Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia,[a] is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state’s capital is Richmond. Its most populous city is Virginia Beach, though its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County. Virginia’s population in 2022 was over 8.68 million; slightly over a third, 35%, were in the Washington metropolitan area. The Blue Ridge Mountains cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The state’s central region lies predominantly in the Piedmont. Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain. The Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia’s history begins with several Indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent English colony in the New World. Virginia’s state nickname, the Old Dominion, is a reference to this status. Slave labor and land from displaced native tribes fueled the growing plantation economy, but also fueled conflicts both inside and outside the colony.