prehistoric age

Before the Europeans began to settle there, the Chesapeake people of Native American lived on the south coast of Hampton Rose. According to William Strazzatto's history book The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia published around 1618, the Chesapeake tribe was destroyed by the Powhatan before the European settlers settled there.

from settlement to the establishment of Princess Ann County

Cape Henry Memorial

In 1607, Christopher Newport, after a 144-day voyage with three ships and 105 crewmen, landed at this part of the Chesapeake Bay Entrance and named Cape Henry after the name of Henry Frederick Stuart, the first prince of James I, the King of England, as his name. But the Newport and the others did not stay on Cape Henry for long, but they made their way inland by going back to the James River. On April 26 of the same year, he built James Town, the first permanent British settlement in North America.

The earliest English settlers who had settled in this land were Adam Salagood, from English Norfolk County Kingslin. Saragod, who crossed the Atlantic as an apprenticeship at the age of 18 and settled in the Virginia colony, became a leader in the region when the contract expired and he was set free. In 1629, Saragod was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Elizabeth City, one of the four "Cities" (Cittie) established in 1619.

In 1634, the Virginia colony was divided into eight Shayas, and was soon renamed County (County). Saragod named the County, New Norfolk County, Lynhaven River, after their place of origin in the county and the river that runs through it. In 1637, New Norfolk County was divided into Upper Norfolk County and Lower Norfolk County on the advice of Salagood. The county of Lower Norfolk County was quite large, and it ran from the Atlantic coast in the east to the River Elizabeth in the west, and included the cities of the modern cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

Princess Ann County as shown on the map of Virginia, published in 1895

Lower Norfolk County was then divided into Norfolk County and Princess Ann County in 1691. Princess Ann County, the easternmost county on the south coast of Hampton Rose, comprised of all the land on the Atlantic Ocean, extending from Cape Henry to the north to the border of the North Carolina Colonies. Princess Anne County lasted until 1963 for 272 years.

development as a beach resort

In 1888, when railroad and electricity were laid out in Princess An County and the Princess An Hotel was built on the seashore near the settlement Sea Tac in the county, Virginia Beach began to grow as a resort area on the seashore. The Boardwalk, a symbolic walkway of Virginia Beach, was also built around this time. Initially, the only means of transportation to the resort were railway and trolley, but when Virginia Beach Boulevard opened in 1922 from Norfolk to the Atlantic coast, traffic in automobiles, buses and trucks was also established.

Virginia Beach was officially incorporated as a town in 1906. Until the 1950s, Virginia Beach grew as a summer vacation destination, and casinos turned into amusement parks and family attractions.

Original Norwegian Lady Memorial (1918)

In 1891, the Norwegian Ship Burke, the Dictator, was wrecked in the sea area near Virginia Beach and was subjected to life-saving activities by the United States Life Saving Force (currently the United States Coast Guard). After the ship's head was launched on the beach, the ship's head was set up along the coast as a memorial and monument for the victims and lifeguards, and it was named 'Norwegian Lady Memorial.' After 70 years, in 1962 two bronze statues were made by the Norwegian sculptor O'Nurf Baste to replace the monument and erected at Virginia Beach and Moss, Norway, which later became a sister city.

growth in large suburban cities

Virginia Beach moved to Independent City in 1952 and became independent from Princess Ann County in administration. In 1963, with the result of a referendum held at Virginia Beach and Princess Ann County and the approval of the Virginia State Assembly, Virginia Beach and Princess Ann County merged into a new, larger independent city, leaving the name of Virginia Beach behind. Virginia Beach continued to grow as a large suburban city in Norfolk, and in 1990, the population of Norfolk (261,229 at that time) was exceeded by the population of 393,069 to become the largest city with the largest population in Virginia. In 2003, the development of the Virginia Beach Town Center started in cooperation with the government and the private sector to become a "center of business"-like commercial and business in the Hampton Rose Metropolitan Area.

Virginia Beach satellite photographs

Virginia Beach is located at 36 degrees 51 minutes 2 seconds north latitude and 75 degrees 58 minutes 40 seconds west longitude. According to the United States Census Bureau, Virginia Beach City has a total area of 1,288.1km² (497.3 mi²). 643.1km² (248.3mi²) is the land area and 645.0km² (249.0mi²) is the water area. The water area accounts for 50.07% of the total area. Throughout the city, flat land with a height of about 10 feet (about 3 meters) above sea level continues.

The city stretches to the south of the Chesapeake Bay port at the southeast end of Virginia and faces the Atlantic Ocean. Norfolk and Chesapeake are located west of Virginia Beach, and Carytac County, North Carolina is located south of the beach. the Hampton Rose urban area (formally named Hampton Rose), which is formed at the mouth of the James River which flows into the Chesapeake Bay Virginia Beach Norfolk Newport News Metropolitan Area) stretches nine counties, including Virginia Beach, around Norfolk. With the largest population of Virginia Beach, the official name of Virginia Beach is given at the beginning of the metropolitan area, but in fact, the city that is the center of the metropolitan area is Norfolk, and Virginia Beach has a strong side as a suburban city in Norfolk. From downtown Norfolk, there is an expressway connecting the area to the coast, which takes approximately 30km to the beach and 20-30 minutes by car.

climate

The climate of Virginia Beach is generally mild throughout the year, and it's a muggy, oceanic climate in summer. The hottest month is July, the average monthly temperature is 26°C, the average highest temperature is 30°C, and the highest daytime temperature sometimes exceeds 32°C (90°F). In winter, the temperature is warm, and even in the coldest January, the average monthly temperature is 5°C, and the average minimum temperature is 0°C. The amount of rainfall is expected to be high between July and August, reaching 120-140mm a month, while the rest of the month is average at about 70-90mm a month. In the climate division of Keppen, Virginia Beach belongs to the Warm Wet Climate (Cfa) which is widely distributed on the Atlantic coast and southern part of the United States.

urban overview

Virginia Beach Town Center. The building on the right is Westin Virginia Beach Town Center and Residences.

Virginia Beach is a suburban city, so it doesn't have a clear downtown area, and many of the developed areas have low-density residential areas. Since ancient times, the city has been bustling with resort areas, where hotels and condominiums are located along the two streets of Pacific Avenue which runs north-south and south along the beach, and Atlantic Avenue. The numbered streets are set up only in the streets running east-west in the resort area, and the number increases as the street goes north.

In the 2000s, a small "sub-center" business and commercial center called the Virginia Beach Town Center was established at last, and the development started in cooperation with the government and the private sector. The Virginia Beach Town Center is centered at the intersection of Virginia Beach Boulevard and Independence Boulevard, located about 16km inland from the resort area and halfway between downtown Norfolk. Within the Virginia Beach Town Center, there are a mixture of offices, meeting halls, hotels, apartment houses, and various retail stores, making it a business and commercial center close to home employment, which is different from conventional downtown areas in other cities in the United States. The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center and Residences, completed in 2007 within the Virginia Beach Town Center, are 38 stories high, 154.8m tall, and are the tallest buildings in Virginia. Westin uses the 3-16th floor of the building and has a condominium above the 17th floor.

City government agencies, including city offices and municipal courts, are concentrated in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, which is located about 15km southwest of the resort area, 13km southeast of the Virginia Beach Town Center, and Princess Anne. The Princess Ann area was located at the center of geography of the city, and also at the place where the county office of Princess Ann County was located before the merger.

Virginia Beach District Court

Virginia Beach was established on January 1, 1963 by a resolution of the Virginia State Council. All cities in Virginia, including Virginia Beach, are state laws and independent cities that do not belong to any county. As a result, Virginia Beach is a city, as well as an autonomous body equivalent to a county, providing administrative services equivalent to a county, and a district court of the state is established as well as the county office.

Virginia Beach is a city manager. The City Manager is elected by the City Council, and as the chief executive officer of the city's administrative work, the City Council will implement the policies adopted by the City Council through its staff members. The city assembly, the city's legislative body, consists of 11 mayors and 10 members. Seven of the 10 MPs will be elected one from the seven constituencies of Bayside, Beach, Centaville, Kempsville, Lynhaven, Princess Ann and Rose Hall, and the other three will be elected by a vote from the whole city. The mayor, who is elected by a vote from all the cities, apart from the city councilors, performs various ritual functions as a "face of the city," such as the chairman of the city council and the official announcement of the city's assembly. Out of the 10 members of the House of Councilors, a vice mayor will be elected to assist the mayor and, if necessary, to act as a substitute. Both the mayor and the city councilor have held their office for four years.

In the House of Representatives election, Virginia Beach belongs to the second Virginia constituency. In contrast to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the third largest constituency in the west, which includes downtown Norfolk, the Republican Party is slightly stronger in this suburban, slightly stronger constituency that straddles the northern half of Norfolk and the two counties of the Delmarba Peninsula.

The crime rate of Virginia Beach is generally low. According to the 2010 "Dangerous Cities in the United States" ranking by CQ Press, Morgan Quitnot, Virginia Beach ranked 328th in the most dangerous order among 400 cities with a population of more than 75,000 in the United States (72nd in the most safe order). There are no more populated cities than Virginia Beach in the ranking that were considered safer than Virginia Beach. Of the seven Hampton Rose cities, Virginia Beach was the safest.

According to the 2009 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, which was the basis of the ranking, the incidence of violent crimes in Virginia Beach was lower than the national average for murder, rape, robbery, injury, night theft and car theft. Below is a comparison of the U.S. average incidence of these six crimes in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.

The tourism industry in the beach plays an important role in the regional economy of Virginia Beach

The regional economy of Virginia Beach is largely supported by the tourism industry. In 2009, 2.75 million tourists visited Virginia Beach, consuming a total of $857 million, bringing the profits to $78.4 million, and leading to 15,000 jobs. The Virginia Beach tourist industry center is the longest sightseeing beach with a total length of 38 miles (about 61.2km) from Chesapeake Bay to the Atlantic Ocean, which is also registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest sightseeing beach in the world. The beach is roughly divided into a resort area where hotels are lined up along the coast of the Chesapeake Bay in the northern part of the city, and a sand bridge where many stay-type condominiums are built in the south. The hotel also stands in the Virginia Beach Town Center, as well as the resort area. The hotel industry share in Virginia Beach accounts for about 40% of the total Hampton Rose area.

Besides tourism, agriculture is also important for the regional economy of Virginia Beach. Within the city of Virginia Beach, there are 172 farms, which account for 28,000 acres (about 113km²), or about one-sixth of the area. The economic effect of agriculture on the city amounts to $139 million. Agricultural products produced in Virginia Beach are sold in the city's agricultural market. The agricultural market is located about 5 km northwest of the city hall, at the corner of Dam Neck Road and Princess An Road.

The military's importance in the Hampton Rose Metropolitan Area is no exception in Virginia Beach. On Virginia Beach, there are military bases such as Oshana Naval Air Base, Damneck Naval Battle Center, Littorrik Naval Amphibious Operations Base and Fort Story. The number of jobs created by these bases, including military and civilian personnel, totaled 33,000, and the economic impact on the city amounted to $18.8 million.

Sixteen percent of Virginia Beach workers are engaged in the retail and wholesale trade. Rinkhaven Mall, located about 10km inland from the resort area and west of the Ocean Naval Airport, is one of the largest shopping malls in southern Virginia. In addition, the retail business in Virginia Beach has developed particularly in the Resort Area and around the Virginia Beach Town Center.

VB Wave Trolley

The Norfolk International Airport (IATA: ORF). The airport is manned by the four major airlines (Delta Air, American Airlines, United Airlines, Inc.), US Airways and Southwest Airlines, both of which have direct flights to 21 cities and 25 airports. From the Virginia Beach Town Center to the airport, it is approximately 9 km in a straight line to the northwest, and from the resort area it is approximately 23km in a northwest direction.

Virginia Beach and central Norfolk are connected by a highway. This expressway is designated as I-264, one of the branches of the interstate expressway I-64, and it crosses the beach area to the south of the town center and the I-64 Main Line, which is located on the east and south sides of the Hampton Rose Loop Line in the eastern part of Norfolk City. I-64 is a highway that connects the Hampton Rose Metropolitan Area, Richmond, and the eastern foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and traverses Virginia east and west. Newport News and Hampton on the other side of Hampton Rose are connected by a bridge and a submarine tunnel from Norfolk. Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, about 28.3km long, is running through the Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel, which connects Virginia Beach and the Delmarba peninsula.

The Greyhound bus terminal is located about 1.5km inland from the resort area along Virginia Beach Boulevard, where medium-distance buses bound for Richmond via Norfolk arrive and depart. Today's bus also runs a bus that connects Virginia Beach and New York, and arrives at and departs from a bus terminal along the New Town Road, near the city's border with Norfolk. The station of Amtrak is located in Newport News, and local trains arrive at and depart from the north-east corridor towards Richmond Washington, D.C., Baltimore Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. From Newport News Station, Amtrack Bus runs on Virginia Beach via Norfolk.

Public transport in Virginia Beach is covered by the bus network operated by Hampton Rose Transit Authority (HRT), which straddles the seven cities in the Hampton Rose Metropolitan Area, mainly around Norfolk. In the resort area, HRT operates four hybrid shuttle buses called VB Wave only in summer.

Regent University

Two four-year universities have a campus in Virginia Beach. Founded in 1978, Regent University is a medium-sized private university with 58 major programs and 5,500 students including undergraduate and graduate students. The school was founded as a graduate university, but in 2000 it established a faculty. The school has a 70-acre campus (about 283,000m²) with Georgian school buildings lined up on the western part of the city, along the I-64, and on the Atlantic coast, on about 26km inland. Virginia Wesleyan University is a Methodist Liberal Arts College founded in 1961. The school has about 1,400 students, and it has a campus of 300 acres (about 1,200,000m²) covering the two cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk near the Norfolk International Airport at about 7 km north of Regent University (however, the school's address is Norfolk).

In addition, the University of Virginia has a satellite campus near the Virginia Beach Town Center, and the Virginia Tech University has a lifelong learning course near the Norfolk International Airport. Only the school library media course is open on the Virginia Beach Campus of the University of Virginia. On the other hand, the Hampton Rose Center, Virginia Tech University, offers courses including engineering, information technology, and technical education. The Old Dominion University also established the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center in the Princess An area, under a partnership with Norfolk State University and the local Tydewater Community College, and has some of the major courses in faculties and graduate schools.

The K-12 program at Virginia Beach is supported by public schools under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Beach Municipal School District. The school district is the largest school district in the Hampton Rose area and has 56 elementary schools, 14 middle schools and 11 high schools, and has about 69,000 children and students. In addition, there are several private schools in Virginia Beach, including Catholics and Christian Friendship Society.

cultural facilities and famous places

Virginia Aquarium & Oceanographic Center

Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center is located to the south of the resort area. The museum has the main aquarium Bay and Ocean Museum, which reproduces the waters from rivers of Virginia to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean via Chesapeake Bay and raises and exhibits aquatic animals living in each environment, as well as a wetland museum, a nature trail, an outdoor bird observation garden and IMAX Theater, which breeds and exhibits Canadian otters, Japanese ottossi, and various snakes living in wetlands. You can also touch some of the animals raised in the museum.

The Sandler Acting Art Center, located in the Virginia Beach Town Center, offers a variety of acting arts, including concerts of classical and other genres, and the airing of movies. The hall was built in Virginia Beach up until 2001 to replace the old facilities that were cramped and largely outdated, and opened in November 2007. Also, concerts such as pop, rock, hip hop, and country are mainly performed at the Virginia Beach Outdoor Theater, which is a weather-type outdoor concert hall having 20,000 seats. The concert hall was built in 1996, sponsored by GTE, which would later be under the umbrella of Verizon Communications, at a total of $17.75 million ($10.75 million of the city's share).

Two Cape Henry light houses stand side by side. The old light house, which was built in 1792 on the right, is designated as a National Register of Historic Places. On the left side is a new light house built in 1881 and operates as an important light house located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia Beach, an important place in the history of settlement in the United States, has many historic landmarks, and 22 places have been designated as national historical assets. One of them, the house of Adam Saragod, is thought to have been built by the descendants of Saragod around 1680, and after being restored in 1957, it is open to the public as a museum. Located close to the Cape Henry Memorial, Cape Henry Light house is one of the oldest existing light houses in the United States, built in 1792. After operating this light house for nearly 100 years, a new light house was built near the house, and the new light house was used as a light house, but the old light house remained. The old light house was restored in 1930 and opened to the public.

Parks and recreation

There are 265 parks in Virginia Beach, covering a total area of over 4,000 acres (about 1,618ha). Additionally, the total extension of the walkway and the bicycle road exceeds 100 miles (about 161km).

Three miles (about 4.8km) along the coast of the resort area is the Boardwalk, a trail representing Virginia Beach, which connects hotels, restaurants, various shops and tourist attractions. When it was first built in 1888, it was only five blocks long, and as its name suggests, it was a wooden board, but with the extension and improvement work of more than 100 million dollars, it was paved with concrete, spread to 28 feet (about 8.5m) in width, and a bicycle path was provided in parallel. A bronze statue of the sea god Neptune, 34 feet high (about 10.4m) and 12.5t in weight, stands against the Atlantic Ocean behind the T-junction with 31st Street along the Boardwalk.

Mount Trushmore Park

Located in the southeast of the Virginia Beach Town Center, Mt. Trushmore Park is a park that was originally a landfill for the city. The park has 165 acres (about 67ha) of artificial lakes, children's parks, and walking paths around an artificial hill called Mount Trashmore, which is 60 feet high (about 18.3m), 800 feet long (about 243.8m) and is made of earth layers that are not contaminated by layers of hardened garbage. The park has a sister park relationship with Haginodai Park in Miyazaki City, a sister city of Virginia Beach.

A number of small islands in the narrow sandy spit and the back bay, located in the south of Sand Bridge, between the Atlantic Ocean and the back bay, have been designated the National Wildlife Reserve of Back Bay for 9,250 acres (about 3,743ha). The protected area is rich in variety with its beaches, sand dunes, forests, agricultural lands, and wetlands. There are also species of red sea turtles, American national swans, as well as species such as the Great Flutes and the Falcon. Also, around December every year, more than 10,000 black guns and various ducks come to the sanctuary.

sport

Professional sports teams in the Hampton Rose metropolitan area are mostly based in Norfolk, the center of the metropolitan area. There are no four major professional sports teams in Norfolk, and only the Minor League teams, such as the Norfolk Titans of baseball and the Norfolk Admirals of ice hockey, are set up.

The boxing match of the world boxing champion Parnell Whitaker is held at the Pavilion Convention Center and other places.

The Rock and Roll Marathon Series (full marathon and half marathon), which is being held in the United States, was held, and on September 4, 2005, Naoko TAKAHASHI took part in the half marathon and came in fourth place.

Virginia Beach Sports Plex

About five kilometers northwest of the Princess Ann area, near the campus of the Virginia Beach Outdoor Theater and the Tydewater Community College, is the Virginia Beach Sports Plex. The facility is a multi-sport facility with a lawn for events such as stadiums, the National Field Hockey Training Center, a bicycle stadium, a volleyball court and barbecue.

Virginia Beach is a popular location for surfing and beach sports. Virginia Beach holds the East Coast Surfing Championship every summer. Many of the successive champions of the tournament, which have been held since 1961, later became world champions. On the sand, the North American Sand Soccer Championship, which started in 1992, and the Beach Valley, which is hosted by the local Thai Water Volleyball Association, will be held.

Virginia Beach, a wide area and originally a resort, has many golf courses. The Virginia Beach has 11 public and municipal golf links, four private golf clubs, and 36 holes of the Ocean Navy Airport. The YMCA also has nine-hole courses.

Events

The Neptune Festival is the largest event in Virginia Beach. More than 35 events are held during the event, including sports, art and a parade, and the largest of these events, the Boardwalk Weekend, will attract more than 500,000 people. At the event, "The King" and "Triton," both of which represent the city and the men's face, are selected from among the male citizens, and "Princess" is selected from among the 11th-year students attending high school in the city. An air show at the Ocean Naval Airport is also held at the same time, where 300,000-350,000 visitors visit.

For urban area population, see Norfolk, VA.

Below is a graph of the population changes from 1900 to 2010 in Virginia Beach City.

The Taiko-hashi Bridge over the Miyazaki Japanese Garden, which is named after the sister city of Miyazaki City.

In 2017, it was chosen as the site of the annual meeting of the National Association of International Sister Cities. Events such as the U.S.-Russia Summit and Youth Leadership are held, and many mayors, extraordinary ambassador plenipotentiary, young men's leaders, government agencies and business leaders from across the country and around the world gather. For the first time, Makoto OYAMADA, an actor and producer, became the first Japanese member of the board of directors at the meeting.

Virginia Beach has a sister-city relationship with the following three cities.

• Banger (United Kingdom, Northern Ireland)
• Miyazaki City (Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan)
• MOS (Norway)

• Boombarb: A new word for a large suburban city that has been growing up in the United States. Although Virginia Beach is not defined as "Boomerang", it is similar to the city.

• City of Virginia Beach - Official City Site
• Visit Virginia Beach VA
• Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance
• First Landing State Park
• Alan B. Sheppard Civic Center (Virginia Beach Convention Center).
• Official Ice Sculpture
• Virginia Beach.com
• Virginia Beach, Virginia - City-Data.com