Physiographic Regions of Virginia", The Geology of Virginia, July 2015. facts only, no text reused. geology.blogs.wm.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Virginia (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in U.S. States

WashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingDelawareGeorgia (U.S. state)IdahoIllinoisIndianaKentuckyLouisianaMaine

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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