Virginia

Virginia, so named in honor of the "virgin queen" of England, Queen Elizabeth I, was nicknamed the Old Dominion by King Charles II because Virginia remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War and throughout Cromwell's years. Virginia is a Commonwealth (not a state) and was one of the first colonies in North America in the 1600s and joined the United States of America in 1788.

Mother of Presidents

Virginia is often called the Mother of Presidents or Birthplace of Presidents because eight U.S. Presidents have been born in Virgina. Four of the first five presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, were Virginians. The remaining Presidents from Virginia are William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson. Many of their Virginia homes such as Monticello and Mount Vernon are popular tourist destinations.

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.

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.

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.

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