Virginia is a state of the United States, in the middle of the East Coast. The state has an area of 110,792 square kilometers and 8,470,020 residents (US Census, 2017). The capital is Richmond.
Virginia is also called The Old Dominion State because Karl 1 gave the area the status of dominion.
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Geography
The coastal plain, Atlantic Costal Plain, is strongly cut within Chesapeake Bay, and drained by the James River and Potomac River at the border to Maryland in the north. Westward, the country rises to the Appalachian parallel mountain ridges and valleys, including dense wooded Blue Ridge (1746 meters above sea level) and the fertile Shenandoah Valley. Farther west, at the Kentucky border, is reached the Cumberland Plateau, the plateau country west of the Great Appalachian Valley.
The climate is temperate inland; subtropical in the southeastern coastal areas. Richmond has an average temperature of 26 °C in July, 4 °C in January and 1065 millimeters of precipitation. The coastal areas in the southeast are marshy, with vegetation of myrtle and cypress. Farther west, deciduous trees such as oak, ash, hickory and witch hazel grow; in the Appalachians a lot of beech and spruce.
Population
Of the population, 69.7 percent are considered white (including 9.4 percent Hispanic) and 19.8 percent are black (US Census, 2017). The population grew by 15 per cent from 1970 to 1980, 15.7 per cent in the period 1980–1990 and 14.4 per cent in the period 1990–2000. 75.5 percent of the population lives in cities (2010), the most important being Norfolk and the capital Richmond.
The state has many universities and institutions of higher education; The largest are the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg (founded 1872), Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond (1838) and the University of Virginia (1819) in Charlottesville. The most famous university is The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, a state university founded in 1693, the nation’s second oldest college. The largest denominations are Baptists and Methodists.
Virginia sends two senators and eleven representatives to the Washington Congress in Washington.
Business
On the coastal plain tobacco, maize and peanuts are grown, in the northwest (Shenandoah Valley) a lot of fruit (apples, peaches) is grown. Cattle and pig breeding dominate the livestock. Coal is the most important mining product, and lead, zinc and titanium ore are also extracted. The tobacco, plastics and shipbuilding industries are the most important industries. The large number of military installations in Virginia makes the defense one of the state’s largest employers. The state also has significant tourism revenues.
History
Virginia became the 10th state in the United States in 1788. Already in 1583–1588 Sir Walter Raleigh made the first attempt to found an English colony in North America. The area he chose, he named Virginia (virgin land) in honor of the “virgin queen”Elizabeth 1.
Following this failed colonization attempt, the first permanent settlement was established in 1607 with the founding of Jamestown at the outlet of the James River. Virginia was crowned colony in 1624, and based its growth on tobacco cultivation and slaveholding. After Cromwell’s takeover of power in England in the 1650s, many aristocrats also moved to Virginia. The area was a center for resistance to the British taxation of the colonies, and several of the leaders of the American liberation struggle came from here.
Virginia played a significant role in the first year of the union. Four of America’s first five presidents came from Virginia. The largest, eastern part of Virginia broke out of the union in 1861, and Richmond was made the capital of the Confederates (“Southern States”). Virginia became a central battleground in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. However, the western part of Virginia elected the “Northern States”party, and in 1863 became a member of the Union as the State of West Virginia. Virginia was re-elected to the Union in 1870.
In the 1900s, Virginia, like other southern states, experienced racial problems. In 1988, Virginia elected the first black governor of the United States, Democrat Douglas Wilder.
