Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state that is located in the Southeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. It is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. Virginia's capital is Richmond, its most populous city is Virginia Beach, and Fairfax County is the state's most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million. Virginia is bordered by North Carolina to the south, Tennessee to the far southwest, Kentucky to the west, West Virginia to the west and northwest, and Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east.
The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under the conservative single-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.
