维吉尼亚(Virginia)

美国东部一州。位大西洋沿岸。面积105,586平方公里。首府里奇蒙。人口约7,078,515（2000）。东部为滨海平原地区（也称潮水区），中部为皮埃蒙特高原，西有蓝岭山脉和阿帕拉契山脉。波多马克河、谢南多厄河谷、詹姆斯河和洛亚诺克河贯穿全州。1607年英国在詹姆斯敦建立第一块殖民地。独立战争前夕，是十三个殖民地当中最大的一个，也是抗拒英国印花税法的先锋之一。独立战争期间的领导人都有维吉尼亚州人。美国建国初期的五位总统中的四位均来自该州。1788年成为批准宪法的第十州。虽然奴隶制是非法，但仍为该州农业经济的基础。1831年爆发特纳领导的奴隶起义。1861年退出联邦。1863年该州丧失了1/3的土地以建成西维吉尼亚，里奇蒙为维吉尼亚首府，也是南部邦联的首都。维吉尼亚成为美国内战的主要战场。1870年重新被接纳为联邦的一州。接着的十年期间，同州的债务进行抗争成为政治生活中突出的特点。第一次世界大战後，该州日益繁荣昌盛。第二次世界大战数万名士兵送入该州军营，使诺福克地区迅速的发展。制造业是最主要的部门。联邦政府在维吉尼亚经济中一直保持着主要的地位。汉普顿锚地是全国主要的港口之一。旅游业很重要，有许多历史遗迹，包括威廉斯堡、华盛顿的芒特佛南故居、杰佛逊的蒙提萨罗故居。南北战争战场以及李将军投降地－－阿波马托克斯郡府。威廉和玛丽学院（1963年成立），是全国第二所最古老的学院，维吉尼亚大学组织结构与建筑物主要是杰佛逊的创作。

English version：

Virginia

State (pop., 1997 est.; 6,734,000), eastern U.S. Located on the central Atlantic seaboard, it covers an area of 40,767 sq mi (105,586 sq km); its capital is Richmond. The coastal plain, also known as the Tidewater, lies in the east, the Piedmont, in mid-state, and the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains in the west. The Potomac, Shenandoah, James, and Roanoke rivers flow through the state. It was inhabited by American Indians when futile attempts were made by English navigator Sir Walter Raleigh to found settlements 1584-87. Britain's first American colony was founded there in 1607 at Jamestown. On the eve of the American Revolution, it was the largest of the 13 colonies and one of the first to resist the British Stamp Act. Its citizens were among the leaders of the Revolutionary period and later contributed four of the country's first five presidents. In 1788 it became the 10th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Though slavery was outlawed, it continued to be an important part of Virginia's economy, and helped precipitate Nat Turner's insurrection (1831). It passed an ordinance of secession in 1861, but the western part of the state refused to secede: it split off to become West Virginia in 1863. Virginia, whose capital of Richmond was also the capital of the Confederacy, bore the brunt of military action during the American Civil War. It was readmitted to the Union in 1870. Strife over state debt took over political life for the next decades, but after World War I the state's prosperity increased. World War II brought thousands to its military camps and caused the Norfolk area to boom. The federal government is Virginia's largest employer, while manufacturing is the second largest. Its port of Hampton Roads is one of the nation's leading ports. Tourism is important; its many historical sites include Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington's Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, the Civil War battlefields, and Gen. Robert E. Lee's house, now in Arlington National Cemetery. The College of William and Mary (founded 1693) is the country's second oldest college; the University of Virginia was largely the creation of T. Jefferson.