{"id":703,"date":"2018-08-01T04:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=703"},"modified":"2018-08-01T19:21:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T19:21:50","slug":"virginia-the-old-dominion-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/virginia-the-old-dominion-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia – The Old Dominion State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Virginia, officially known as the Commonwealth of Virginia, one of four Commonwealth (Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania being the other) states in the United States, is a state in the, depending on where you draw the completely artificial lines, Southeastern or Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.\u00a0 Virginia is located between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. \u00a0Virginia holds claim to the title of the first colonial possession of Great Britain in what is now the United States.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Virginia in the United States<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Geography:<\/h2>\n

Virginia is the 35th-largest state by area.<\/p>\n

Virginia is bordered to the north and east by Maryland and Washington, D.C.; to the east by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by North Carolina; to the southwest by Tennessee; to the west by Kentucky; and to the north and west by West Virginia.<\/p>\n

Traditionally Virginia is divided into five regions based on both geography and geology which are from east to west: Tidewater, Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Relief Map of Virginia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line.\u00a0 The Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic<\/a> era.\u00a0 The Blue Ridge Mountains are a part of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest point in the state tallest being Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley.\u00a0 The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, south of the Allegheny Plateau.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Human habitation in what is now Virginia for at least 12,000 years ago.\u00a0 By 5,000 years ago more permanent settlements emerged, and farming began by 900 AD. \u00a0By 1500, the Algonquian<\/a> peoples had founded towns in the Tidewater region. \u00a0In 1607, the native Tidewater population was between 13,000 and 14,000.<\/p>\n

Several European expeditions, including a group of Spanish Jesuits, explored the Chesapeake Bay during the 16th century.\u00a0 In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Walter Raleigh<\/a> a charter to plant a colony north of Spanish Florida.\u00a0 In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America.\u00a0 The name “Virginia” may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the “Virgin Queen.\u201d\u00a0 Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda<\/a>.\u00a0 Later, subsequent royal charters modified the Colony’s boundaries. \u00a0The London Company was incorporated as a joint stock company by the proprietary Charter of 1606, which granted land rights to this area. \u00a0The company financed the first permanent English settlement in the “New World”, Jamestown. Named for King James I, it was founded in May 1607.\u00a0 With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624, the settlement was taken into royal authority as an English crown colony.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jamestown Colony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Life in the colony was perilous, and many died during the early 17th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 By 1624, only 3,400 of the 6,000 early settlers had survived.\u00a0 However, European demand for tobacco fueled the arrival of more settlers and servants.<\/p>\n

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 coastal location would make it vulnerable to British attack.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Williamsburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a> defeated British General Cornwallis<\/a> in the Siege of Yorktown.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His surrender on October 19, 1781 led to peace negotiations in Paris and secured the independence of the colonies.<\/p>\n

Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788 becoming the 10th<\/sup> state to do so.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Original Washington DC Boundaries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, though the Virginian area was retroceded in 1846.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Current Washington DC Boundaries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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. \u00a0On April 24, Virginia joined the Confederate States of America, which chose Richmond as its capital.<\/p>\n

After the 1861 Wheeling Convention<\/a>, 48 counties in the northwest separated to form a new state of West Virginia, which chose to remain loyal to the Union.<\/p>\n

During the war, more battles were fought in Virginia than anywhere else, including Bull Run<\/a>, the Seven Days Battles<\/a>, Chancellorsville<\/a>, and the concluding Battle of Appomattox Court House<\/a>.\u00a0 Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Union Soldiers in Fredericksburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Virginian James Albert Bonsack<\/a> invented the tobacco cigarette rolling machine in 1880 leading to new industrial scale production centered on Richmond.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Bonsack Cigarette Rolling Machine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 to 1923.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Newport News Shipbuilding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The civil rights movement gained many participants in the 1960s. \u00a0It 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. \u00a0In 1964 the United States Supreme Court ordered Prince Edward County and others to integrate schools.\u00a0 In 1967, the Court also struck down the state’s ban on interracial marriage with Loving v. Virginia. \u00a0From 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Pentagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n

The Virginia economy has diverse sources of income, including local and federal government, military, farming and business.<\/p>\n

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Virginia had the most counties in the top 100 wealthiest in the United States at sixteen counties based upon median income in 2007.\u00a0 Northern Virginia is the highest-income region in Virginia, having six of the twenty highest-income counties in the United States, including the two highest as of 2008.\u00a0 According to a 2013 study by Phoenix Marketing International, Virginia had the seventh-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 6.64%.<\/p>\n

Virginia has the highest defense spending of any state per capita, providing the Commonwealth with around 900,000 jobs.\u00a0 Approximately 12% of all U.S. federal procurement money is spent in Virginia, the second-highest amount after California.\u00a0 Many Virginians work for federal agencies in Northern Virginia.\u00a0 Many others work for government contractors, including defense and security firms, which hold more than 15,000 federal contracts.<\/p>\n

Virginia has the highest concentration of technology workers of any state, and the fourth-highest number of technology workers after California, Texas, and New York.\u00a0 Computer chips became the state’s highest-grossing export in 2006, surpassing its traditional top exports of coal and tobacco combined, reaching a total export value of $717 million in 2015.<\/p>\n

Tourism in Virginia supported an estimated 210,000 jobs and generated $21.2 billion in 2012.\u00a0 Arlington County is the top tourist destination in the state by domestic spending, followed by Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Virginia Beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Virginia Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of 2007, agriculture occupied 32% of the land in Virginia and about 357,000 Virginian jobs were in agriculture, with over 47,000 farms, averaging 171 acres.\u00a0 Though agriculture has declined significantly since 1960 when there were twice as many farms, it remains the largest single industry in Virginia.\u00a0 Tomatoes surpassed soy as the most profitable crop in Virginia in 2006, with peanuts and hay as other agricultural products.\u00a0 Although it is no longer the primary crop, Virginia is still the fifth-largest producer of tobacco nationwide.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rockingham County Farmers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Virginia is the largest producer of seafood on the East Coast, with scallops, oysters, blue crabs, and clams as the largest seafood harvests by value, and France, Canada, and Hong Kong as the top export destinations. \u00a0Wineries and vineyards in the Northern Neck and along the Blue Ridge Mountains also have begun to generate income and attract tourists.\u00a0 Virginia has the fifth-highest number of wineries in the nation.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Virginia Wineries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n

As of 2011, the Virginia Department of Transportation owns and operates 57,867 miles of the total 70,105 miles of roads in the state, making it the third largest state highway system in the United States.<\/p>\n

Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. from Fredericksburg and Manassas. \u00a0The Washington Metro rapid transit system serves Northern Virginia as far west as communities along I-66 in Fairfax County, with expansion plans to reach Loudoun County by 2017<\/p>\n

Virginia has five major airports: Washington Dulles International<\/a> and Reagan Washington National<\/a> in Northern Virginia; Richmond International<\/a>; and Newport News\/Williamsburg International Airport<\/a> and Norfolk International<\/a> serving the Hampton Roads area.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Washington Dulles International Airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Flag and the Seal:<\/h2>\n

The flag of Virginia consists of the obverse of the seal against a blue background. The flag was first adopted at the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, and standardized by the General Assembly in February 1950.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Flag of Virginia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The obverse of the seal is the official seal of Virginia and is used on all the official papers and documents of the Commonwealth’s government, as well as on its flag. \u00a0On this side, a female figure personifying the Roman virtue of Virtus was selected to represent the genius of the new Commonwealth. \u00a0Virginia’s Virtus is a figure of peace, standing in a pose which indicates a battle already won. \u00a0She rests on her long spear, its point turned downward to the ground. \u00a0Her other weapon, a parazonium, is sheathed; it is the sword of authority rather than that of combat. \u00a0Virtus is typically shown with a bare left breast; this is commonly recognized as the only use of nudity among the seals of the U.S. states.<\/p>\n

Tyranny lies prostrate beneath the foot of Virtus, symbolizing Great Britain’s defeat by Virginia. \u00a0The royal crown which has fallen to the ground beside him symbolizes the new republic’s release from the monarchical control of Great Britain.\u00a0 The broken chain in Tyranny’s left hand represents Virginia’s freedom from Britain’s restriction of colonial trade and westward expansion. The useless whip in his right hand signifies Virginia’s relief from the torturing whip of acts of punishment such as the Intolerable Acts. \u00a0His robe is purple, a reference to Julius Caesar and the Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus.<\/p>\n

The motto selected for the obverse of the Virginia seal is \u201cSic semper tyrannis,\u201d or in English, \u201cThus always to tyrants.\u201d \u00a0This is a derived quote from the famous events in Roman history, attributed to Brutus upon his participation in the slaying of Julius Caesar.<\/p>\n

The State Nickname:<\/h2>\n

Virginia’s most familiar state nickname is Old Dominion. The nickname was earned by the loyalty of Virginia to the Royalist cause during the English Civil War and afterward, during the English Commonwealth. \u00a0The moniker was given by King Charles II in recognition of Virginia’s loyalty to the Crown, after the Restoration. \u00a0The state nickname is its oldest symbol, though it has never been made official by law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America. The name “Virginia” may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the “Virgin Queen.\u201d Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda. Later, subsequent royal charters modified the Colony’s boundaries. 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. With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624, the settlement was taken into royal authority as an English crown colony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6,7,41,43,40,42],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}