VIRGINIA - Before it became the Commonwealth of Virginia, the land was known by several different names, depending on whether you were a Native American inhabitant or a European colonist.
The Native American Name: Tsenacommacah
For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the land was inhabited by various Native American tribes. The most powerful group in the Tidewater region at the time of English settlement was the Powhatan Confederacy, a political alliance of over 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes.
The Powhatan people called their vast territory, which covered much of present-day eastern Virginia, Tsenacommacah (pronounced sen-ah-cóm-ma-cah). The name is generally understood to mean "densely inhabited land." This was the true, original name of the region, home to a complex and well-established society.
The English Colonial Name: Virginia
The name "Virginia" was given to the region by English explorers in the late 16th century, well before the establishment of a permanent colony.
- Naming the Land: In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored an expedition to the North American coast. He named the entire territory Virginia in honor of his patron, Queen Elizabeth I, who was famously known as the "Virgin Queen."
- A Vague and Vast Territory: Initially, "Virginia" was a generic term for all English claims in North America, a vast and undefined territory stretching from Spanish Florida to the north. It wasn't until the founding of Jamestown in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London that the name became associated explicitly with the first permanent English colony in the New World.
So, what was the original name of Virginia? From the perspective of its first inhabitants, it was Tsenacommacah. From the standpoint of the English colonists who would go on to establish the state, it was named Virginia from the very beginning of their explorations.
