The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Richmond, Virginia, United States
Pre-European Era
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Great Indian Warpath had a branch that led from present-day Lynchburg to present-day Richmond. By 1607, Chief Powhatan had inherited about 4–6 tribes from his mother, with its base at the Fall Line near present-day Richmond and with political domain over much of eastern Tidewater Virginia, an area known to the Powhatan as "Tsenacommacah."
17th century 1600s-1610s 1607 (May) – Capt. Christopher Newport leads a party of Englishmen on an exploration and they first visit "Pawatah", one of the capitals of the Powhatan Confederacy, at Shockoe hill overlooking the falls. 1608 (September) – Newport returns to the falls with 120 soldiers, to explore the Monacan country upriver.Helen Rountree, Pocahontas's People 1990 p. 48. 1609 (September) – Captain John Smith, now President of Virginia Colony, sends another force of 120 men under Francis West to settle "West's Fort" in what is now the Rockett's neighborhood; Smith then purchases the Powhatan village from the chief Parahunt and renames it "Nonsuch", however, the native inhabitants resist the settlers, forcing them to return to Jamestown. 1610–1614 – First Anglo-Powhatan War resulting in a seven-year "Peace of Pocahontas" between the English and the Powhatan confederacy. 1610 (Fall) – Lord De La Warr, brother of Francis West and now colony governor, makes another attempt to establish a fort at the falls, but it too is abandoned in early 1611. He ultimately established West and Sherley Hundred in 1613. 1611 – The English establish Henricus a few miles downstream and make no further attempt to occupy the falls of the James for the time being. 1612 – Sir Thomas Dale and 350 others move to the upper James with intent on developing a settlement outside Jamestown. 1613 – Sir Thomas Dale establishes Charles City Point at the confluence of the Appomattox and James rivers and remarks how this area (Bermuda Hundred) resembles the newly settled Virginia colony of Bermuda. 1614 – On April 5, John Rolfe marries Pocahontas and they move to Varina Farms (across the James River from Henricus). For the next two years, they develop Nicotiana tabacum tobacco as a viable cash crop. Their son Thomas Rolfe is born here in 1615. 1617 – Rector and charter colonist of Henricus Alexander Whitaker drowns in the James River. 1619 Falling Creek Ironworks is built at confluence of Falling Creek with the James River. Thomas Dowse and John Polentine represent Henrico Cittie in the first meeting of the House of Burgesses at Jamestown After 38 settlers arrive safely at Berkeley Hundred, Thanksgiving is celebrated Berkeley Plantation on December 4. Samuel Jordan settles at Jordan's Journey (Jordan Point).
1620s-1640s March 1622 – Henricus abandoned after Indian massacre of 1622 From 1622 to 1632 the Second Anglo-Powhatan War made living away from Jamestown treacherous for colonial settlers. Attempts to continue settlement at Henricus continued, but only 22 inhabitants and 10 "dwelling houses" were there in May 1625. 1634 – The Virginia shire system is established, with most of Central Virginia included in Henrico Shire. with the county seat at Varina 1635 – Captain Thomas Harris plants a tobacco farm at Curles Neck 1636 – Fur trader Captain Henry Fleet drove the Appomattoc away from the falls of the Appomattox River, built a fort, and thereby opened that area for settlement. 1637 – William Farrar finally receives patent for the 2,000-acre tract around Henricus that he had abandoned in 1622. This ownership bestowed the family name to Farrar's Island. 1644–1645 – Third Anglo-Powhatan War 1645 – To secure the border between the English and the Native Americans, the English built Fort Charles built at falls of the James and Fort Henry (commanded by Abraham Wood) at the falls of the Appomattox River. 1646 Opchanacanough dies, and leaves Necotowance as the Weroance (chief) of the Pamunkey tribe. Peace Treaty of 1646 ends Anglo-Powhatan War by giving English control of territory as far west as Mowhemencho (now Bernard's Creek on the James in Powhatan County, Virginia), as well as granted an exclusive enclave between the York and Blackwater Rivers. This physically separated the Nansemonds, Weyanokes and Appomattox, who retreated southward, from the other Powhatan tribes then occupying the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, and effectively ends the Powhatan Confederacy 1647 – Location of Fort Charles moved across the James River to "Manastoh", now Southside Richmond. 1649 – Necotowance dies, leaving Totopotomoi as the chief of the Pamunkeys.
1650s-1670s 1654 – New Kent County was created from York County. The county's name originated because several prominent inhabitants, including William Claiborne, recently had been forced from their settlement at Kent Island, Maryland by Lord Baltimore upon the formation of Maryland. 1656 Battle of Bloody Run -- Mahocks, Nahyssans and Rehecrechians, recently defeated by the Five Nations in the Beaver Wars, camp at what is now called Church Hill. They combat a combined force of English and Pamunkey, and the spring runs red with blood, including that of dead Pamunkey chief Totopotomoi. Cockacoeske becomes chief of the Pamunkeys. Theodorick Bland of Westover acquires the previously abandoned Jordan's Journey (Jordan Point) tract. 1658—The first Indian reservation in the New World, the Pamunkey Indian Reservation, is established east of present-day Richmond.http://www.jessicacrabtree.com/journal1/2010/09/first-indian-reservation "Pamunkey-Mattaponi Reservation (Virginia, 1658) The first colonial record of an Indian reservation comes from the Virginia colony, where in 1658 – a hundred years before New Jersey's Lenape reservation was formed – the Virginia General Assembly voted on a land reserve for the Pamunkey and Mattaponi tribes." 1660 -- Theodorick Bland of Westover marries Anne Bennett, the daughter of the former Puritan governor Richard Bennett. (Bennett had been appointed colonial governor under Oliver Cromwell April 30, 1652, to March 31, 1655.) 1663 – Henry Randolph I builds Swift Creek Mill (widely believed to be one of the first grist mills in the United States. ) 1670s – between May and July, John Lederer leads an expedition from Fort Charles (now Richmond) exploring the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Catawba River near what is now CharlotteCunz, Dieter (1942), "John Lederer: Significance and Evaluation", William and Mary Quarterly, accessed April 3, 2010 He returns in July to Fort Henry (now Petersburg). 1670s – Nathaniel Bacon arrives from England and purchases land in the frontier of Virginia: at Curles Neck Plantationhttps://books.google.com/books?id=aqI1CQAAQBAJ&dq=Bacons+rebellion+in+Richmond&pg=PT23 "he purchased a plantation at Curles Neck, on the James, forty Mules above Jamestown, and a tract of land at the site of Richmond, on what was then the frontier." 1673 – William Byrd I is granted lands at the falls and establishes a trading post and small settlement. 1675 – Wood's son-in-law, Peter Jones commands Fort Henry and opens a trading post nearby, known as Peter's Point. (~75 years later, Peter's Point would be merged with nearby Blandford and incorporated as Petersburg, Virginia) 1676 The Pamunkeys (led by Cockacoeske) and other tribes assist Nathaniel Bacon in his rebellion. After Bacon's Rebellion occurs at Jamestown, William Randolph (a recent arrival from England) purchases Bacon's land and other land holdings along the James River in Henrico. 1677 – Charles II of England signs the Treaty of 1677, making peace with Virginia Indians, including such Richmond-area tribes as the Monicans (west of the falls) and the Appomattoc (near modern-day Tricities, Virginia).
1680s-1690s 1685 – Cleric James Blair arrives from London to become the rector of Henrico Parish in Varina. 1688 – Protestants King William and Queen Mary II of England depose Catholic James II of England in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution and institute the Toleration Act 1688. It is not immediately clear whether this act applies in the colonies, and Virginia remains largely Anglican (free of English Dissenters)."At the beginning of the eighteenth century, dissenting congregations were rare in Virginia, and the long-established Anglican Church remained comfortably dominant." 1689 -- Reverend Dr. James Blair, becomes became commissary (making him the Anglican bishop's representative in America and the Virginia colony's top religious leader). 1691 – King and Queen County is created from New Kent County 1693 – Blair obtains a royal charter/Letters patent for The College of William and Mary in Virginia, and departs Varina to Middle Plantation (soon to be Williamsburg) to become president for the next 50 years. 1699 – The Monacan abandon their town Mowhemencho, moving to North Carolina to escape Iroquois pressure. 1700 – King William III orders Virginia Governor Francis Nicholson to make land grants for settling French Huguenot refugees in the recently abandoned Monacan regions (in part to be a buffer between the Indians and English). Between November 1700 and August 1701, five shiploads of French Protestants arrive in Virginia and Mannakin Town is built, now Manakin-Sabot) to include a Non-Anglican church.
18th century 1700s-1740s 1702 King William County is created out of King and Queen County First burial in Blandford Cemetery. 1703 – Prince George County was formed from a portion of Charles City County south of the James River. It was named in honor of Prince George of Denmark, husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. (Anne reigned over Great Britain starting in 1702) 1704 William Byrd II inherits his father's estates 1710 William Randolph's 2nd son Thomas begins building Tuckahoe Plantation near Manakin Town. 1719 – Hanover County was created on November 26, 1719, from the area of New Kent County called St. Paul's Parish. 1728 Goochland County (named after the new royal lieutenant governor Sir William Gooch is formed; this is the first county formed from Henrico Shire. Caroline County was established from Essex, King and Queen, and King William counties. 1730 - the Tobacco Inspection Act of 1730 establishes a tobacco inspection at Warwick and at "Shockoe's upon Col. Byrd's land" by this year, Three Notch'd Road is widely used to connect the Richmond area to the Shenandoah Valley Henry Cary builds Ampthill at Falling Creek 1733 – Richmond named by William Byrd II, after Richmond upon Thames, England. 1735 Amelia County was created from parts of Prince George and Brunswick counties. It was named in honor of Princess Amelia of Great Britain. Blandford Church build next to Blandford Cemetery 1737 – Street grid laid out. After George Whitefield's 1739–1740 tour (particularly his 1739 sermon at Williamsburg), the First Great Awakening takes hold in Virginia. 1741 St. John's Episcopal Church built. William Randolph II dies, and his son Beverley inherits the Westham Plantation. 1742 – Town of Richmond incorporated. Louisa County was established in 1742 from Hanover County 1744 William Byrd II dies. Byrd III goes to London to study law and will not return until 1748 Virginia General Assembly creates Albemarle County from the western portion of Goochland County. Peter Jefferson moves his family (including two-year-old Thomas Jefferson) from his Shadwell estate (in Albemarle County) to Tuckahoe Plantation in Goochland County to become guardian of dying William Randolph III's four children.