| 1584 | The colony gets its name | Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh named the colony Virginia in the late sixteenth century. |
| 1584 | The Lost Colony | Sir Walter Raleigh sent a group of settlers to establish a colony at Roanoke, Virginia. However, the settlers had disappeared when supply ships arrived and the settlement was abandoned. |
| 1607 | Settlers arrive | New settlers arrived in 1607 and eventually settled Virginia's first colony at Jamestown. The venture was full of hardship, but the settlers persevered. |
| 1614 | A successful crop | Sir John Rolfe had brought tobacco seeds to Virginia from Bermuda, and the settlers found that the crop did well in Virginia. It became the colony's most successful crop. |
| 1620 | The Pilgrims come | The Plymouth Company sent their first group of settlers to Virginia. The settlers sailed on the Mayflower, and they were called Pilgrims. |
| 1624 | Virginia is reduced | King James downsized the Virginia Colony by breaking its land into different colonies, including the Maryland Colony and the Province of Carolina. |
| 1652 | Power shifts | The Virginia Colony fell under the leadership of a Puritan Commonwealth governor, Oliver Cromwell. |
| 1660 | The government shifts again | the Virginia Colony's governing board shifted back to the leadership of the English crown. |
| 1693 | A Colonial University | The College of William and Mary was established in 1693. It is the second oldest college in America, preceded only by Harvard University. |
| 1699 | The Colonial Capital | Williamsburg, Virginia, became the Colonial Capital in Virginia. |
| 1730 | The House of Burgesses | The Virginia House of Burgesses standardized the tobacco trade, further improving Virginia's greatest cash crop. |
| 1747 | Expansion is made | A group of Virginia Pilgrims formed the Ohio Company in order to trade in the area west of the Appalachian Mountains. |
| 1756 | The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) | After the formation of the Ohio Company, the French waged war on the English because they viewed the Ohio Country as their property. The French and Indian War ensued, becoming part of the Seven Years' War. |
| 1774 | House of Burgesses dissolves | As the American colonists became more disenchanted with the British rule, the House of Burgesses was dissolved, making way for a new leadership and eventually independence from the British crown. |
| 1775 | The American Revolution | During America's War for Independence, the Virginia Colony became the Commonwealth of Virginia. |
