Northern Virginia History
Virginia known as the Common Wealth Virginia or also "Old Dominion" was where the first English colonies Jamestown originated in 1607. Also, it's where the nation was originated Many of the nations conflicts happened in Virginia in the Civil Revolutionary War.
Virginia has an area of 42,774 square miles (110,784 km2) making it the 35th-largest state by area. Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west. Due to a peculiarity of Virginia's original charter, its boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. does not extend past the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River (unlike many boundaries that split a river down the middle). Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, James, and York. These form three peninsulas into the Chesapeake. Geographically and geologically, Virginia is divided into five regions from east to west: Tidewater, Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau, also called the Appalachian Plateau.
In addition to agriculture, slave labor was increasingly used in mining, shipbuilding and other industries. After the Revolutionary War, the free black population rose, creating thriving communities in Petersburg and Richmond. Numerous individual manumissions were inspired by Quaker abolitionists and the revolution's principles. Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 and John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 showed deep social discontent about slavery and its role in the plantation economy. By 1860, almost half a million people, roughly 31% of the total population of Virginia, were enslaved. This division contributed to the start of the American Civil War.As of 2007, Virginia had an estimated population of 7,712,091 which is an increase of 69,213, or just under 1%, from the prior year and an increase of 633,067, or 9%, since the year 2000. This includes an increase from net migration of 276,292 people into the Commonwealth. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 151,748 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 124,544 people. The center of population is located in Goochland County outside of Richmond.
Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which both operate the same way since independent cities are considered to be county-equivalent. This method of treating cities and counties equally is unique to Virginia, with only three other independent cities in the United States outside Virginia. Incorporated towns exist and operate under their own town governments, but are also part of a county. There are also hundreds of other unincorporated communities within the counties. Virginia does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.
Virginia has 11 Metropolitan Statistical Areas; Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Richmond-Petersburg are the three most populated. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and its metropolitan area has a population of over 1.2 million people. As of 2006, Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the Commonwealth, with Norfolk and Chesapeake second and third, respectively. Norfolk forms the urban core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which is home to over 1.6 million people and the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk. Suffolk, which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at 429.1 square miles (1,111 km2).
Although it is not incorporated as a city, Fairfax County is the most populous locality in Virginia, with over one million residents. Fairfax has a major urban business and shopping center in Tyson's Corner, Virginia's largest office market. Neighboring Loudoun County, with the county seat at Leesburg, is both the fastest-growing county in the United States and has the highest median household income ($107,207) as of 2007. Arlington County, the smallest self-governing county in the United States by land area, is an urban community organized as a county. Roanoke, with a population of 292,983, is the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in western Virginia