Colony of Virginia
The Colony of Virginia (also known as Virginia Colony) was the first of thirteen colonies in North America.[1]
Location
[change | change source]When the Virginia Colony was first settled, it was a huge geographic area that was England's claim on all of North America.
After the United States was formed, the new government formed all of these areas from the Colony of Virginia:[2]
- The entire state of Illinois
- The entire state of Indiana
- The entire state of Kentucky
- The entire state of West Virginia
- Parts of Ohio
- Virginia
Name
[change | change source]The name Virginia was first applied by Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I in 1584.
After the English Civil War in the mid-17th century, King Charles II nicknamed the Virginia Colony "The Old Dominion". This name honored the Colony's loyalty to the British Crown during the Commonwealth of England era (a period from 1649-1660 when the monarchy was ended).[3]
History
[change | change source]
European explorers first found modern-day Virginia in the late 16th century. In 1584 England tried to establish its first colony in the New World: the Roanoke Colony. Because of the Anglo-Spanish War, nobody could return to re-supply the colony for four years. When ships finally arrived in 1590, the Roanoke colonists were mysteriously gone.[4]
In 1607 Virginia was settled again at Jamestown by people working for the Virginia Company of London.[4] This time, the colony succeeded. Jamestown became the first successful English settlement in the New World. However, the Virginia Company had its charter cancelled in 1624 for not making a profit.[4] This meant they lost the legal rights to control the Virginia Colony.
At this point, the British Crown took over the colony.[4] It remained an English colony until the American Revolution. Virginia was one of the first colonies to be made a state in the new United States of America.
Related pages
[change | change source]- Thirteen Colonies
- Jamestown, Virginia
- Roanoke Colony
- States of the United States
- History of the United States
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "A History of Jamestown". Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ Charles A. Goodrich, The History of the United States of America from the Discovery of the Continent by Christopher Columbus to present time, (Hartford: H. F. Sumner & Co. 1873) pp. 35, 241
- ↑ "Old Dominion, Virginia State Nickname". State Symbols USA. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Colonization in the New World". Teaching American History in South Carolina Project. Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
