Virginia, Eastern U.S. state between the Atlantic Ocean and Appalachian Mountains, United States
Virginia stretches from the Chesapeake Bay across the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Cumberland Plateau and includes more than 100 administrative units. The landscape shifts from wide coastal plains in the east to forested mountain ridges in the west, crossed by river valleys and rolling hills.
English settlers founded Jamestown in 1607, the first permanent English colony on the North American continent. This settlement initiated a phase of rapid territorial expansion that covered the entire region between coast and mountains.
Visitors today can walk through former presidential estates such as Mount Vernon and Monticello to see how life was organized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many communities in the southern part of the state still practice the tradition of slow-smoked pork barbecue over wood coals.
The northern area near the capital houses many federal agencies and technology companies, bringing denser traffic and higher living costs. The coastal region around Hampton Roads concentrates military installations, which affects access to certain harbor areas.
Cities here function as independent administrative units completely separate from surrounding counties. This system differs from the usual structure in all other states across the country.
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