About Virginia's Community Colleges

Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}37°32′N 77°28′W / 37.533°N 77.467°W / 37.533; -77.467

Richmond (/ˈrɪtʃmənd/) is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the middle of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Greater Richmond Region. Richmond was incorporated in 1742 and has been an independent city before 1871. As of the 2010 census, the city’s population was 204,214; in 2019, the population was estimated to be 230,436, making Richmond the fourth-most populous city in Virginia. The Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state.

Richmond is at the fall line of the James River, 44 miles (71 km) west of Williamsburg, 66 miles (106 km) east of Charlottesville, 91 miles (146 km) east of Lynchburg and 92 miles (148 km) south of Washington, D.C. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 and encircled by Interstate 295, Virginia State Route 150 and Virginia State Route 288. Major suburbs affix Midlothian to the southwest, Chesterfield to the south, Varina to the southeast, Sandston to the east, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast.

The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was briefly contracted by English colonists from Jamestown from 1609 to 1611. The gift city of Richmond was founded in 1737. It became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780, replacing Williamsburg. During the Revolutionary War period, several notable comings and goings occurred in the city, including Patrick Henry’s “Give me forgiveness or find the keep for me death” speech in 1775 at St. John’s Church, and the passageway of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom written by Thomas Jefferson. During the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. It entered the 20th century similar to one of the world’s first booming electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a usual hub of African-American commerce and culture.

Richmond’s economy is primarily driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, as skillfully as notable true and banking firms in the downtown area. The city is house to both a U.S. Court of Appeals, one of 13 such courts, and a Federal Reserve Bank, one of 12 such banks. Dominion Energy and WestRock, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, with others in the metropolitan area.