Social formation of colonial Virginia (1607-1680s)

In this article the author marks the main stages of the formation of colonial Virginia society. Its social evolution was a painful development. The traditional English social hierarchy, which the leaders of the Virginia Company tried to replicate, failed as Virginia's demography remained in a deplorable state for decades. Only in the 1680s the white society of Virginia consolidated. Characteristic features of colonial Virginia were plantation slavery, rule of gentry, tobacco as the major staple in the economy and racial solidarity of the white population. The native inhabitants of Virginia had been driven away to the West from their lands and did not make any part of its society.