History

"The accounts which ... voyagers gave of their adventures and observations in America produced a great effect in England.  It soon came to be generally understood that a wonderful country and a wonderful people had been discovered.  It was said that a fragrant and delicious smell had breathed out upon the vessels long before they had reached the American shore.  Then the woods were full of game.  It appeared, moreover, that every bush was loaded down with grapes, like a London porter.  A savage could fill his canoe with fish in an hour in the sound.  The natives were hospitable and inoffensive.  Pearls had been seen in some places; and the sachems wore jewels in their ears and noses, nobody knew of what value.  "What an amazing country!" was the word now among all classes.

Queen Elizabeth was greatly pleased with this addition to her dominions.  The new country was called Virginia by her direction -- a name long applied to every part of this continent claimed by the English nation."

Source:  The Early History of the Southern States: Virginia, North and South Carolina by Lambert Lilly

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