Province of Virginia
| Colony of Virginia | ||||||||||||
| Colony of England (1607–1707) Colony of Great Britain (1707–1776) |
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Motto En dat Virginia quintum (Latin, "Virginia gives the fifth") |
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| Languages | English, Siouan languages, Iroquoian languages, Algonquian languages | |||||||||||
| Religion | Anglicanism | |||||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | |||||||||||
| • | 1760–1776 | George III (last) | ||||||||||
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| • | 1607 | Edward Wingfield (first) | ||||||||||
| • | 1771–1775 | Lord Dunmore (last) | ||||||||||
| Legislature | House of Burgesses (1619–1776) | |||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||
| • | Founding | 1607 | ||||||||||
| • | Became Royal Colony | 1624 | ||||||||||
| • | Independence | 1776 | ||||||||||
| Currency | Pound sterling | |||||||||||
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| Today part of |
 United States
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The Colony of Virginia (also known frequently 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) was the first permanently settled English colony in North America. Newfoundland, with seasonal settlements, had been established as a colony by Royal Charter in 1583. American archaeologist William Kelso says Virginia "is where the British Empire began ... this was the first colony in the British Empire." The colony existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution (as a British colony after 1707). 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, the Virginia Colony was nicknamed "The Old Dominion" by King Charles II for its perceived loyalty to the English monarchy during the era of the Commonwealth of England.
In 1607, members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River. Famine in year 1609-1610, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes (the Powhatan Confederacy) in the first two years brought Jamestown to the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies 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.
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Wikipedia