New Norfolk County is a long-extinct county which was located in colonial Virginia from 1636 until 1637. It was formed in 1636 from Elizabeth City Shire, one of the eight original

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

s (or counties) formed in 1634 in the colony of Virginia by direction of the King of England. New Norfolk County included all the area in South Hampton Roads now incorporated in the five independent cities located there in modern times. The following year, in 1637, it was divided into

Upper Norfolk County {{Unreferenced, date=April 2014 Upper Norfolk County is an extinct county which was located in colonial Virginia from 1637 until 1646. In 1634, the King of England directed the formation of eight shires (or counties) in the colony of Virginia. One ...

and Lower Norfolk County. Upper Norfolk County became

Nansemond County Nansemond is an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony and in the Commonwealth of Virginia (after statehood) in the United States, from 1646 until 1974. It was known as Nansemond County until 1972. Fr ...

in 1646. The county became the independent city of Nansemond in 1972, and in 1974, merged with the city of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. The new consolidated city assumed the name of Suffolk. In 1691 Lower Norfolk County was in turn divided to form Norfolk County and

Princess Anne County County of Princess Anne is a former county in the British Colony of Virginia and the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, first incorporated in 1691. The county was merged into the city of Virginia Beach on January 1, 1963, ceasing t ...

. In 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of South Norfolk and the rest of Norfolk County and the Virginia General Assembly, were combined and reorganized as a new city, ending the threat of additional annexations. The new name selected by the voters was Chesapeake, and so, the new city of

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, it is the second-most populous independent city in Virginia, tenth-largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 90th ...

was created. Also in 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of Virginia Beach and the rest of Princess Anne County and the Virginia General Assembly, were consolidated as an independent city, assuming the better-known name of Virginia Beach.

External links

*{{cite EB1911 , wstitle=Norfolk (Virginia) , display=Norfolk , volume=19 , page=747 , short=1 Colonial Virginia counties 1636 establishments in Virginia