|
 Forklift Masts Virginia - The commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coastline of the Southern United States. The state of Virginia is referred to as the "Old Dominion" and occasionally the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight United States presidents born there. The weather condition and geography of the commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the commonwealth is Richmond; the most crowded city of Virginia Beach and Fairfax County the most heavily populated political subdivision. The commonwealth's population is over eight million.
Virginia's history begins with some indigenous groups, consisting of the Powhatan. During the year 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 major part in the colony's plantation economy and early politics. The state of Virginia was among 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. Even though the commonwealth was under conservative single party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.
Within 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 normally note the states unique ability in the way it treats the counties and cities in the same way, limits the governors from serving terms in succession and manages local roads. The state's economy has many sectors: agriculture within the Shenandoah Valley; federal agencies in Northern Virginia, like for example the headquarters of the Department of Defense and CIA; and military facilities in Hampton Roads, the site of the area's main seaport. Virginia's public schools as well as many 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 within Virginia is rather balanced and diverse, which include important sectors like government and military, business and farming. One-third of the jobs, for the 4.1 million civilian employees, 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 2010. Based on the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Virginia had the most counties in the top 100 wealthiest within the country based upon median income during 2007.
The state of Virginia has the highest concentration of technology workers of any state. Computer chips became the state's highest-grossing export in the year 2006, surpassing its traditional top exports of coal and tobacco combined. Northern Virginia, once considered the state's dairy capital, now hosts software, communication technology, and consulting companies, particularly within the Dulles Technology Corridor. Northern Virginia's data centers presently carry over 50% of the nation's internet traffic, and by the year 2012 Dominion Power expects that 10% of all its electricity within Northern Virginia will be used by data centers. Loudoun and Fairfax counties within Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States as of the year 2011.
| |
