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{{Short description|British colony in North America (1606–1776)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Colony of Virginia
| common_name            = Virginia
| era                    = European colonization of the Americas
| status                 = {{ubl|[[Proprietary colony]]<br />(1606–1624)|[[Crown colony]]<br />(1624–1776)}}
| title_leader           = [[Monarch of Great Britain|Monarch]]
| leader1                = [[James VI & I]] (first)
| year_leader1           = 1606–1625
| leader2                = [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] (last)
| year_leader2           = 1760–1776
| title_representative   = [[List of colonial governors of Virginia|Governor]]
| representative1        = [[Edward Maria Wingfield|Edward Wingfield]] (first)
| year_representative1   = 1607
| representative2        = [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|Lord Dunmore]] (last)
| year_representative2   = 1771–1776
| event_start            = [[First Virginia Charter|First Charter]]
| date_start             = April 10,
| year_start             = 1606
| event_end              = [[United States Declaration of Independence|Independence]]
| year_end               = 1776
| date_end               = July 4,
| event1                 = First landing
| date_event1            = April 26, 1607
| event2                 = [[Jamestown Virginia|Founding of Jamestown]]
| date_event2            = May 14, 1607
| event3                 = [[Second Virginia Charter|Second Charter]]
| date_event3            = May 23, 1609
| event4                 = [[House of Burgesses|House of Burgesses formed]]
| date_event4            = July 30, 1619
| event5                 = Became royal colony
| date_event5            = May 24, 1624
| event_post             = Constitution ratified
| date_post              = June 25, 1788
| event_pre              = [[Roanoke Colony]]
| date_pre               = 1585–1590
| p1                     = Tsenacommacah
| s1                     = Virginia
| s2                     = Carolina Province
| s3                     = Somers Islands
| image_coat             = File:Coat_of_arms_of_the_Virginia_Company.svg
| coat_alt               = Coat of arms (before 1714)
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms<br/>(1606–1714)<!--
   symbol2                = --><div style="padding:3px 0;">[[File:Coat of arms of the Virginia Company (after 1714).svg|80px|Coat of arms after 1714]]</div><!--
   symbol_type2     = -->(after 1714)
| other_symbol           = [[File:Great Seal of Virginia - George III.png|170px]]
| other_symbol_type      = [[Flag and seal of Virginia|Seal]]
| image_map              = virginiacolony.png
| capital                = {{plainlist|
* [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] (1607–1699)
* [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] (1699–1776)}}
| common_languages       = {{plainlist|
* [[English language|English]]
* [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]
* [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]]
* [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]
}}
| religion               = [[Church of England]] ([[Anglicanism]])<ref>Edward L. Bond, "Anglican theology and devotion in James Blair's Virginia, 1685–1743", ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'', 1996, Vol. 104 Issue 3, pp. 313–340</ref>
| currency               = [[Virginia pound]] (1624–1793)
| national_motto         = {{ubl | {{lang|la|"En dat Virginia quintam"}} (before 1707) | ({{langx|en|"Behold, Virginia gives the fifth"}})<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lva.virginia.gov/faq/va.asp |title=The Library of Virginia FAQ About Virginia}}</ref> }} {{ubl | {{lang|la|"En dat Virginia quartam"}} (after 1707) | ({{langx|en|"Behold, Virginia gives the fourth"}})<ref>{{cite web |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/old-dominion/ |title=Old Dominion}}</ref> }}
| legislature            = [[Virginia General Assembly|General Assembly]]
| house1                 = [[Virginia Governor's Council|Governor's Council]]<br />(1607–1776)
| type_house1            = [[Upper house]]
| house2                 = [[House of Burgesses]]<br />(1619–1776)
| type_house2            = [[Lower house]]
| today                  = {{ubl | [[United States]] 
| [[Bermuda| Bermuda (British Overseas Territory)]] }}
}}

The '''Colony of Virginia''' was a [[British Empire|British]] colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776.

The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting [[Roanoke Colony]] lasted for three attempts totaling six years. In 1590, the colony was abandoned. But nearly 20 years later, the colony was re-settled at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], not far north of the original site. A second charter was issued in 1606 and settled in 1607, becoming the first enduring [[English colonial empire|English colony]] in [[North America]]. It followed failed attempts at settlement on [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] by Sir [[Humphrey Gilbert]]<ref name="Sir Humphrey Gilbert">Gilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (history), ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' Online, [[University of Toronto]], May 2, 2005</ref> in 1583 and the Roanoke Colony (in modern eastern [[North Carolina]]) by Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] in the late 1580s.

The founder of the Jamestown colony was the [[Virginia Company]],<ref name="proprietor">{{cite web |title=Instructions for the Virginia Colony 1606 |url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/instructions-for-the-virginia-colony-1606.php |website=American history from revolution to reconstruction |access-date=June 22, 2017}}</ref> chartered by [[James VI and I|King James I]], with its first two settlements being in [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] on the north bank of the [[James River]] and [[Popham Colony]] on the [[Kennebec River]] in modern-day [[Maine]], both in 1607. The Popham colony quickly failed because of famine, disease, and conflicts with local Native American tribes in the first two years. Jamestown occupied land belonging to the [[Tsenacommacah|Powhatan Confederacy]]; it was also on the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies by ship in 1610. [[Tobacco]] became Virginia's first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns.

In 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I, and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority as a [[crown colony]]. After the [[English Civil War]] in the 1640s and 1650s, the Virginia colony was nicknamed "The Old Dominion" by King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] for its perceived loyalty to the English monarchy during the era of the Protectorate and [[Commonwealth of England]].<ref name="Old Dominion">{{cite web |last1=Tarter |first1=Brent |title=Old Dominion |url=http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Old_Dominion |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |publisher=Virginia Foundation for the Humanities |access-date=November 29, 2016}}</ref>

From 1619 to 1775/1776, the colonial legislature of Virginia was the General Assembly, which governed in conjunction with [[List of colonial governors of Virginia|a colonial governor]]. Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia Colony until 1699; from 1699 until its dissolution, the capital was in [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]]. The colony experienced its first significant political turmoil with [[Bacon's Rebellion]] of 1676.

After declaring independence from the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] in 1775, before the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] was officially adopted, the Virginia Colony became the [[Virginia|Commonwealth of Virginia]], one of the original [[Thirteen Colonies|thirteen states]] of the United States, adopting as its official slogan "The Old Dominion". The entire modern states of [[West Virginia]], [[Kentucky]], [[Indiana]], [[Illinois]], [[Wisconsin]] and [[Michigan]], and portions of [[Ohio]], [[Western Pennsylvania]] and [[Minnesota]] were later created from the territory encompassed, or claimed by, Virginia during the [[American Revolutionary War]].

== Etymology ==
=== Virginia ===
{{History of Virginia}}
"Virginia" is the oldest designation for English claims in North America. In 1584, Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] sent [[Philip Amadas]] and [[Arthur Barlowe]] to explore what is now the [[North Carolina]] coast. They returned with word of a regional king (''[[weroance]]'') named ''[[Wingina]]'', who ruled a land supposedly called ''Wingandacoa''. "Virginia" was originally a term used to refer to England's entire North American possession and claim along the east coast from the [[34th parallel north|34th parallel]] (close to [[Cape Fear (headland)|Cape Fear]]) north to the [[45th parallel north|45th parallel]]. This area included a large section of Canada and the shores of [[Acadia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/va01.asp|title=The First Charter of Virginia; April 10, 1606|website=The Avalon Project|date=2008}}</ref>

The name Virginia for a region in North America may have been originally suggested by Raleigh, who named it for [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]] in approximately 1584.<ref>{{cite web |title=Questions about Virginia. |url=http://www.lva.virginia.gov/faq/va.asp#one |website=The Library of Virginia |access-date=June 20, 2017 |quote=Virginia was named for Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the Virgin Queen. Historians think the English adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh suggested the name about 1584.}}</ref> In addition, the term ''Wingandacoa'' may have influenced the name Virginia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States |url=https://archive.org/details/namesofland0000unse |url-access=registration |last=Stewart |first=George |author-link=George R. Stewart |year=1945 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/namesofland0000unse/page/22 22]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Conquest of Virginia: the Forest Primeval; An Account Based on Original Documents |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestvirgini01samsgoog |last=Sams |first=Conway |year=1916 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York and London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/conquestvirgini01samsgoog/page/n380 282]–883}}</ref> On his next voyage, Raleigh learned that while the chief of the [[Secotan]]s was indeed called Wingina, the expression ''wingandacoa'' heard by the English upon arrival actually meant "What good clothes you wear!" in [[Carolina Algonquian]] and was not the name of the country as previously misunderstood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jmack/algonqin/mook1.htm |title=Algonkian Ethnohistory of the Carolina Sound, Part 1 |publisher=Homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com |date=June 15, 1944 |access-date=September 10, 2012}}</ref>

The colony was also known as the '''Virginia Colony''', the '''Province of Virginia''', and occasionally as the '''Dominion and Colony of Virginia''' or '''His Majesty's Most Ancient Colloney and Dominion of Virginia'''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jn0kAQAAIAAJ |title=Early American Indian Documents: Virginia treaties, 1607–1722 |first=Alden T. |last=Vaughan |date=2004 |publisher=University Publications of America |via=Google Books|isbn=978-0890931806 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l29XAAAAYAAJ |title=A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles |first=Mitford McLeod |last=Mathews |date= 1951 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |via=Google Books}}</ref>

=== Old Dominion ===
According to tradition, in gratitude for the loyalty of Virginians to the crown during the [[English Civil War]], [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] gave it the title of "Old Dominion".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Old Dominion|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Old_Dominion#start_entry|access-date=July 10, 2020|website=www.encyclopediavirginia.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Bartel|first=Bill|title=What's in a name? {{!}} Virginia as Old Dominion|url=https://www.pilotonline.com/history/article_eb0a9d97-5a5c-551f-b152-688d888ad49e.html|access-date=July 10, 2020|website=pilotonline.com|date=May 20, 2013 }}</ref> The colony seal stated from Latin ''en dat virginia quintum'', in English 'Behold, Virginia gives the fifth', with Virginia claimed as the fifth English dominion after England, [[English claims to the French throne#The Stuart dynasty claimants|France]], [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]].

The Commonwealth of [[Virginia]] maintains "Old Dominion" as its [[List of U.S. state and territory nicknames|state nickname]]. The athletic teams of the [[University of Virginia]] are known as the "[[Virginia Cavaliers|Cavaliers]]", referring to [[Cavalier|supporters of]] Charles II, and Virginia has a public university called "[[Old Dominion University]]".

== History ==
{{See also|History of Virginia}}
Although Spain, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands all had competing claims to the region, none of these prevented the English from becoming the first European power to colonize successfully the [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Mid-Atlantic]] coastline. The Spanish had made earlier attempts in what is now Georgia ([[San Miguel de Gualdape]], 1526–1527; several [[Spanish missions in Georgia]] between 1568 and 1684), South Carolina ([[Santa Elena (Spanish Florida)|Santa Elena]], 1566–1587), North Carolina ([[Joara]], 1567–1568) and Virginia ([[Ajacán Mission]], 1570–1571); and by the French in South Carolina ([[Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site|Charlesfort]], 1562–1563). Farther south, the Spanish colony of [[Spanish Florida]], centered on [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], was established in 1565, while to the north, the French were establishing settlements in what is now Canada ([[Charlesbourg-Royal]] briefly occupied 1541–1543; [[Port-Royal (Acadia)|Port Royal]], established in 1605).

=== Colonization attempts in the New World (1583–1590) ===
In 1583, Sir [[Humphrey Gilbert]] established a charter in [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]. Once established, he and his crew abandoned the site and returned to England. On the return trip, Gilbert's ship capsized, and all aboard perished. The charter was abandoned.

In 1585, Raleigh sent his [[Roanoke Colony|first colonization mission]] to [[Roanoke Island]] (in present-day North Carolina) with over 100 male settlers. However, when Sir [[Francis Drake]] arrived at the colony in the summer of 1586, the colonists opted to return to England because there was a lack of supply ships, abandoning the colony. Supply ships arrived at the abandoned colony later in 1586; 15 soldiers were left behind to hold the island, but no trace of these men was later found.<ref name="NatGeo">{{cite web |title=America's Lost Colony: Can New Dig Solve Mystery? |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0302_040302_lostcolony_2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060108111045/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0302_040302_lostcolony_2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 8, 2006 |website=National Geographic |access-date=June 22, 2017}}</ref>

In 1587, Raleigh sent another group to attempt to establish a permanent settlement. The expedition leader, [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]], returned to England for supplies that same year but was unable to return to the colony because of the war between England and Spain. When he finally did return in 1590, he found the colony abandoned. The houses were intact, but the colonists had disappeared. Although there are numerous theories about the fate of the colony, it remains a mystery and has come to be known as the [[Roanoke Colony|"Lost Colony"]]. Two English children were born in this colony; the first was named [[Virginia Dare]] ([[Dare County, North Carolina]], was named in her honor), who was among those whose fate is unknown. The word ''[[Croatan|Croatoan]]'' was found carved into a tree, the name of a tribe on a nearby island.<ref name="NatGeo" />

=== Virginia Company (1606–1624) ===
{{Main|Virginia Company}}
Following the failure of the previous colonization attempts, England resumed attempts to set up colonies. This time, joint-stock companies were used rather than giving extensive grants to a landed proprietor such as Gilbert or Raleigh.<ref name="proprietor" />

==== Charter of 1606 ====
{{Main|Charter of 1606}}
[[File:Wpdms king james grants.png|thumb|The site of the 1607 [[Popham Colony]] is shown by "Po" on the map. The settlement at Jamestown is indicated by "J".]]
King James granted a proprietary [[charter]] to two competing branches of the Virginia Company, which investors supported. These were the [[Plymouth Company]] and the [[Virginia Company of London]].<ref name="Amstor" /> By the terms of the charter, the Plymouth Company was permitted to establish a colony of {{cvt|100|sqmi||abbr=}} between the [[38th parallel north|38th parallel]] and the [[45th parallel north|45th parallel]] (roughly between [[Chesapeake Bay]] and the current U.S.–Canada border). The London Company was permitted to establish between the [[34th parallel north|34th parallel]] and the [[41st parallel north|41st parallel]] (approximately between [[Cape Fear (headland)|Cape Fear]] and [[Long Island Sound]]) and also owned a large portion of Atlantic and Inland Canada. In the area of overlap, the two companies were not permitted to establish colonies within one hundred miles of each other.<ref name="Amstor">{{Cite book |title=The American Story, Penguin, Combined Volume |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACbXAwAAQBAJ&q=In+the+area+of+overlap%2C+the+two+companies+were+not+permitted+to+establish+colonies+within+one+hundred+miles+of+each+other&pg=PT18 |publisher=Penguin |access-date=June 22, 2017 |quote=An area of overlapping territory was created within which the two companies were not permitted to establish colonies within one hundred miles of each other. |isbn=978-1497010635 |date=2017 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> During 1606, each company organized expeditions to establish settlements within the area of their rights.

The London company formed [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] in its exclusive territory, while the Plymouth company formed the [[Popham Colony]] in its exclusive territory near what is now Phippsburg, Maine.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Virginia Company |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p264.html |access-date=June 22, 2017}}</ref> The Popham colony quickly failed because of famine, disease, and conflicts with local Native American tribes in the first two years.

==== Jamestown ====
{{Main|2 = History of the Jamestown Settlement (1607–1699)}}
The London Company hired Captain [[Christopher Newport]] to lead its expedition. On December 20, 1606, he set sail from England with his [[flagship]], the ''[[Susan Constant]]'', and two smaller ships, the ''[[Godspeed (ship)|Godspeed]]'', and the [[Discovery (1602 ship)|''Discovery'']], with 105 men and boys, plus 39 sailors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/prelude-to-jamestown.htm |title=Prelude to Jamestown |publisher=Nps.gov |date=August 18, 1989 |access-date=September 10, 2012}}</ref> After an unusually long voyage of 144 days, they arrived at the mouth of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] and came ashore at the point where the southern side of the bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, an event that has come to be called the "First Landing". They erected a cross and named the point of land [[Cape Henry]] in honor of [[Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales]], the eldest son of King James.<ref>Whichard, Rogers Dey (1959). ''The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia''. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co. p. 344.</ref>

They were instructed to select a location inland along a waterway where they would be less vulnerable to the Spanish or other Europeans seeking to establish colonies. They sailed westward into the Bay and reached the mouth of [[Hampton Roads]], stopping at a location now known as [[Old Point Comfort]]. Keeping the shoreline to their right, they then ventured up the largest river, which they named the [[James River|James]], for their king. After exploring at least as far upriver as the confluence of the [[Appomattox River]] at present-day [[Hopewell, Virginia|Hopewell]], they returned downstream to [[Jamestown Island]], which offered a favorable defensive position against enemy ships and deep water anchorage adjacent to the land. Within two weeks, they had constructed their first fort and named their settlement Jamestown.

In addition to securing gold and other precious minerals to send back to the waiting investors in England, the survival plan for the Jamestown colonists depended upon regular supplies from England and trade with the [[Native Americans of the United States|Native Americans]]. They selected a location largely cut off from the mainland with little game for hunting, no natural fresh drinking water, and minimal ground for farming. Captain Newport returned to England twice, delivering the [[Jamestown supply missions|first and second supply missions]] during 1608 and leaving the ''Discovery'' for the colonists' use. However, death from disease and conflicts with the Native Americans took a fearsome toll on the colonists. Despite attempts at mining minerals, growing silk, and exporting the native Virginia tobacco, no profitable exports had been identified, and it was unclear whether the settlement would survive financially.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}

The [[Tsenacommacah|Powhatan Confederacy]] was a [[confederation]] of numerous linguistically related tribes in the eastern part of Virginia. The Powhatan Confederacy controlled a territory known as Tsenacommacah, which roughly corresponded with the [[Tidewater (region)|Tidewater region]] of Virginia. It was in this territory that the English established Jamestown. At the time of the English arrival, the Powhatan were led by the [[paramount chief]] Wahunsenacawh, known to the English as [[Powhatan (Native American leader)|Chief Powhatan]].

==== Popham Colony ====
On May 31, 1607, about 100 men and boys left England for what is now [[Maine]]. Approximately three months later, the group landed on a wooded peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean and began building Fort St. George. By the end of the year, limited resources caused half of the colonists to return to England. The remaining 45 sailed home late the next year, and the Plymouth company fell dormant.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maine's Lost Colony |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/maines-lost-colony-106323660/ |website=Smithsonian |access-date=June 22, 2017}}</ref>

==== Charter of 1609 – the London company expands ====
{{Main|Second Virginia Charter}}
[[File:Wpdms virginia company plymouth council.png|thumb|The 1609 charter for the Virginia colony "from sea to sea"]]
In 1609, with the abandonment of the Plymouth Company settlement, the London Company's Virginia charter was adjusted to include the territory north of the [[34th parallel north|34th parallel]] and south of the [[40th parallel north|40th parallel]], with its original coastal grant extended "from sea to sea". Thus, according to James I's writ, the Virginia Colony in its original sense extended to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, in what is now California, with all the land in between belonging to Virginia. For practical purposes, though, the colonists rarely ventured far inland to what was known as the "Virginia Wilderness."

==== Third supply ====
[[File:Virginia and Florida by W. Blaeu (MAM, Madrid, 413) 01.jpg|thumb|Map depicting the Colony of Virginia (according to the [[Second Virginia Charter|Second Charter]]), made by [[Willem Blaeu]] between 1609 and 1638]]
For the third supply, the London Company had a new ship built. The ''[[Sea Venture]]'' was designed to emit additional colonists and transport supplies. It became the [[flagship]] of the admiral of the convoy, Sir [[George Somers]]. The third supply was the largest, with eight other ships joining the ''Sea Venture''. The captain of the ''Sea Venture'' was the mission's Vice Admiral Christopher Newport. Hundreds of new colonists were aboard the ships. However, the weather was to affect the mission drastically.

A few days out of London, the nine ships of the third supply mission encountered a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. They became separated during the three days the storm lasted. Admiral Somers had the ''Sea Venture'', carrying most of the mission's supplies, deliberately driven aground onto the reefs of [[Bermuda]] to avoid sinking. However, while there was no loss of life, the ship was wrecked beyond repair, stranding its survivors on the uninhabited [[archipelago]], to which they laid claim for England.<ref>Hobson Woodward. ''A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest''. Viking (2009) {{ISBN|978-0-670-02096-6}}</ref>

The survivors at Bermuda eventually built two smaller ships, and most of them continued to Jamestown, leaving a few on Bermuda to secure the claim. The company's possession of Bermuda was made official in 1612 when the third and final charter extended the boundaries of Virginia far enough out to sea to encompass Bermuda.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Third Virginia Charter 1612 |url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/the-third-virginia-charter-1612.php |access-date=June 23, 2017}}</ref>

Upon their arrival at Jamestown, the survivors of the ''Sea Venture'' discovered that the 10-month delay had greatly aggravated other adverse conditions. Seven of the other ships had arrived carrying more colonists but little in the way of food and supplies. Combined with drought and hostile relations with the [[Native Americans of the United States|Native Americans]], the loss of the supplies that had been aboard the ''Sea Venture'' resulted in the [[Starving Time]] in late 1609 to May 1610, during which over 80% of the colonists perished. Conditions were so adverse it appears, from skeletal evidence, that the survivors engaged in cannibalism.<ref>Brown, David.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/skeleton-of-teenage-girl-confirms-cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony/2013/05/01/5af5b474-b1dc-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html ''Skeleton of teenage girl confirms cannibalism at Jamestown colony'']'',[[The Washington Post]]'', May 1, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.</ref> The survivors from Bermuda had brought few supplies and food with them, and it appeared to all that Jamestown must be abandoned, and it would be necessary to return to England.

==== Abandonment and fourth supply ====
{| class="wikitable" align="right"
|+ Statistics regarding mortality rates
|-
! width=90|Dates
! width=90|Population
! width=90|New arrivals
|-
| Easter, 1619
| align=center|~1,000
|
|-
| Easter, 1620
| align=center|866
|
|-
| 1620–1621
|
| align=center|1,051
|-
| Easter 1621
| align=center|843
|
|-
| 1620–1624
|
| align=center|~4,000
|-
| Feb 1624
| align=center|1,277
|
|-
| align="center" colspan="3" | During this time, perhaps 5,000 Virginians died of disease or were killed in the [[Indian massacre of 1622]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Bernard W. |last=Sheehan |title=Savagism and civility: Indians and Englishmen in Colonial Virginia |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1980 |page=226 |isbn=978-0-521-22927-2}}</ref>
|}

[[Samuel Argall]] was the captain of one of the seven ships of the third supply that arrived at Jamestown in 1609 after being separated from the ''Sea Venture'', whose fate was unknown. Depositing his passengers and limited supplies, he returned to England with word of the colonists' plight at Jamestown. The king authorized another leader, [[Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr]], later better known as "Lord Delaware", to have greater powers, and the London Company organized another supply mission. They set sail from London on April 1, 1610.

Just after the survivors of the Starving Time and those who had joined them from Bermuda had abandoned Jamestown, the ships of the new supply mission sailed up the James River with food, supplies, a doctor, and more colonists. Lord Delaware was determined that the colony was to survive, and he intercepted the departing ships about {{convert|10|mi|km}} downstream of Jamestown. The colonists thanked [[Divine providence|Providence]] for the colony's salvation.

West proved far harsher and more belligerent toward the Indians than any of his predecessors, engaging in wars of conquest against them. He first sent [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Thomas Gates]] to drive off the Kecoughtan from their village on July 9, 1610, then gave Chief Powhatan an ultimatum to either return all English subjects and property, or face war. Powhatan responded by insisting that the English either stay in their fort or leave Virginia. Enraged, De la Warr had the hand of a [[Paspahegh]] captive cut off and sent him to the paramount chief with another ultimatum: Return all English subjects and property, or the neighboring villages would be burned. This time, Powhatan did not respond.

==== First Anglo-Powhatan War (1610–1614) ====
On August 9, 1610, tired of waiting for a response from the Powhatan, West sent [[George Percy (governor)|George Percy]] with 70 men to attack the Paspahegh capital, burning the houses and cutting down their cornfields. They killed 65 to 75 Powhatan and captured one of Wowinchopunk's wives and her children. Returning downstream, Percy's men threw the children overboard and shot out "their Braynes in the water". The queen was put to the sword in Jamestown. The Paspahegh never recovered from this attack and abandoned their town. Another small force sent with Argall against the Warraskoyaks found that they had already fled, and they destroyed an abandoned Warraskoyak village and the surrounding cornfields. This event triggered the first [[Anglo-Powhatan Wars|Anglo-Powhatan War]].

Among the individuals who had briefly abandoned Jamestown was [[John Rolfe]], a ''Sea Venture'' survivor who had lost his wife and son in Bermuda. He was a businessman from London with some untried seeds for new, sweeter strains of [[tobacco]] he brought from Bermuda and some novel marketing ideas. It would turn out that Rolfe held the key to the colony's economic success. By 1612, Rolfe's strains of tobacco had been successfully cultivated and exported, establishing a first [[cash crop]] for export. [[Plantation complexes in the Southern United States|Plantations]] and new outposts sprung up starting with [[Henricus]], initially both upriver and downriver along the navigable portion of the James and thereafter along the other rivers and waterways of the area. The settlement at Jamestown could finally be considered permanently established.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Story of Jamestown |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/2/hh2b3.htm |work=NPS Historical Handbook |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 18, 2011}}</ref> A period of peace followed the marriage in 1614 of colonist Rolfe to [[Pocahontas]], the daughter of Chief Powhatan.

Another colonial charter was issued in 1611.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/va03.asp |title=The Third Charter of Virginia |date=March 12, 1611 |author=King [[James VI and I]]}}</ref>

==== Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1622–1632) ====
The relations with the [[Native American tribes in Virginia|Natives]] took a turn for the worse after the death of Pocahontas in England and the return of Rolfe and other colonial leaders in May 1617. Disease, poor harvests, and the growing demand for land to cultivate tobacco caused hostilities to escalate. After Chief Powhatan died in 1618, he was succeeded by his own younger brother, [[Opechancanough]]. On the surface, he maintained friendly relations with the English, negotiating with them through his warrior [[Nemattanew]]. Still, by 1622, after Nemattanew had been slain, Opechancanough was ready to order a limited surprise attack on the colonists, hoping to persuade them to move on and settle elsewhere.

[[File:1622 massacre jamestown de Bry.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The Indian massacre of 1622, depicted in a 1628 woodcut]]

Chief Opechancanough organized and led a well-coordinated [[Indian massacre of 1622|series of surprise attacks]] on multiple English colonial settlements along both sides of a {{convert|50|mi|km|adj=on}} long stretch of the James River, which took place early on the morning of March 22, 1622. This event resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists (including men, women, and children) and the abduction of many others. The massacre caught most of the Virginia Colony by surprise and virtually wiped out several entire communities, including Henricus and [[Wolstenholme Towne]] at [[Martin's Hundred]]. Jamestown was spared from destruction because an Indian boy named [[Chanco]] learned of the planned attacks from his brother and warned colonist [[Richard Pace (planter)|Richard Pace]] with whom he lived. Pace, after securing himself and his neighbors on the south side of the James River, took a canoe across the river to warn Jamestown, which narrowly escaped destruction. However, there was no time to warn the other settlements.

A year later, Captain [[William Tucker (Jamestown immigrant)|William Tucker]] and [[John Pott]] worked out a truce with the Powhatan and proposed a toast using liquor laced with poison. 200 Virginia Indians were killed or made ill by the poison, and 50 more were slaughtered by the colonists. For over a decade, the English settlers attacked the Powhatan, targeting their settlements as part of a [[scorched earth]] policy. The settlers systematically razed villages, captured children, and seized or destroyed crops.

By 1634, a six-mile-long [[palisade]] was completed across the [[Virginia Peninsula]]. The palisade provided some security from attacks by the Virginia Indians for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point. On April 18, 1644, Opechancanough again tried to force the English to abandon the region with another series of coordinated attacks, killing almost 500 colonists. However, this was a smaller proportion of the growing population than had been killed in the 1622 attacks.

=== Crown colony (1624–1652) ===
[[File:Virginia Colonial Records - Briefe Declaration.jpg|thumb|Cover to a history of the Plantation of Virginia between 1612 and 1624, compiled by its planters]]
In 1620, a successor to the Plymouth Company sent colonists to the [[New World]] aboard the ''[[Mayflower]]''. Known as [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]], they successfully established a settlement in what became [[Massachusetts Bay Colony|Massachusetts]]. The portion of what had been Virginia north of the 40th parallel became known as [[New England]], according to books written by Captain [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]], who had made a voyage there.

In 1624, the charter of the Virginia Company was revoked by King James I, and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority in the form of a [[crown colony]]. Subsequent charters for the [[Province of Maryland|Maryland Colony]] in 1632 and to the eight [[Lord proprietor|lords proprietors]] of the [[Province of Carolina]] in 1663 and 1665 further reduced the Virginia Colony to roughly the coastal borders it held until the [[American Revolution]]. (The border with North Carolina was disputed until surveyed by [[William Byrd II]] in 1728.)
<!--dispute over [[Kent Island, Maryland]]-->

==== Third Anglo-Powhatan War (1644–1646) ====
After twelve years of peace following the Indian Wars of 1622–1632, another Anglo–Powhatan War began on March 18, 1644, as a last effort by the remnants of the Powhatan Confederacy, still under Opechancanough, to dislodge the English settlers of the Virginia Colony. Around 500 colonists were killed, but that number represented a relatively low percentage of the overall population, as opposed to the earlier massacre (the 1622 attack had wiped out a third; that of 1644 barely a tenth).

This was followed by an effort by the settlers to decimate the Powhatan. In July, they marched against the [[Pamunkey]], [[Chickahominy people|Chickahominy]], and [[Powhatan]] proper; and south of the James, against the [[Appomattoc]], [[Weyanoke people|Weyanoke]], Warraskoyak, and [[Nansemond]], as well as two Carolina tribes, the [[Chowanoke]] and [[Secotan]]. In February–March 1645, the colony ordered the construction of four frontier forts: Fort Charles at the falls of the James, Fort James on the [[Chickahominy River|Chickahominy]], Fort Royal at the falls of the [[York River (Virginia)|York]] and [[Fort Henry (Virginia)|Fort Henry]] at the falls of the [[Appomattox River|Appomattox]], where the modern city of [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]] is located.

In August 1645, the forces of Governor [[William Berkeley (governor)|William Berkeley]] stormed Opechancanough's stronghold. All captured males in the village over age 11 were deported to [[Tangier, Virginia|Tangier Island]].<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/jame1/moretti-langholtz/chap4.htm A Study of Virginia Indians]</ref> Opechancanough, variously reported to be 92 to 100 years old, was taken to Jamestown. While a prisoner, Opechancanough was shot in the back and killed by a soldier assigned to guard him.<ref>Rountree, Helen C. ''Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown''. University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville, 2005</ref> His death disintegrated the Powhatan Confederacy into its component tribes, whom the colonists continued to attack.

==== Treaty of 1646 ====
[[File:1646linemap.jpg|thumb|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.]]
In the peace treaty of October 1646, the ''[[weroance]]'' [[Necotowance]] and the subtribes formerly in the confederacy each became tributaries to the King of England. At the same time, a racial frontier was delineated between Indian and English settlements, with members of each group forbidden to cross to the other side except by a special pass obtained at one of the newly erected border forts.

The extent of the Virginia Colony open to patent by English colonists was defined as: All the land between the [[Blackwater River (Virginia)|Blackwater]] and York rivers, and up to the navigable point of each of the major rivers – which were connected by a straight line running directly from modern Franklin on the Blackwater, northwesterly to the Appomattoc village beside Fort Henry, and continuing in the same direction to the [[Monacan (tribe)|Monocan]] village above the falls of the James, where Fort Charles was built, then turning sharp right, to Fort Royal on the York (Pamunkey) river. Necotowance thus ceded the English vast tracts of still-uncolonized land, much of it between the James and Blackwater. English settlements on the peninsula north of the York and below the Poropotank were also allowed, as they had already been there since 1640.

=== English Civil War and Commonwealth (1642–1660) ===
{{See also|Virginia Cavaliers (historical)|English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms}}
While the newer [[Puritan]] colonies, most notably [[Massachusetts Bay Colony|Massachusetts]], were dominated by [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]]s, the older colonies sided with [[House of Stuart|the Crown]]. The [[London Company|Virginia Company's]] two settlements, Virginia and [[Bermuda]] (Bermuda's Puritans were expelled as the [[Eleutheran Adventurers]], settling the [[Bahamas]] under [[William Sayle]]), [[Antigua]] and [[Barbados]] were conspicuous in their loyalty to the Crown and were singled out by the [[Rump Parliament]] in [[An Act for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego]] in October 1650. This dictated that:
<blockquote>[D]ue punishment [be] inflicted upon the said Delinquents, do[es] Declare all and every the said persons in Barbada's, Antego, Bermuda's and Virginia, that have contrived, abetted, aided or assisted those horrid Rebellions, or have since willingly joyned with them, to be notorious Robbers and Traitors, and such as by the Law of Nations are not to be permitted any maner of Commerce or Traffique with any people whatsoever; and do[es] forbid to all maner of persons, Foreiners, and others, all maner of Commerce, Traffique and Correspondency whatsoever, to be used or held with the said Rebels in the Barbada's, Bermuda's, Virginia and Antego, or either of them.</blockquote>

The act authorized Parliamentary [[privateer]]s to act against English vessels trading with the rebellious colonies: "All Ships that Trade with the Rebels may be surprized. Goods and tackle of such ships not to be embezeled, till judgement in the Admiralty; Two or three of the Officers of every ship to be examined upon oath."

Virginia's population swelled with [[Cavalier]]s during and after the [[English Civil War]]. Under the tenure of [[List of colonial governors of Virginia#Crown Governors (1624–1652)|Crown Governor]] [[William Berkeley (governor)|William Berkeley]] (1642–1652; 1660–1677), the population expanded from 8,000 in 1642 to 40,000 in 1677.<ref name="Fischer p. 210">{{cite book|first=David Hackett|last=Fischer|author-link=David Hackett Fischer|year=1989|title=Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America|title-link=Albion's Seed|place=New York|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=210|isbn=978-0195069051}}</ref> Despite the resistance of the [[Virginia Cavaliers (historical)|Virginia Cavaliers]], Virginian Puritan [[Richard Bennett (governor)|Richard Bennett]] was made governor answering to [[Oliver Cromwell]] in 1652, followed by two more nominal "commonwealth governors". Nonetheless, the colony was rewarded for its loyalty to the Crown by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] following the [[Stuart Restoration]] when he dubbed it the <nowiki>''Old Dominion''</nowiki>.

With the [[Restoration in the English colonies]] in 1660, the governorship returned to Berkeley. In 1676, [[Bacon's Rebellion]] challenged the political order of the colony. While a military failure, its handling resulted in Governor Berkeley being recalled to England. In 1679, the [[Treaty of 1677|Treaty of Middle Plantation]] was signed between King Charles II and several Native American groups.

=== Williamsburg era ===
{{Further|James Blair (Virginia)|Alexander Spotswood|Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|Robert Dinwiddie|Francis Fauquier}}
Virginia was the most prominent, wealthiest, and most influential of the American colonies, where conservatives controlled the colonial and local governments. At the local level, [[Church of England]] parishes handled many local affairs, and they, in turn, were controlled not by the minister but rather by a closed circle of wealthy landowners who comprised the parish vestry. Ronald L. Heinemann emphasizes the ideological conservatism of Virginia while noting some religious dissenters were gaining strength by the 1760s:

{{blockquote|The tobacco planters and farmers of Virginia adhered to the concept of a hierarchical society that they or their ancestors had brought with them from England. Most held to the general idea of a Great Chain of Being: at the top were God and his heavenly host; next came kings...who were divinely sanctioned to rule, then an hereditary aristocracy who were followed in descending order by wealthy landed gentry, small, independent farmers, tenant farmers, servants....Aspirations to rise above one's station in life were considered a sin.<ref>Ronald L. Heinemann et al. ''Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607–2007'' (2007) p. 67</ref>}}

In actual practice, colonial Virginia never had a bishop to represent God nor a hereditary aristocracy with titles like 'duke' or 'baron'. However, it had a royal governor appointed by the king and a powerful [[landed gentry]]. The status quo was strongly reinforced by what [[Thomas Jefferson]] called "feudal and unnatural distinctions" that were vital to the maintenance of aristocracy in Virginia. He promoted laws such as [[entail]] and [[primogeniture]] by which the oldest son inherited all the land. As a result, increasingly large plantations, worked by white tenant farmers and by enslaved Black people, gained in size, wealth, and political power in the eastern ("[[Tidewater (region)|Tidewater]]") tobacco areas. Maryland and South Carolina had similar hierarchical systems, as did New York and Pennsylvania.<ref>Holly Brewer, "Entailing Aristocracy in Colonial Virginia: 'Ancient Feudal Restraints' and Revolutionary Reform", ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1997) 54#2 307–346 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2953276 in JSTOR]</ref> During the [[American Revolution]]<nowiki/>ary era, all such laws were repealed by the new states.<ref>Richard B. Morris, "Primogeniture and Entailed Estates in America", ''Columbia Law Review'', 27 (Jan. 1927), 24–51. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1113540 in JSTOR]</ref> The most fervent [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] [[Expulsion of the Loyalists|left for Canada or Britain or other parts of the British Empire]]. They introduced primogeniture in [[Upper Canada]] in 1792, lasting until 1851. Such laws lasted in England until 1926.<ref>{{cite book |author=John McLaren |title=Despotic Dominion: Property Rights in British Settler Societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6s025MSqFT0C&pg=PA178 |year=2005 |page=178 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-1073-9}}</ref>

== Relations with Natives ==
[[File:VaFrontier2.jpg|thumb|300px|Lines showing the legal treaty frontiers between the Virginia Colony and Indian Nations in various years and today's state boundaries. Red: Treaty of 1646. Green: Treaty of Albany (1684). Blue: Treaty of Albany (1722). Orange: [[Proclamation of 1763]]. Black: Treaty of Camp Charlotte (1774). The area west of this line in present-day Southwest Virginia was ceded by the Cherokee in 1775.]]
As the English expanded out from Jamestown, encroachment of the new arrivals and their ever-growing numbers on what had been Indian lands resulted in several conflicts with the [[Native American tribes in Virginia|Virginia Indians]]. For much of the 17th century, English contact and conflict were mainly with the [[Algonquian peoples]] that populated the coastal regions, primarily the Powhatan Confederacy. Following a series of wars and the decline of the Powhatan as a political entity, the colonists expanded westward in the late 17th and 18th centuries, encountering the [[Shawnee]], [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]]-speaking peoples such as the [[Nottoway people|Nottoway]], [[Meherrin]], [[Iroquois]] and [[Cherokee]], as well as [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking peoples such as the [[Tutelo]], [[Saponi]], and [[Occaneechi]].

=== Iroquois Confederacy ===
[[File:5NationsExpansion.jpg|thumb|250px|Map of the [[Iroquois]] expansion during the Beaver Wars, 1638–1711]]
As the English settlements expanded beyond the Tidewater territory traditionally occupied by the Powhatan, they encountered new groups with which there had been minimal relations with the colony. In the late 17th century, the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] expanded into the western region of Virginia as part of the [[Beaver Wars]]. They arrived shortly before the English settlers and displaced the resident [[Siouan languages|Siouan tribes]].<!--In the late 17th century, [[Chain covenant]]; Treaty of Albany (1684)-->

Lt. Gov. [[Alexander Spotswood]] made further advances in policy with the Virginia Indians along the frontier. In 1714, he established [[Fort Christanna]] to help educate and trade with several tribes with which the colony had friendly relations and to help protect them from hostile tribes. In 1722, the [[Great Treaty of 1722|Treaty of Albany]] was signed by leaders of the Five Nations of Iroquois, [[Province of New York]], Colony of Virginia, and [[Province of Pennsylvania]].

== Geography ==
{{See also|Environment of Virginia}}
The geography of the Virginia settlement expanded as the boundaries of European colonization extended over time. Its cultural geography gradually evolved, with various settlement and jurisdiction models employed. By the late 17th century and the early 18th century, the primary settlement pattern was based on plantations (to grow tobacco), farms, and some towns (mostly ports or courthouse villages).

=== Early settlements ===
The fort at Jamestown, founded in 1607, remained the primary settlement of the colonists for several years. A few strategic outposts were constructed, including [[Fort Algernon]] (1609) at the entrance to the James River. Early attempts to occupy strategic locations already inhabited by natives at what is now [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] and [[Suffolk, Virginia|Suffolk]] failed owing to native resistance.

A short distance farther up the James, in 1611, [[Thomas Dale]] began the construction of a progressive development at [[Henricus]] on and about what was later known as [[Farrar's Island]]. Henricus was envisioned as a possible replacement capital for Jamestown and was to have the first college in Virginia. (The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian massacre of 1622). In addition to creating the settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of [[Bermuda Hundred, Virginia|Bermuda Hundred]], as well as [[City Point, Virginia|"Bermuda Cittie"]] in 1613, now part of [[Hopewell, Virginia]]. He began the excavation work at [[Dutch Gap Canal|Dutch Gap]], using methods he had learned while serving in [[Holland]].

=== "Hundreds" ===
[[File:Virginia Under the Stuarts - Dale's Settlements.png|thumb|Bermuda Hundred and other early English settlements upriver of Jamestown]]
Once tobacco had been established as an export [[cash crop]], investors became more interested, and groups of them united to create largely self-sufficient "[[Hundred (county division)|hundreds]]." The term "hundred" is a traditional English name for an administrative division of a [[shire]] (or [[County (United States)|county]]) to define an area that would support one hundred heads of household.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hundred |title=Hundred &#124; Define Hundred at Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=October 26, 2013}}</ref> In the colonial era in Virginia, the "hundreds" were large developments of many acres, necessary to support tobacco crops. The "hundreds" were required to be at least several miles from any existing community. Soon, these patented tracts of land sprang up along the rivers. The investors sent shiploads of settlers and supplies to Virginia to establish the new developments. The administrative centers of Virginia's hundreds were essentially small towns or villages and were often palisaded for defense.

An example was [[Martin's Hundred]], located downstream from Jamestown on the north bank of the James River. The Martin's Hundred Society, a group of investors in London, sponsored it. It was settled in 1618, and [[Wolstenholme Towne]] was its administrative center, named for [[John Wolstenholme (merchant)|John Wolstenholme]], one of the investors.

[[Bermuda Hundred, Virginia|Bermuda Hundred]] (now in [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield County]]) and [[Flowerdew Hundred]] (now in [[Prince George County, Virginia|Prince George County]]) are other names which have survived over centuries. Others included [[Berkeley Hundred]], Bermuda Nether Hundred, Bermuda Upper Hundred, [[Smith's Hundred]], Digges Hundred, West Hundred, and Shirley Hundred (and, in Bermuda, ''Harrington Hundreds''). Including the creation of the "hundreds", the various incentives to investors in the Virginia Colony finally paid off by 1617. By this time, the colonists were exporting 50,000 pounds of tobacco to England per year and were beginning to generate enough profit to ensure the economic survival of the colony.

=== Cities, shires, and counties ===
{{Main|Shires of Virginia|Counties of Virginia}}
In 1619, the plantations and developments were divided into four "incorporations" or "citties", as they were called. These were [[Charles City (Virginia Company)|Charles Cittie]], [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]], [[Henrico City (Virginia Company)|Henrico Cittie]], and [[James City (Virginia Company)|James Cittie]], which included the relatively small seat of government for the colony at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown Island]]. Each of the four "citties" (sic) extended across the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]], the main conduit of transportation of the era. Elizabeth Cittie, known initially as [[Kecoughtan, Virginia|Kecoughtan]] (a Native word with many variations in spelling by the English), also included the areas now known as [[South Hampton Roads]] and the [[Eastern Shore of Virginia|Eastern Shore]].

In 1634, a local government system was created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King of England. Eight shires were designated, each with local officers. Within a few years, the shires were renamed counties, a system that has remained to the present day.

=== Later settlements ===
In 1630, under the governorship of [[John Harvey (Virginia governor)|John Harvey]], the first settlement on the [[York River (Virginia)|York River]] was founded. In 1632, the Virginia legislature voted to build a fort to link Jamestown and the York River settlement of [[Kiskiack|Chiskiack]] and protect the colony from Indian attacks. In 1634, a palisade was built near Middle Plantation. This wall stretched across the peninsula between the York and James rivers and protected the settlements on the eastern side of the lower peninsula from Indians. The wall also served to contain cattle.

In 1699, a capital was established and built at [[Middle Plantation (Virginia)|Middle Plantation]], soon renamed [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]].
<!--Richmond, Alexandria, Port Royal, Yorktown, Hampton, Norfolk, etc.; [[Port Royal, Virginia|Port Royal]], [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]], [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]]-->

=== Northern Neck Proprietary ===
{{Main|Northern Neck Proprietary}}
In the period following the English Civil War, the exiled King Charles II hoped to shore up the loyalty of several of his supporters by granting them a significant area of mostly uncharted land to control as a [[Proprietary colony|proprietary]] in Virginia (a claim that would only be valid were the king to return to power). While under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Colony, the proprietary maintained complete control of the granting of land within that territory (and revenues obtained from it) until after the American Revolution. The grant was for the land between the [[Rappahannock River|Rappahannock]] and [[Potomac River|Potomac]] Rivers, which included the titular [[Northern Neck]], but as time went on, also would include all of what is today [[Northern Virginia]] and into West Virginia. Due to ambiguities of the text of the various grants causing disputes between the proprietary and the colonial government, the tract was finally demarcated via the [[Fairfax Line]] in 1746.

== Government and law ==
{{Main|Virginia Governor's Council|House of Burgesses}}
{{See also|List of colonial governors of Virginia}}
[[File:Hanover County Courthouse - front view.JPG|thumb|[[Hanover County Courthouse]] ({{Circa}} 1735–1742), with its arcaded front, is typical of a numerous colonial courthouse built in Virginia.]]In the initial years under the Virginia Company, the colony was governed by a council, headed by a council president. From 1611 to 1618, under the orders of Sir Thomas Dale, the settlers of the colony were under a regime of civil law that became known as [[Dale's Code]].<ref name="COLO NPS Assembly" /> Under a charter from the company in 1618, a new model of governance was put in place in 1619, which created a [[House of Burgesses]].<ref name="COLO NPS Assembly" /> On July 30, 1619, burgesses met at [[Jamestown Church]] as the first elected representative legislative assembly in the New World.<ref name="COLO NPS Assembly">{{cite web |title=The First Legislative Assembly |url=http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/the-first-legislative-assembly.htm |publisher=Colonial National Historical Park (NPS) |access-date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> The legal system in the colony was thereafter based on the provisions of its royal charter and English [[common law]].

For much of the history of the royal colony, the formally appointed governor was absentee, often remaining in England. In his stead, a series of acting or lieutenant governors who were physically present held actual authority. In the later years of its history, as it became increasingly civilized, more governors made the journey.

The first settlement in the colony, Jamestown, served as the capital and main port of entry from its founding until 1699. During this time, a series of statehouses (capitols) were used and subsequently consumed by fires (accidental and intentional in the case of Bacon's Rebellion). Following such a fire, in 1699, the capital was relocated inland, away from the swampy clime of Jamestown, to Middle Plantation, renamed Williamsburg. The capital of Virginia remained in Williamsburg until it was moved further inland to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] in 1779 during the American Revolution.

== Economy ==
{{See also|Plantation economy|Tobacco in the American Colonies}}
The entrepreneurs of the Virginia Company experimented with several means of making the colony profitable. The orders sent with the first colonists instructed that they search for precious metals (specifically gold). While no gold was found, various products were sent back, including pitch and [[clapboard]]. In 1608, early attempts were made at breaking the [[Continental Europe|Continental]] hold on glassmaking through the [[Jamestown Glasshouse|creation of a glassworks]]. In 1619, the colonists built the [[Falling Creek Ironworks|first ironworks in North America]].

In 1612, settler John Rolfe planted tobacco obtained from Bermuda (during his stay there as part of the third supply). Within a few years, the crop proved extremely lucrative in the European market. As the English increasingly used tobacco products, the production of [[tobacco in the American colonies]] became a significant economic driver, especially in the tidewater region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. From 1616 to 1619, the only exports of the colony were tobacco and [[Sassafras albidum|sassafras]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lost-colony.com/Philpaper.pdf |title=A Role for Sassafras in the Search for the Lost Colony |author=Philip S. McMullan Jr |page=26 |access-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719165408/https://www.lost-colony.com/Philpaper.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Colonists developed plantations along the rivers of Virginia, and social/economic systems developed to grow and distribute this cash crop. Some elements of this system included the importation and use of enslaved Africans to cultivate and process crops, which included harvesting and drying periods. Planters would have their workers fill large [[hogshead]]s with tobacco and convey them to inspection warehouses. In 1730, the Virginia House of Burgesses standardized and improved the quality of tobacco exported by establishing the [[Tobacco Inspection Act]] of 1730, which required inspectors to grade tobacco at 40 specified locations.

== Culture ==
===Population===
{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1620|2200
|1630|2500
|1640|10442
|1650|18731
|1660|27020
|1670|35309
|1680|43596
|1690|53046
|1700|58560
|1710|78281
|1720|87757
|1730|114000
|1740|180440
|1750|231033
|1760|339726
|1770|447016
|1780|538004
|footnote=Source: 1620–1760;<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|isbn=978-0816025275|pages=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 128–129]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128}}</ref> 1770–1780<ref name="Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics">{{cite web|title=Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|page=1168|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf}}</ref>
}}

=== Ethnic origins ===
England supplied most colonists; a later migration of Scots-Irish filled the backcountry. The Virginia Colony was always predominantly British in ethnic descent, with only minor contributions from other ethnic groups, particularly Palatinate Germans. In 1608, the first [[Polish people|Poles]] and [[Slovaks]] arrived as part of a group of skilled [[Artisan|craftsmen]].<ref name="JamestownColony">{{cite web |last1=Holshouser |first1=Joshua D. |last2=Brylinsk-Padnbey |first2=Lucyna |last3=Kielbasa |first3=Katarzyna |title=Jamestown: The Birth of American Polonia 1608–2008 (The Role and Accomplishments of Polish Pioneers in the Jamestown Colony) |url=http://www.pac1944.org/jamestown/roles-and-accomp.htm |date=July 2007 |work=[[Polish American Congress]] |access-date=October 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724124454/http://pac1944.org/jamestown/roles-and-accomp.htm |archive-date=July 24, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Shipwright">{{cite book |last1=Henderson |first1=George |last2=Olasij |first2=Thompson Dele |title=Migrants, Immigrants, and Slaves: Racial and Ethnic Groups in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bl5V_QCJ4GYC&q=%22Jan+Bogdan%22+%22John+Smith%22&pg=PA116 |date= 1995 |page=116 |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |isbn=978-0-8191-9738-2 |access-date=October 1, 2014}}</ref><ref name="FirstColonists">{{cite book |last=Robertson |first=Patrick |title=Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TEEaCrPiWsC&q=%22Jan+Bogdan%22+in+Jamestown&pg=PT611 |date=2011 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] US|isbn=978-1-59691-579-4 |access-date=October 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name="SavesJohnSmith2">{{cite book |last=Uminski |first=Sigmund H. |title=The Polish pioneers in Virginia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0o8AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Jan+Bogdan%22+%22Captain+John+Smith%22 |date=1974 |page=8 |publisher=Polish Publication Society of America |asin=B0006CA8QI |access-date=October 1, 2014}}</ref> In 1619, the [[First Africans in Virginia|first Africans]] arrived. Many more Africans were imported as enslaved people, such as [[Angela (enslaved woman)|Angela]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 28, 2021|title=Angela (fl. 1619–1625) – Encyclopedia Virginia|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/angela-fl-1619-1625/|access-date=May 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528202138/https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/angela-fl-1619-1625/|archive-date=May 28, 2021}}</ref> In the early 17th century, French [[Huguenots]] arrived in the colony as refugees from religious warfare.<ref>{{cite book |last=Christopher E. Hendricks |title=The Backcountry Towns of Colonial Virginia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9af3Sm3hUpAC&pg=PT10 |year=2006 |page=10 |publisher=Univ. of Tennessee Press |isbn=978-1-57233-543-1}}</ref>

In the early 18th century, indentured German-speaking colonists from the iron-working region of Nassau-Siegen arrived to establish the [[Germanna]] settlement.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walter Wayland |first1=John |year=1902 |title=The Germans of the Valley |journal=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=337–352 |jstor=4242456}}</ref> Scots-Irish settled on the Virginia frontier.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lyman Chalkey |title=Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745–1800 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wk8PAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3 |year=1912 |page=3}}</ref> Some Welsh arrived, including some ancestors of Thomas Jefferson.<ref>{{cite book |last=Alan Pell Crawford |title=Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson |publisher=Random House |url=https://archive.org/details/twilightatmontic00craw |url-access=registration |year=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/twilightatmontic00craw/page/8 8] |isbn=978-1-4000-6079-5}}</ref>

=== Servitude and slavery ===
{{Main|History of slavery in Virginia}}
With the boom in tobacco planting, there was a severe shortage of laborers to work the labor-intensive crop. One method to solve the shortage was using [[indentured servant]]s.

By the 1640s, legal documents started to define indentured servants' changing nature and status as servants. In 1640, [[John Punch (slave)|John Punch]] was sentenced to lifetime servitude as punishment for trying to escape from his enslaver, [[Hugh Gwyn]]. This is the earliest legal sanctioning of slavery in Virginia.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Out of the Land of Bondage": The English Revolution and the Atlantic Origins of Abolition |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=115 |issue=4 |pages=943–974 |first=John |last=Donoghue |year=2010 |doi=10.1086/ahr.115.4.943 |doi-access=free }}</ref> After this trial, the relationship between indentured servants and their masters changed, as planters saw permanent servitude a more appealing and profitable prospect than seven-year indentures.<!--Where does this conclusion come from? -->

As many indentured workers were illiterate, especially Africans, there were opportunities for abuse by planters and other indenture holders. Some ignored the expiration of servants' indentured contracts and tried to keep them as lifelong workers. One example is with [[Anthony Johnson (colonist)|Anthony Johnson]], who argued with Robert Parker, another planter, over the status of [[John Casor]], formerly an indentured servant of his. Johnson argued that his indenture was for life and Parker had interfered with his rights. The court ruled in favor of Johnson and ordered that Casor be returned to him, where he served the rest of his life as an enslaved person.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=History of Black Americans: From Africa to the Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom |first=Philip S. |last=Foner |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1980 |page=3 |url=http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR7529&chapterID=GR7529-747&path=books/greenwood |title=Africa to the Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014135617/http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR7529&chapterID=GR7529-747&path=books%2Fgreenwood |archive-date=October 14, 2013 }}</ref> Such documented cases marked the transformation of Black Africans from indentured servants into slaves.

In the late 17th century, the [[Royal African Company]], which the King of England established to supply the great demand for labor to the colonies, had a monopoly on providing enslaved Africans to the colony.<ref name="Royal African Company">{{cite web |title=The Royal African Company – Supplying Slaves to Jamestown |url=http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/the-royal-african-company-supplying-slaves-to-jamestown.htm |publisher=Colonial National Historical Park (National Park Service) |access-date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> As plantation agriculture was established earlier in Barbados, in the early years, enslaved people were shipped from Barbados (where they were seasoned) to the colonies of Virginia and Carolina.

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in early Virginia}}
In 1619, the [[Anglican Church]] was formally [[established church|established]] as the official religion in the colony and would remain so until shortly after the American Revolution. Establishment meant that local tax funds paid the parish costs and that the parish had local civic functions such as poor relief. The upper-class planters controlled the vestry, which ran the parish and chose the minister. The church in Virginia was controlled by the Bishop of London, who sent priests and missionaries, but there were never enough, and they reported deficient standards of personal morality.<ref>Edward L. Bond and Joan R. Gundersen. ''The Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1607–2007'' (2007)</ref> By the 1760s, dissenting Protestants, especially Baptists and Methodists, were proliferating and started challenging the Anglicans for moral leadership.<ref>Richard R. Beeman, "Social Change and Cultural Conflict in Virginia: Lunenberg County, 1746 to 1774." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1978): 455–476. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921659 in JSTOR]</ref><ref>Rhys Isaac, ''The transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790'' (1982)</ref><ref>James B. Bell, ''Empire, Religion and Revolution in Early Virginia, 1607–1786'' (2013).</ref>

All 26 churches with [[Church service|regular services]] in Virginia in 1650 were Anglican, which included all but 4 of the 30 Anglican churches in the colonies at the time (with the remainder located in [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]]).<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|isbn=978-0816025275|page=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/179 179]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/179}}</ref> Following the [[First Great Awakening]] (1730–1755), the number of regular places of worship in Virginia grew to 126 in 1750 (96 Anglican, 17 [[Presbyterianism in the United States|Presbyterian]], 5 [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]], 5 [[Reformed Church in the United States|German Reformed]], and 3 [[Baptists in the United States|Baptist]]),<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|isbn=978-0816025275|page=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/181 181]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/181}}</ref> with the colony gaining an additional 251 regular places of worship to a total of 377 by 1776 (101 Baptist, 95 Presbyterian, 94 Episcopal, 42 [[Quakers|Friends]], 17 Lutheran, 14 German Reformed, 10 [[History of Methodism in the United States|Methodism]], 2 [[Schwarzenau Brethren|German Baptist Brethren]], and 2 [[Mennonite Church (1683–2002)|Mennonite]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Purvis|first1=Thomas L.|editor-last=Balkin|editor-first=Richard|title=Revolutionary America 1763 to 1800|year=1995|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/198 198]|isbn=978-0816025282|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/198}}</ref>

=== Education and literacy ===
[[File:Rear view of the Wren Building, College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA (2008-04-23).jpg|thumb|Rear view of the [[Wren Building]] at the [[College of William & Mary]], begun in 1695]]
The first [[printing press]] used in Virginia began operation in Jamestown on June 8, 1680, though within a few years, it was shut down by the Governor and Crown of England for want of a license.<ref name="WMQ Old Virginia Editors">{{cite journal |journal=William and Mary Quarterly |date=July 1, 1898 |volume=VII |issue=1 |series=1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jstor-1919905/page/n2 9]–12 |title=Old Virginia Editors |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1919905 |access-date=March 7, 2014 |doi=10.2307/1919905 |jstor=1919905}}</ref> It was not until 1736 that the first newspaper, the ''[[Virginia Gazette]]'', began circulation under printer [[William Parks (publisher)|William Parks]] of Williamsburg.<ref name="WMQ Old Virginia Editors" />

The [[Syms-Eaton Academy]], started in 1634, became America's first free public school. Private tutors were often favored among those families who could afford them.<ref name="WMQ Education IV" />

For most of the 17th century, a university education for settlers of Virginia required a journey to England or Scotland.<ref name="WMQ Education IV">{{cite journal |last=(none given) |title=Education in Colonial Virginia: Part IV, The Higher Education |journal=William and Mary Quarterly |date=January 1, 1898 |volume=VII |issue=1 |series=1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jstor-1914604/page/n1 171]–172; 174–187 |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1914604 |access-date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> Such journeys were undertaken by wealthy young men. In the early years, many settlers received their education before immigrating to the colony.<ref name="WMQ Education IV" />

In 1693, the [[College of William & Mary]] was founded at Middle Plantation (soon renamed Williamsburg). The college included a [[common school]] for Virginia Indians, supplemented by local pupils, which lasted until a 1779 overhaul of the institution's curriculum.<ref name="WMQ Education IV" /> The college, located in the capital and heart of the Tidewater region, dominated the colony's intellectual climate until after independence.<ref name="WMQ Education IV" /><ref name=WMQ>{{cite journal |last=(none given) |title=Education in Colonial Virginia: Part V: Influence of William and Mary College |journal=William and Mary Quarterly |date=July 1, 1898 |volume=VII |issue=1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jstor-1919904/page/n1 1]–9 |series=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1919904 |access-date=March 7, 2014 |doi=10.2307/1919904 |jstor=1919904}}</ref>

After 1747, some Virginians began to attend institutions at [[Princeton University|Princeton]] and [[University of Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]]. Generations began to move west into the Piedmont and Blue Ridge areas.<ref name="WMQ Education IV" /> In this region of Virginia, two future Presbyterian colleges trace their origins to lower-level institutions founded in this period. First, what would become [[Hampden–Sydney College]] was founded in 1775, before the American Revolution. Likewise, Augusta Academy was a classical school that would evolve into [[Washington and Lee University]] (though it would not grant its first bachelor's degree until 1785).

== See also ==
{{cmn|colwidth=30em|
* [[English colonial empire]]
* [[Former counties, cities, and towns of Virginia]]
* [[History of Virginia]]
* [[History of Virginia on stamps]]
* [[Jamestown Exposition]]
* [[List of colonial governors of Virginia]]
* [[Southern Colonies]]
* [[Anne Orthwood's bastard trial]], showing the development of law in the Colony of Virginia
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Appelbaum, Robert, and John Wood Sweet, eds. ''Envisioning an English empire: Jamestown and the making of the North Atlantic world'' (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2011)
* Bell, Alison. "Emulation and empowerment: Material, social, and economic dynamics in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Virginia." ''International Journal of Historical Archaeology'' 6.4 (2002): 253–298.
* Billings, Warren M., John E. Selby, and Thad W, Tate. ''Colonial Virginia: A History'' (1986)
* Bond, Edward L. ''Damned Souls in the Tobacco Colony: Religion in Seventeenth-Century Virginia'' (2000),
* Breen T. H. ''Puritans and Adventurers: Change and Persistence in Early America'' (1980). 4 chapters on colonial social history [https://archive.org/details/puritansadventur00bree online]
* Breen, T. H. ''Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution'' (1985)
* Breen, T. H., and Stephen D. Innes. ''"Myne Owne Ground": Race and Freedom on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640–1676'' (1980)
* Brown, Kathleen M. ''Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia'' (1996) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807846236 excerpt and text search]
* Byrd, William. ''The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1709–1712'' (1941) ed by Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling; famous primary source; very candid about his private life
* Bruce, Philip Alexander. ''Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century: An Inquiry into the Religious, Moral, Educational, Legal, Military, and Political Condition of the People, Based on Original and Contemporaneous Records'' (1910)
* Coombs, John C., "The Phases of Conversion: A New Chronology for the Rise of Slavery in Early Virginia", ''William and Mary Quarterly'', 68 (July 2011), 332–360.
* Davis, Richard Beale. ''Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585–1763'' 3 vol 1978), detailed coverage of Virginia 
* Freeman, Douglas Southall; ''George Washington: A Biography'' Volume: 1–7. (1948). Pulitzer Prize.
* Gill, Harold B. ''Colonial Virginia'' (1973), for secondary schools [https://archive.org/details/colonialvirginia0000gill/mode/2up online]
* Gleach; Frederic W. ''Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultures'' (1997).
* Harkins, Susan Sales. ''Colonial Virginia'' (2007) for middle schools [https://archive.org/details/colonialvirginia00hark_0/page/n3/mode/2up online]
* Haskell, Alexander B. ''For God, King, and People: Forging Commonwealth Bonds in Renaissance Virginia.'' (U of North Carolina Press. 2017).
* Heinegg, Paul. ''Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the colonial period to about 1820'' (Genealogical Publishing Co, 2005).
* Heinemann, Ronald L., John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr., and William G. Shade, ''Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607–2007'' (2007). 
* Hendricks, Christopher E. ''The Backcountry Towns of Colonial Virginia'' (U of Tennessee Press, 2006).
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/27117/pg27117-images.html
* Isaac, Rhys. ''Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation'' (2004)]
* Isaac, Rhys. ''The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790'' (1982, 1999) Pulitzer Prize winner, dealing with religion and morality; [https://archive.org/details/transformationof00isaa online] also [http://jsr.fsu.edu/hall.htm online review]
* Kelso, William M. ''Kingsmill Plantations, 1619–1800: Archaeology of Country Life in Colonial Virginia'' (Academic Press, 2014).
* Kolp, John Gilman. ''Gentlemen and Freeholders: Electoral Politics in Colonial Virginia'' (Johns Hopkins U.P. 1998)
* Meacham, Sarah Hand. "Keeping the trade: The persistence of tavernkeeping among middling women in colonial Virginia." ''Early American Studies'' 3#1 (2005): 140–163 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23546516 online].
* Mellen, Roger P. "The Colonial Virginia press and the Stamp Act: An expansion of civic discourse." ''Journalism History'' 38.2 (2012): 74–85.
* Menard, Russell R. "The Tobacco Industry in the Chesapeake Colonies, 1617–1730: An Interpretation." ''Research In Economic History'' 1980 5: 109–177. 0363–3268 the standard scholarly study
* Morgan, Edmund S. ''Virginians at Home: Family Life in the Eighteenth Century'' (1952).
* Morgan, Edmund S. "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox." ''Journal of American History'' 1972 59(1): 5–29 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1888384 in JSTOR]
** Morgan, Edmund S. ''[[American Slavery, American Freedom|American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia]]'' (1975) [https://archive.org/details/americanslaverya00morg online ] highly influential study
* Nelson, John ''A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690–1776'' (2001)
* Nelson, William E. "Law and the Structure of Power in Colonial Virginia." ''Valparaiso University Law Review'' 48 (2013): 757–883. [http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2343&context=vulr online].
* Price, David A. ''Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation'' (2005)
* Ragsdale, Bruce A. "George Washington, the British tobacco trade, and economic opportunity in prerevolutionary Virginia." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 97.2 (1989): 132–162.
* Rasmussen, William M.S. and Robert S. Tilton. ''Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal'' (2003)
* Roeber, A. G. ''Faithful Magistrates and Republican Lawyers: Creators of Virginia Legal Culture, 1680–1810'' (1981)
* Rountree, Helen C. ''Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown'' (University of Virginia press, 2005), early Virginia history from an Indian perspective by a scholar
* Rutman, Darrett B., and Anita H. Rutman. ''A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650–1750'' (1984), new social history; [https://archive.org/details/placeintimemiddl00rutm online]
* Shammas, Carole. "English-Born and Creole Elites in Turn-of-the-Century Virginia." in ''Local Government in European Overseas Empires, 1450–1800'' (Routledge, 2018) pp.&nbsp;589–611.
* Sheehan, Bernard. ''Savagism and civility: Indians and Englishmen in colonial Virginia'' (Cambridge UP, 1980.) [https://archive.org/details/savagismcivility0000shee online]
* Spangler, Jewel L. "Becoming Baptists: Conversion in colonial and early national Virginia." ''Journal of Southern History'' 67.2 (2001): 243–286 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3069866 online].
* Talpalar, Morris. ''The sociology of Colonial Virginia'' (1968) [https://archive.org/details/sociologyofcolon00talp/page/n7/mode/2up online]
* Wallenstein, Peter. ''Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History'' (2007). 
* Wertenbaker, Thomas J. ''The Shaping of Colonial Virginia'', comprising ''Patrician and Plebeian in Virginia'' (1910) [https://archive.org/details/patricianandple01wertgoog full text online]; ''Virginia under the Stuarts'' (1914) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx8SAAAAYAAJ full text online]; and ''The Planters of Colonial Virginia'' (1922) [https://archive.org/details/planterscolonia00wertgoog full text online]; well written but outdated
* Wright, Louis B. ''The First Gentlemen of Virginia: Intellectual Qualities of the Early Colonial Ruling Class'' (1964) [https://archive.org/details/firstgentlemenof0000unse online]
{{Div col end}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/?q=colony+of+virginia Library of Congress: Virginia Colony]

{{Thirteen Colonies}}
{{Virginia}}
{{British overseas territories}}
{{Portal bar|British Empire|Monarchy|North America|Virginia}}<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add "Portal:United States" as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->
{{Authority control}}
{{coord|37.131|-76.641|type:adm2nd_globe:earth_region:US-VA|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia, Colony Of}}
[[Category:Colony of Virginia| ]]
[[Category:1606 establishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1776 disestablishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:Former Christian states]]
[[Category:Former English colonies]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1606]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1776]]
[[Category:Thirteen Colonies]]