State, extends from the Chesapeake Bay to the Appalachian Mountains, with a long Atlantic coastline. It is one of 13 original colonies, with historic landmarks such as Monticello, the iconic Charlottesville plantation of founding father Thomas Jefferson. The Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg are living history museums that recreate colonial and revolutionary life. Virginia received its name from Queen Elizabeth I, who was called the Virgin Queen.
Within Virginia Company, the Plymouth Company branch was allocated a northern part of the area known as Virginia, and the London Company area to the south. The contributions of Virginians such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were crucial in the formation of the United States, and in the first decades of the republic the state was known as the birthplace of presidents. In addition to the “Mother of Presidents”, eight Virginia-born knights succeeded the highest office on earth, including four of the first five presidents. Virginia was the target of the September 11, 2001 attacks, when American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County.
Virginia has a long history of agricultural reformers, and the Progressive Era spurred its efforts. They set up large plantations and, with the permission of the Virginia Company of London, sent representatives to a General Assembly in Jamestown. As the century drew to a close, Virginia's tobacco growth gradually declined due to health problems, though not as abruptly as in southern Maryland. The names recorded throughout the 17th century were Monahassanough, Rassawek, Mowhemencho, Monassukapanough, Massinacack, Akenatsi, Mahoc, Nuntaneuck, Nutaly, Nahyssan, Sapon, Monakin, Toteros, Keyauwees, Shakori, Eno, Sissipahaw, Monetons and Mohetons who live and migrate to along what is now West Virginia, Virginia, Carolina del North and South Carolina.
The colonial period in Virginia began in 1607 with the landing of the first English settlers in Jamestown and ended in 1776 with the establishment of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is bordered by Maryland to the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, Kentucky to the west and West Virginia to the northwest. This occurred at the beginning of the Civil War, a conflict between southern states that wanted to withdraw from the Union, including Virginia and the northern states. Virginia had the largest population of any American colony, and as tobacco crops eroded the soil, Virginians began to move steadily west in search of new land.
Back in England, the Virginia Company was reorganized under its Second Charter, ratified on May 23, 1609, which granted the colony's greatest leadership authority to the governor, the newly appointed Thomas West, third Baron De La Warr. The province is deeply intertwined by tidal rivers and is dominated by the Northern Neck Peninsula, the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula, west of the Chesapeake Bay. Also in 1619, the Virginia Company sent 90 single women as potential wives for male settlers to help populate the settlement. It was followed by the Virginia dynasty, including Thomas Jefferson, Madison and James Monroe, giving the state four of the first five presidents.
