The US state of Virginia is located on the Southern Atlantic Coast of the country. Nicknamed the "Old Dominion" Virginia is also called the "Mother of Presidents," since eight of the former United States presidents were born in the state of Virginia. The geography and climate of the commonwealth are shaped by the Chesapeake Bay and the Blue Ridge Mountains, that provide habitat for a lot of its flora and fauna. The capital of the commonwealth is Richmond; the most densely inhabited city of Virginia Beach and Fairfax County the most densely inhabited political subdivision. The commonwealth's population is more than eight million.
The area's history begins with some native groups, consisting of the Powhatan. In the year 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the very 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. The state of Virginia was one of the thirteen 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 separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the commonwealth was under conservative single party rule for almost a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.
In the American states, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest legislature. The Pew Center has repeatedly ranked the state government as the most effective. They often note the states unique ability in the way it treats the cities and counties in the same way, limits the governors from serving terms in succession and manages local roads. Virginia's economy has numerous sectors: agriculture within the Shenandoah Valley; federal agencies in Northern Virginia, including the headquarters of the Department of Defense and CIA; and military facilities within Hampton Roads, the place of the region's main seaport. Virginia's public schools and a lot of universities and colleges have contributed to growing technology and media sectors. As a result, computer chips have become the leading export of Virginia.
The economy in Virginia is quite diversed and balanced, which include important sectors like military and government, farming, and business. One-third of the jobs, for the 4.1 million civilian staff, are in the service sector. The unemployment rate was 6.3% as of April 2011. The Gross Domestic Product of Virginia was $424 billion during the year 2010. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Virginia had the most counties in the top 100 wealthiest in the US based upon median income in the year 2007.
Virginia features the highest concentration of technology workers within the United States. In 2006, Virginia's highest-grossing export were computer chips, that surpassed tobacco and coal in combined exports. Northern Virginia, once considered the dairy capital of the state, presently hosts communication technology, consulting companies and software, especially in the Dulles Technology Corridor. Northern Virginia's data centers presently carry over 50% of the country's internet traffic, and by the year 2012 Dominion Power expects that 10% of all its electricity in Northern Virginia will be utilized by data centers. Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States as of 2011.