Portal:Virginia/Selected article

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The History of Richmond, Virginia as a modern city dates back to the early seventeenth century, and crucial to the development of the colony of Virginia, the United States Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. After Reconstruction, Richmond's location helped it develop a diversified economy and as a land transportation hub. Richmond attracted businesses relocating from other parts of the country as one of the northernmost cities of the right-to-work states.

In 1607, James I granted a royal charter to the Virginia Company of London to settle colonists in North America. After the first permanent English settlement was established later that year at Jamestown, Captain Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith set sail ten days after landing at Jamestown, traveling northwest up Powhatan's River (now known as the James River) to Powhatan Hill. The first expedition consisted of 120 men from Jamestown, and made the first attempt to settle at the Falls of the James, located between the 14th Street Bridge in modern downtown Richmond and the Pony Pasture (a recreational area along the banks of the river south of the City of Richmond). The settlement was made at this location as it is the highest navigable site along the James River. (read more...)