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Welcome to AboutVirginia.info
The Commonwealth of Virginia is a Southeastern state on the Atlantic Coast in the United States of America. It is named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the Virgin Queen because she never married. The Virginia Colony was the first part of the Americas to be continuously inhabited by colonists from its founding as a European colony up to the American Revolution. The Virginia Company of London became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. The commonwealth was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution to form the United States of America.
The capital is Richmond and the most populous city is Virginia Beach. The most populous local jurisdiction is Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. Virginia is divided into independent cities and counties function, which in the same manner; according to the US Census Bureau independent cities are considered county-equivalent. The largest city in land area is Suffolk, which includes a large portion of the Great Dismal Swamp. Virginia is known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson.
Virginia has a diverse economy, with many federal and military employees in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, which have the world's largest office building and the world's largest naval base respectively. In modern times, the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia area includes Jamestown, Yorktown and the living museum of Colonial Williamsburg. Linked by the Colonial Parkway, they combine to form one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
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