West Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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| State nickname: Mountain State | |||||
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| Other U.S. States | |||||
| Capital | Charleston | ||||
| Largest city | Charleston | ||||
| Governor | Joe Manchin (D) | ||||
| Senators | Robert Byrd (D)
Jay Rockefeller (D) |
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| Official language(s) | English | ||||
| Area | 62,809 km² (41st) | ||||
| - Land | 62,436 km² | ||||
| - Water | 376 km² (0.6%) | ||||
| Population (2000) | |||||
| - Population | 1,808,344 (37th) | ||||
| - Density | 29.0 /km² (29th) | ||||
| Admission into Union | |||||
| - Date | June 20, 1863 | ||||
| - Order | 35th | ||||
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | ||||
| Latitude | 37°10'N to 40°40'N | ||||
| Longitude | 77°40'W to 82°40'W | ||||
| Width | 210 km | ||||
| Length | 385 km | ||||
| Elevation | |||||
| - Highest point | 1,482 m | ||||
| - Mean | 455 m | ||||
| - Lowest point | 73 m | ||||
| Abbreviations | |||||
| - USPS | WV | ||||
| - ISO 3166-2 | US-WV | ||||
| Web site | www.wv.gov | ||||
West Virginia, known as The Mountain State, is a state of the United States. West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and was admitted to the Union as a separate state on June 20, 1863.
The Census Bureau considers West Virginia part of the South because of its location below the Mason-Dixon Line, while the USGS designates it as a Mid-Atlantic state. Many in the state's Northern Panhandle, with the nothernmost point of the state about the same latitude as central New Jersey, feel a greater affinity for Pittsburgh, while those in the Eastern Panhandle feel a greater connection with the Washington, D.C. suburbs in western Maryland and Virginia. Lastly, southern West Virginia, in which many West Virginians consider themselves southern, is less than 100 miles north of Tennessee and North Carolina. The state is noted for its coal mining heritage, and union organizing mine wars in particular.
The state has a rich, stark beauty reflecting its topography. Tourist sites include the New River Gorge Bridge (where on Bridge Day the federal government, which controls the landing site, allows BASE jumping [1] from the bridge), as well as many national and state parks. It is also home to the Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
The U.S. Navy has named a series of ships USS West Virginia in honor of this state.
Contents |
Information about West Virginia
- Counties and Important Towns in West Virginia
- Economics of West Virginia
- Education in West Virginia
- History of West Virginia
- Miscellaneous information on West Virginia
- West Virginia State Highways
- West Virginia Law and Government
- List of West Virginia state parks
Geography
See: List of West Virginia counties
It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland to the north, by Ohio to the north and west, by Kentucky to the west, and by Virginia to the east and south. The Ohio River and the Potomac River form parts of the boundaries.
The state is referred to as The Mountain State, and it is the only state in the nation in which all areas are mountainous. About 3/4 of the state is within the Cumberland/Allegheny Plateaus region which is not true mountains but rather a dissected plateau. Though the relief is not high, the plateau region is extremely rugged in most areas. (The two plateaus are essentially the same, the difference being only the naming convention of north and south, with West Virginia happening to be in the middle.)
On the southeastern state line with Virginia, high peaks in the Monongahela National Forest region give rise to an island of colder climate and ecosystems similar to those of New England and eastern Canada.
The native vegetation for most of the state was originally mixed hardwood forest of oak, chestnut, maple, beech, and white pine, with willow along the waterways. Many of the coves are rich in biodiversity and scenic beauty, a fact that is appreciated by native West Virginians, who refer to their home as almost Heaven.
The underlying rock strata are sandstones, shales, bituminous coal beds, and limestones laid down in a near shore environment from sediments derived from mountains to the east, in a shallow inland sea on the west. Some beds illustrate a coastal swamp environment, some river delta, some shallow water. Sea level rose and fell many times during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian eras, giving a variety of rock strata.
On a map West Virginia's complex shape and irregular outline make it look more like a European country in configuration than an American state. This is because the processes that created West Virginia's eastern boundaries are more like the processes that created the boundaries of European countries. In the USA most state boundaries were established close to the time of settlement and include long straight lines and simplfying features that aid in forming property subdivision for new settlers. In West Virginia the boundaries were formed after settlement for the purpose of rounding up people with a similar socio-cultural outlook (in this case pro-Union, anti-plantation, highlanders) who were already there, just as the European boundaries round up people with similar nationalities who had been there for a long time. This process of rounding up people already spread around here and there results in the typical zig-zag, curving, and extending shape of the resulting political unit.
Demographics
| Historical populations | |
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| Census year |
Population |
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| 1790 | 55,873 |
| 1800 | 78,592 |
| 1810 | 105,469 |
| 1820 | 136,808 |
| 1830 | 176,924 |
| 1840 | 224,537 |
| 1850 | 302,313 |
| 1860 | 376,688 |
| 1870 | 442,014 |
| 1880 | 618,457 |
| 1890 | 762,794 |
| 1900 | 958,800 |
| 1910 | 1,221,119 |
| 1920 | 1,463,701 |
| 1930 | 1,729,205 |
| 1940 | 1,901,974 |
| 1950 | 2,005,552 |
| 1960 | 1,860,421 |
| 1970 | 1,744,237 |
| 1980 | 1,949,644 |
| 1990 | 1,793,477 |
| 2000 | 1,808,344 |
The population of West Virginia as of 2003 was 1,810,354.
Only 1.1% of the state's residents were foreign-born, placing West Virginia last among the 50 states in that statistic. It has the lowest percentage of residents that speak a language other than English in the home (2.7%).
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 94.6% White non-Hispanic
- 3.2% Black
- 0.7% Hispanic
- 0.5% Asian
- 0.2% Native American
- 0.9% Mixed race
The five largest ancestry groups in West Virginia are: American (23.2%), German (17.2%), Irish (13.5%), English (12%), Italian (4.8%).
Many West Virginians identify their ancestry as "American," it is the largest reported ancestry in most counties in the state, and the state has the highest percentage of residents of "American ancestry" in the nation. This choice often corresponds to Scots-Irish heritage.
Large numbers of people of German ancestry are present in the northeastern counties of the state.
5.6% of West Virginia's population were reported as under 5, 22.3% under 18, and 15.3% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.4% of the population.
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of West Virginia are:
- Christian – 86%
- Protestant – 77%
- Baptist – 33%
- Methodist – 16%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Pentecostal – 3%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 22%
- Roman Catholic – 8%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Protestant – 77%
- Other Religions – <1%
- Non-Religious – 14%
See also
External links
- Government
- Southern WV PDC
- Ohio Valley Roads
- West Virginia Visitor's Guide
- WestVA.Net
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Famous People of West Virginia
- West Virginia's Historical Markers
- West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
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State of West Virginia |
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| State Capital: | |
| Regions: |
Potomac Higlands | Eastern Panhandle | Northern Panhandle | Allegheny Plateau | Cumberland Plateau | Ridge-and-valley Appalachians | Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Major Cities: | |
| Smaller Cities: |
Beckley | Bluefield | Charles Town | Clarksburg | Elkins | Fairmont | Keyser | Martinsburg | Morgantown | Oak Hill | Parkersburg | Romney | Weirton |
| Counties: |
Barbour | Berkeley | Boone | Braxton | Brooke | Cabell | Calhoun | Clay | Doddridge | Fayette | Gilmer | Grant | Greenbrier | Hampshire | Hancock | Hardy | Harrison | Jackson | Jefferson | Kanawha | Lewis | Lincoln | Logan | Marion | Marshall | Mason | McDowell | Mercer | Mineral | Mingo | Monongalia | Monroe | Morgan | Nicholas | Ohio | Pendleton | Pleasants | Pocahontas | Preston | Putnam | Raleigh | Randolph | Ritchie | Roane | Summers | Taylor | Tucker | Tyler | Upshur | Wayne | Webster | Wetzel | Wirt | Wood | Wyoming |
| Political divisions of the United States |  |
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