West Virginia
West Virginia | |
|---|---|
| State of West Virginia | |
| Nickname: Mountain State | |
| Motto(s): | |
| Anthem:4 songs | |
 Map of the United States with West Virginia highlighted | |
| Country | United States |
| Before statehood | Part ofVirginia |
| Admitted to the Union | June 20, 1863 (35th) |
| Capital (and largest city) | Charleston |
| Largest metroandurbanareas | Huntington-Ashland Tri-State Area |
| Government | |
| •Governor | Jim Justice(R) |
| •Lieutenant Governor | Mitch Carmichael(R) |
| Legislature | West Virginia Legislature |
| •Upper house | Senate |
| •Lower house | House of Delegates |
| U.S. senators | Joe Manchin(I) Shelley Moore Capito(R) |
| U.S. House delegation | 1:David McKinley(R) 2:Alex Mooney(R) 3:Carol Miller(R)(list) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 24,230 sq mi (62,755 km2) |
| • Land | 24,078 sq mi (62,361 km2) |
| • Water | 152 sq mi (394 km2) 0.6% |
| • Rank | 41st |
| Dimensions | |
| • Length | 240 mi (385 km) |
| • Width | 130 mi (210 km) |
| Elevation | 1,513 ft (461 m) |
| Highest elevation | 4,863 ft (1,482 m) |
| Lowest elevation | 240 ft (73 m) |
| Population (2019) | |
| • Total | 1,792,147 |
| • Rank | 38th |
| • Density | 77.1/sq mi (29.8/km2) |
| • Rank | 29th |
| •Median household income | $43,469[4] |
| • Income rank | 50th |
| Demonyms | West Virginian |
| Language | |
| •Official language | De jure:English[5] |
| Time zone | UTC−05:00(Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00(EDT) |
| USPS abbreviation | WV |
| ISO 3166 code | US-WV |
| Traditional abbreviation | W.Va. |
| Latitude | 37°12′ N to 40°39′ N |
| Longitude | 77°43′ W to 82°39′ W |
| Website | wv |
| West Virginia state symbols | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Living insignia | |
| Bird | Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) |
| Butterfly | Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) |
| Fish | Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) |
| Flower | Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) |
| Insect | Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) |
| Mammal | Black bear (Ursus americanus) |
| Reptile | Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) |
| Tree | Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) |
| Inanimate insignia | |
| Colors | Old goldandblue |
| Food | Golden Delicious apple (Malus domestica) |
| Fossil | Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) |
| Gemstone | Silicified Mississippian fossil coral (Lithostrotionella) |
| Rock | Coal |
| Slogan | "Wild and Wonderful" "Open for Business" (former) "Almost Heaven" (former) |
| Soil | Monongahela Silt Loam |
| Tartan | West Virginia Shawl |
| State route marker | |
 | |
| State quarter | |
 Released in 2005 | |
| Lists of United States state symbols | |
West Virginiais astatein theAppalachianregion of theUnited States.Itscapitaland largest city isCharleston.It is often abbreviatedW. Va.or simplyWV.About 1,800,000 people live in the state.
West Virginia is bordered byPennsylvaniato the north, byOhioto the north and west, byKentuckyto the west, byMarylandto the north and east, and byVirginiato the east and south. TheOhioandPotomacRiversform parts of the boundaries.
Before theAmerican Civil War,West Virginia practicedslaveryas part of the state of Virginia. Slaves, at firstNative Americanbut increasingly brought fromAfricain theslave trade,were forced to growtobacco,minecoal,and be personalservants.Many slaves were rented from owners in other parts of the state to work in the mines. In the 19th century, white people kept slaves in order to earn money by selling them south to states likeTexas,Louisiana,andGeorgia.[6]
Statehood Of West Virginia[change|change source]
West Virginia was admitted into the union as a slave state in 1863. Slavery was abolished after the war, andConfederateveterans voted the politicians who passed the laws out of office.[6]
West Virginia was once a part of Virginia. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Virginia and the other southern statessecededfrom the United States, which means they chose to not be a part of it anymore.[7]Slaves were fewer in the west than in other parts, and those in West Virginia who were against slavery were not objecting onmoralgrounds.[7]They saw it as bad for free labor.[7]While slavery was an issue in other parts of Virginia, in the western counties the issues weretaxationand being governed from a state capital that was far away.[7]The people in Western Virginia had far more in common with their neighboring states ofPennsylvaniaandOhiothan with theCommonwealth of Virginia.[7]So this was an area ofUnionsupport.[7]
On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the thirty-fifth state of the United States.[8]But it was not an easy process. There had been some discussion of the area becoming a state since the early 1800s.[9]It took three conventions atWheelingfrom 1861 to 1863.[9]The process divided friends and communities.[9]
Statehood was not universally accepted in West Virginia. While there were no large scale battles, there was a good deal ofguerilla warfarein attempts tounderminethe new government.[9]Confederates raided into West Virginia trying to terrorize the citizens. Despite Confederate efforts to topple the state government, Washington provided both economic and political support. Union military successes outside the state helped keep the state government in power. After the war there were bitter resentments between those for and against statehood.[9]Virginia even tried to force West Virginia back into becoming a part of Virginia again in 1871.[source?]But West Virginia remained asovereignstate despite the efforts.[9]
Geography[change|change source]
West Virginia is often called the "Mountain State" because it is entirely within the Appalachian Mountain Range, and there are many hills and mountains throughout the state. The highest one is Spruce Knob, which is 4,863 feet above sea level. There are many rivers, including the Ohio, the Potomac, the Kanawha, and the Monongahela.
Related pages[change|change source]
References[change|change source]
- ↑"Spruce Knob Cairn 1956".NGS data sheet.U.S. National Geodetic Survey.RetrievedOctober 24,2011.
- ↑2.02.1"Elevations and Distances in the United States".United States Geological Survey.2001. Archived fromthe originalon October 15, 2011.RetrievedOctober 24,2011.
- ↑3.03.1Elevation adjusted toNorth American Vertical Datum of 1988.
- ↑"Median Annual Household Income".The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.Archived fromthe originalon December 20, 2016.RetrievedDecember 9,2016.
- ↑"West Virginia is the 32nd State to pass Official English".Archived fromthe originalon March 8, 2016.RetrievedMarch 8,2016.
- ↑6.06.1Carroll, Greg (2015-01-06).Slavery and Free People of Color in Virginia(Speech). West Virginia Archives & History. Charleston, West Virginia.Retrieved2020-11-03.
- ↑7.07.17.27.37.47.5Mark A. Snell."Toward Statehood, West Virginia on the Eve of War".Civil War Trust.Retrieved28 October2016.[permanent dead link]
- ↑"1863 West Virginia enters the Union".This Day in History.A&E Television Networks, LLC.Retrieved28 October2016.
- ↑9.09.19.29.39.49.5Kevin T. Barksdale."Creation of West Virginia".Encyclopedia Virginia.Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.Retrieved28 October2016.
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