Editing Norfolk, Virginia (section)

===Colonial era===
Norfolk's lands were some of the first to draw settlers from the [[Virginia Colony]], although Norfolk would not be incorporated as a town until the 1700s. When the establishment of the [[House of Burgesses]] introduced representative government to the colony in 1619, governor [[George Yeardley|Sir George Yeardley]] divided the developed portion the colony into four incorporated jurisdictions, termed ''citties.'' The land on which Norfolk now sits fell under [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]] incorporation.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In 1634 [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] reorganized the colony into a system of [[shires of Virginia|shires]], and [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]] became [[Elizabeth City Shire]]. Elizabeth City Shire (now the city of Hampton) included all land that today comprises the cities of Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk.  After persuading 105 people to settle in the colony, [[Adam Thoroughgood]] (who had immigrated to Virginia in 1622 from [[King's Lynn]], [[Norfolk]], [[England]]) was granted a large land holding, through the head rights system, along the [[Lynnhaven River]] in 1636.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

When the [[South Hampton Roads]] portion of the shire was separated, Thoroughgood suggested the name of his birthplace for the newly formed [[New Norfolk County, Virginia|New Norfolk County]]. One year later, it was divided into two counties, [[Upper Norfolk County|Upper Norfolk]] and [[Lower Norfolk County, Virginia|Lower Norfolk]] (the latter now incorporated into the City of Norfolk), chiefly on Thoroughgood's recommendation.<ref name="Norfolk History Chapter 4">{{cite web |url=http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/04.html |title=The Origins of Norfolk's Name |access-date=October 9, 2007 |publisher=Norfolk Historical Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910230143/http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/04.html |archive-date=September 10, 2007}}</ref> This area of Virginia became known as the place of entrepreneurs, including men of the [[London Company|Virginia Company of London]].<ref>{{Citation |title=The Virginia Company of London and England's Second Colonial Venture |work=Empire, Religion and Revolution in Early Virginia, 1607-1786 |date=2013 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137327925.0008 |access-date=2025-03-06 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |doi=10.1057/9781137327925.0008 |isbn=978-1-137-32792-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Virginia Company of London |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-company-of-london/}}</ref>

Norfolk developed in the late-seventeenth century as a "Half Moone" fort was constructed and {{cvt|50|acre|m2}} were acquired from local natives of the [[Powhatan Confederacy]] in exchange for 10,000 pounds of tobacco. The House of Burgesses established the "Towne of Lower Norfolk County" in 1680.<ref name="Norfolk History Chapter 6">{{cite web |url=http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/06.html |title=The "Half Moone" Fort |access-date=February 19, 2008 |publisher=Norfolk Historical Society |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509183336/http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/06.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Norfolk History Chapter 7">{{cite web |url=http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/07.html |title=The Birth of "Norfolk Towne" |access-date=February 19, 2008 |publisher=Norfolk Historical Society |archive-date=February 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208131526/http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/07.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form [[Norfolk County, Virginia|Norfolk County]] (included in present-day cities of Norfolk, [[Chesapeake, Virginia|Chesapeake]], and parts of [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]]) and [[Princess Anne County]] (present-day [[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]]).{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Norfolk was incorporated in 1705. In 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. According to the [[Tobacco Inspection Act]], the inspection was ''"At Norfolk Town, upon the fort land, in the County of Norfolk; and [[Kempsville, Virginia|Kemp's Landing]], in Princess Anne, under one inspection."'' In 1736 [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] granted it a royal charter as a borough.<ref name="Norfolk History Chapter 9">{{cite web |url=http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/09.html |title=Norfolk Becomes a Borough |access-date=October 9, 2007 |publisher=Norfolk Historical Society |archive-date=March 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313153644/http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/09.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

[[File:Cannonball lodged in church wall.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A cannonball lodged in the wall of [[Saint Paul's Episcopal Church (Norfolk, Virginia)|St. Paul's Episcopal Church]], fired by [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|Lord Dunmore]]'s fleet during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]]]

Mercantile ties with the [[British Empire]] bolstered Norfolk's base of [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] support during the early part of the [[American Revolution]] but were insufficient to allow the Royal Governor of Virginia [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore]] to make Norfolk his new capital after fleeing Williamsburg in 1775. On New Year's Day, 1776, Lord Dunmore's fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for more than eight hours. The gunfire, combined with fires started by the British and spread by the Patriots, destroyed more than 800 buildings, constituting nearly two-thirds of the city. Patriot forces destroyed the remaining buildings for strategic reasons the following month. Ultimately, [[William Woodford|Colonel Woodford]] drove Dunmore into exile, ending more than 168 years of British rule in Virginia.<ref name="History from Colonial Williamsburg">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.org/Almanack/resources/dateline/polcron.cfm#seeds |title=Cultural & Political Chronology (1750–1783) |access-date=September 30, 2007 |publisher=Colonial Williamsburg}}</ref><ref>Guy, Louis L. jr.[http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/insights/2001_spring/nightmare.html "Norfolk's Worst Nightmare"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629224630/http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/insights/2001_spring/nightmare.html|date=June 29, 2018 }}, Norfolk Historical Society ''Courier'' (Spring 2001), accessed January 3, 2008</ref> Only the walls of [[Saint Paul's Episcopal Church (Norfolk, Virginia)|Saint Paul's Episcopal Church]] survived the bombardment and subsequent fires. A cannonball from the bombardment (fired by the ''[[HMS Liverpool (1758)|Liverpool]]'') remains within the wall of Saint Paul's.<ref name="HMS Otter">{{cite web |url=http://www.virginiastatenavy.com/HMS_OTTER.html |title=HMS Otter |access-date=September 30, 2007 |publisher=Virginia State Navy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513154403/http://www.virginiastatenavy.com/HMS_OTTER.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>