About the author
Edward A. St. Germain created AmericanRevolution.org in 1996. He was an avid historian with a keen interest in the Revolutionary War and American culture and society in the 18th century. On this website, he created and collated a huge collection of articles, images, and other media pertaining to the American Revolution. Edward was also a Vietnam veteran, and his investigative skills led to a career as a private detective in later life.
1. Virginia was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to be settled
Virginia was first colonized by an expedition of 105 British settlers in 1607, who established the colony’s first village at Jamestown.
2. Anglicanism was the official religion of the Virginia Colony
Residents were required to pay taxes to the local Anglican parish, and followers of other religions such as Quakers and Catholics were heavily discriminated against.
3. The initial purpose of the Virginia Colony was to find gold and silver
The colony was formed by the Virginia Company of London as a for-profit venture, funded by English investors.
When precious metals could not be found, the colony focused its efforts on producing and exporting tobacco.
4. Tobacco was the largest export of the Virginia Colony
After John Rolfe brought a new species of sweeter West Indian tobacco into the colony in 1610, it quickly became an important cash crop.
In the 1700s, large plantations developed, which predominantly relied on slave labor.
5. The first African slaves imported into British North America arrived in Jamestown in August 1619
The slaves were seized by a privateer (similar to a pirate) from a Portuguese vessel, and originated from modern-day Angola.
They were considered indentured servants upon their arrival in Virginia, rather than slaves, though they were sold as goods by the privateer that captured them. Slavery in the regular sense became more common as tobacco plantations grew and demands for labor increased.
6. During 1676-77, Jamestown was burned down during a settler uprising known as Bacon’s Rebellion
Led by Nathaniel Bacon, groups of armed men rose up against the colonial government in protest of a lack of action taken against Native American tribes in Virginia, who were occupying valuable farmland, and led frequent raids on colonial settlements.
Eventually, the rebellion was put down, but Jamestown was completely destroyed, as were many nearby plantations. Governor William Berkeley was removed from his position and returned to England.
7. Virginia had the most slaves of any of the Thirteen Colonies
Due to the growth of tobacco plantations in the 1700s, hundreds of thousands of slaves were imported into Virginia from Africa to grow and harvest tobacco.
It is estimated that by 1790, Virginia had 293,000 slaves.
8. The first blast furnace (for smelting iron) in North America was built near Richmond in 1619
Named Falling Creek Ironworks, it was almost immediately destroyed in an Indian raid in 1622.
The iron industry survived in Virginia though, producing large amounts of bar and pig iron for export to Europe, as well as finished products such as nails that were sold domestically.
9. The population of the Virginia Colony was estimated at 2,500 in 1630, 43,596 in 1680, 114,000 in 1730, and 538,004 in 1780
By the 1770s, Virginia was the biggest colony by population, with Pennsylvania in second place.
10. Virginia’s territory once extended to the Mississippi River, including West Virginia and parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland
Virginia’s original charter also granted it the theoretical control of land as far west as modern-day Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, though these areas were soon ceded to the federal government after the Revolutionary War.
