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The Colony of Virginia was a 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.
The James Fort c. 1608 as depicted on the map by Pedro de Zúñiga. Jamestown, also Jamestowne, was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as the capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg.
Thus this body served as a legislative, executive, and judicial body. Modeled after the British House of Lords, the Governor's Council went through a definite evolution as the Virginia colony grew. During much of the colonial period, the governor was absentee and the lieutenant governor was the beneficiary
Virginia's economy was devastated during the Civil War and disrupted in the Reconstruction era (1865–1877), when it was administered as Military District Number One. The first signs of recovery were seen in tobacco cultivation and the related cigarette industry, followed by coal mining , and increasing industrialization within the state.
After the European discovery of North America in the 15th century, European nations competed to establish colonies on the continent. In the late 16th century, the area claimed by England was well defined along the coast, but was very roughly marked in the west, extending from 34 to 48 degrees north latitude, or from the vicinity of Cape Fear in present-day North Carolina well into Acadia.
In two ways the brief period of the commonwealth in England had a marked effect on the history of Virginia. For the first and only time during the colonial period, Virginia enjoyed absolute self-government. The assembly, governorship, and council were all elective for the time, and the people never forgot this taste of practical independence.
In the early colonial period, navigable rivers were the equivalent of modern highways. For ease of travel, and security from conflicts with Native Americans, early colonial settlements were established close to rivers. By the 1630s, English settlements had grown to dominate the lower (eastern) portion of the Virginia Peninsula.
Prehistoric and Pre-Columbian Era: until 1607: Colonial Era: 1607–1765: 1776–1789 American Revolution: 1765–1783 Confederation period: 1783–1788: 1789–1815 Federalist Era: 1788–1801 Jeffersonian Era: 1801–1817: 1815–1849 Era of Good Feelings: 1817–1825 Jacksonian Era: 1825–1849: 1849–1865 Civil War Era