1607 The Virginia Company of London established the colony of Jamestown.
1612 John Rolfe helped save the colony by introducing tobacco growing and exporting.
1619 America's first representative legislature, the House of Burgesses, met in Jamestown.
1619 Dutch traders brought the first Negroes to Jamestown.
1624 Virginia became a royal colony.
1676 Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion against the government.
1693 The College of William and Mary was founded.

1775 George Washington became Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
1776 Virginia declared its independence and adopted its first constitution. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia wrote the Declaration of Independence.
1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in the final battle of the American Revolutionary War.
1784 Virginia gave up its western land claims to the United States.
1788 Virginia became the 10th state to ratify the Constitution (June 25).
1789 George Washington, a Virginian, became the first President of the United States.
1792 Kentucky was formed from three of Virginia's western counties.

1801-1825 Three Virginians served as Presidents: Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), James Madison (1809-1817), and James Monroe (1817-1825).
1801-1835 John Marshall, another Virginian, served as Chief Justice of the United States.
1831 Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper near Walnut Grove.
1841 William Henry Harrison, born in Virginia, became President. Harrison died a month later, and Vice-President John Tyler, yet another Virginian, became President.
1849 Zachary Taylor, another Virginian, became President.
1861-1865 Virginia seceded from the Union and became the major battleground of the Civil War.
1863 West Virginia was formed from northwestern Virginia.
1870 Virginia was readmitted to the Union.

1912 Woodrow Wilson became the eighth Virginian to be elected President.
1940-1945 New industries opened during World War II, adding to the state's industrial growth.

1959 The first public school integration in Virginia took place in Arlington County and Norfolk.
1964 The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connecting the mainland and the Eastern Shore was opened.
1969 A. Linwood Holton, Jr., became the first Republican to be elected Governor since 1869.
1971 A new state constitution went into effect.

SEE ALSO
Jamestown
Nathaniel Bacon
George Washington
Battle of Yorktown
Kentucky
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Marshall
Cyrus McCormick
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Zachary Taylor
Civil War
West Virginia
Woodrow Wilson
World War II

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This page was last updated on June 25, 2017.