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==History==

==History==

Before Europeans arrived, there were three main groups of [[American Indians]] living in the area now covered by Virginia. These were the [[Algonquian]], [[Iroquoian]] (including [[Cherokee]], [[Meherrin]] and [[Nottoway]]) and the [[Siouan]] Indians.<ref>http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/vahistory/tribes.html accessed 10 March 2007</ref>

See [[History of Virginia]]

Spanish explorers visited parts of what is now Virginia in 1560 and again in 1570 when [[Jesuit]] missionaries attempted to set up a mission. Within a year, instead of converting the Indians to Christianity, they had been killed by the Indians.<ref>''[http://www.seattlecatholic.com/article_20030830.html Spanish Martyrs for Virginia]'' by Matthew M. Anger (30 August 2003), accessed 10 March 2007</ref>

The '''History of Virginia''' began with the settlement of the geographic region now known as the Commonwealth of Virginia in the U.S. thousands of years ago by Native Americans. Permanent European settlement began with English settlers at Jamestown in 1607. Tobacco emerged as a profitable export crop, and the Virginia Colony became the richest and largest British colonies in North America. The year 2007 marked the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown.  

Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] led an English exploration party in 1584. A group of men from England invested in a Joint Stock Company called "The Virginia Company" to find gold and other treasures. The company was granted lands in 1606 from what is now [[North Carolina]] to [[New York]], all under the name of "Virginia" after [[Queen Elizabeth I]] (known as the "Virgin Queen" as she never married). It established the first permanent settlement for England known as [[Jamestown]].<ref>[http://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown/jamestown.cfm Jamestown Settlement], accessed 10 March 2007</ref>

As one of the original 13 United States which won their independence from Great Britain during the [[American Revolution]], Virginia produced more national leaders than any state, including four of the first five presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe). The new state gave up its western lands to form Kentucky and Ohio. During the first half of the 19th century, Virginia grew less rapidly than industrial states to the north, or cotton states to the south. The state exported young people and slaves to form plantations and farms to the west and south.  

Virginia declared independence from Britain in 1776 and became one of the original thirteen states of the United States.  

Virginia was a slave state but refused to join the cotton states in the new Confederacy until Lincoln called for troops to invade the Confederacy. Then it seceded and Richmond became the new Confederate capital.  After many decades of sectional hostility in 1861 West Virginia broke away as a separate state and joined the Union.

From 1860 to 1865, Virginia was one of the [[Confederate States of America]] and as a result many counties in western Virginia seceded from Virginia and formed the state of [[West Virginia]].  The capital of the Confederacy was in Richmond, the capital of Virginia. The eastern front of the [[American Civil War]] was largely fought in Virginia, namely the Shenandoah Valley.

With the Yankees intent on capturing Richmond, Virginia became the main battlefield of the war, which it lost in 1865 as its greatest general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered.

 

Reconstruction brought the liberation of the state's slaves, and proved less contentious than elsewhere in the South. Virginia was poor after 1865, though the new popularity of cigarettes boosted its tobacco industry. After 1940, prosperity returned. [[World War II]] gave the state a major naval and industrial economic base. Desegregation of schools and the integration of African Americans in many other aspects of the society were major issues from the 1950s to the 1970s and the changes did not come without considerable efforts. However, in 1989 [[Douglas Wilder]] became the first elected black governor anywhere in the country. By the 1980s the suburban fringes of Washington D.C. known as [[Northern Virginia]] saw the greatest growth and prosperity, a trend which was also seen in the [[Hampton Roads]] region.

 

Politically, the state was a stronghold of conservative Democrats for most of the 20th century, with a new strength shown by conservative Republicans in the final decade. In the early 21st century, funding for transportation needs  emerged as the most controversial single issue.

 

In partisan terms, the two parties compete furiously for the legislature and the governorship.  In presidential elections Virginia was reliably Republican from 1968 until 2004, but in 2008 Obama won, thanks to the growing liberal strength in the Washington suburbs.

== See also ==

== See also ==