who was the founder of the colony of virginia?
Captain John Smith
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 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 seceded to form the state of West Virginia . Although the Commonwealth was under one @-@ party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction , both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia . 

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 Several European expeditions , including a group of Spanish Jesuits , explored the Chesapeake Bay during the 16th century . In 1583 , Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Walter Raleigh a charter to plant a colony north of Spanish Florida . In 1584 , Raleigh sent an expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America . The name " Virginia " may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth , perhaps noting her status as the " Virgin Queen , " and may also be related to a native phrase , " Wingandacoa , " or name , " Wingina . " Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine , plus the island of Bermuda . Later , subsequent royal charters modified the Colony 's boundaries . The London Company was incorporated as a joint stock company by the proprietary Charter of 1606 , which granted land rights to this area . The Company financed the first permanent English settlement in the " New World " , Jamestown . Named for King James I , it was founded in May 1607 by Christopher Newport . In 1619 , colonists took greater control with an elected legislature called the House of Burgesses . With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624 , the settlement was taken into royal authority as an English crown colony . 

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 Virginia 's culture was popularized and spread across America and the South by figures such as George Washington , Thomas Jefferson , and Robert E. Lee . Their homes in Virginia represent the birthplace of America and the South . Modern Virginia culture has many sources , and is part of the culture of the Southern United States . The Smithsonian Institution divides Virginia into nine cultural regions . 

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 In colonial Virginia , free men elected the lower house of the legislature , called the House of Burgesses , which together with the Governor 's Council , made the " General Assembly " . Founded in 1619 , the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere . In 2008 , the government was ranked by the Pew Center on the States with an A − in terms of its efficiency , effectiveness , and infrastructure , tied with Utah and Washington . This was the second consecutive time that Virginia received the highest grade in the nation . 

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 Although Virginia was settled in 1607 with the advent of the Jamestown Colony , it was not until 1680 that Europeans occupied Chincoteague Island . A patent to Chincoteague Island had been granted by the British colonial authorities to Daniel Jenifer in 1671 ; that interest had been transferred to Thomas Welburn , husband of Jenifer 's stepdaughter and prominent local merchant who lived on the mainland side of Chincoteague Bay . To fulfill the terms of the patent and gain title , the holder or his designee had to live on the land for a year — in the contemporary term , to " seat " the land . Welburn and several employees built a house there and cleared land for a small farm . His employee and tenant , Robert Scott , lived there only for the required year . Once it had expired , the house was abandoned , but Welburn , despite considering the land his own , did not register his efforts to perfect title . 
