Colony of Virginia

Map of the Colony of Virginia during the pre-Revolutionary era

The Colony of Virginia (also known as Virginia Colony) was the first of thirteen colonies in North America.

Location

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:

• 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

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).

History

A drawing in Richard of Jamestown: A Story of the Virginia Colony (1910) showing a man injured in an explosion

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.

In 1607 Virginia was settled again at Jamestown by people working for the Virginia Company of London. 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. This meant they lost the legal rights to control the Virginia Colony.

At this point, the British Crown took over the colony. 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.

Colony Of Virginia Media

• Coat of arms of the Virginia Company (after 1714)

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  Great Seal of Virginia - George III

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  The site of the 1607 Popham Colony is shown by "Po" on the map. The settlement at Jamestown is indicated by "J".

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  The 1609 charter for the Virginia colony "from sea to sea"

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  Map depicting the Colony of Virginia (according to the Second Charter), made by Willem Blaeu between 1609 and 1638

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  Cover to a history of the Plantation of Virginia between 1612 and 1624, compiled by its planters

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  Red line showing the boundary between the Virginia Colony and Tributary Indian tribes established by the Treaty of 1646. The Red dot indicates Jamestown, the capital of the Virginia Colony.

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  Map of the Iroquois expansion during the Beaver Wars, 1638–1711

Related pages

• Thirteen Colonies
• Jamestown, Virginia
• Roanoke Colony
• States of the United States
• History of the United States