Virginia

The Virgin Queen

Virginia is named for Queen Elizabeth I of England, known as the “Virgin Queen” because she never married. In 1584 she granted Sir Walter Raleigh a license to explore and settle lands in North America and allowed him to call them Virginia in her honor. The tribute was repeated when the granddaughter of the colonist John White, the first English child born in the New World, was baptized Virginia Dare.

Jamestown to Richmond

Virginia’s government began at Jamestown, settled in 1607 by the first permanent English colonists, whose three ships, the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, are honored today by replicas that make up the state’s official fleet. The capital moved to Williamsburg in 1699, and in 1779, at Governor Thomas Jefferson’s urging, the General Assembly voted to move it again, to Richmond, which was more central, on the navigable James River and safer from British raids. Legislators first met there in May 1780. The capital page tells the story, including the Capitol Jefferson designed after a Roman temple.

The 10th state

On June 25, 1788, Virginia ratified the US Constitution, becoming the 10th state. Its motto, on the seal since 1776, is Sic semper tyrannis, “Thus always to tyrants.” The seal shows Virtus, the spirit of the Commonwealth, standing over the fallen figure of Tyranny, and it is the centerpiece of the blue state flag.

Mother of Presidents and States

Virginia has three traditional nicknames, none of them set in law. “The Old Dominion” is credited to King Charles II, who is said to have honored the colony’s loyalty to the Crown during the English Civil War. “Mother of Presidents” refers to the eight US presidents born in Virginia, from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson. And “Mother of States” recalls that all or part of eight later states, including Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio, were carved from land Virginia once claimed.

Cardinals and dogwoods

Virginia has 44 official state symbols. The northern cardinal has been the state bird since 1950, and the flowering dogwood is both the state flower, since 1918, and the state tree, since 1956. The American foxhound is the state dog, the Chesapeake Bay deadrise the state boat and the Chincoteague pony, made famous by Misty of Chincoteague, the state pony. George Washington’s rye whiskey, made at Mount Vernon, is the state spirit. Virginia has two state songs, “Our Great Virginia” and “Sweet Virginia Breeze.” See them all on the Virginia symbols page.

Land and people

Virginia covers 42,775 square miles, 35th among the states, and had about 8.88 million residents in 2025, 12th in the country. It stretches from the Atlantic coast and Chesapeake Bay to the Appalachian mountains in the west, and borders Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. Virginia Beach, with about 454,000 people, is the largest city, followed by Chesapeake, Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News.