Welcome to Richmond!

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county (Richmond County is unrelated, and located more than 53 miles away in the northeast region of the state). Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Greater Richmond area. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 in central Virginia. As of 2006, the city's estimated population is 192,913, with a metro area population of approximately 1.2 million.
The site of Richmond, at the fall line of the James River in the Piedmont region of Virginia, was briefly settled by English settlers from Jamestown in 1607, near the site of a significant native settlement. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737. It became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the Revolutionary War period, several notable events occurred in the city, including Patrick Henry's, "Give me liberty or give me death," speech in 1775 at St. John's Church, and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1779; the latter of which was written by Thomas Jefferson in the city. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, and many important civil war landmarks remain in the city today.
Richmond's economy is primarily driven by law, finance, and government with several notable legal and banking firms, as well as federal, state, and local governmental agenices, located in the downtown area. Richmond is one of twelve cities in the United States to be home to a Federal Reserve Bank. There are also nine Fortune 500, and thirteen Fortune 1000 companies, in the city. Richmond is also home to several smaller companies which contribute to its small town, friendly, southern atmosphere, such as Ukrop's Super Market, a regional, family-owned chain of supermarkets.
Residents of the city are commonly referred to as Richmonders, and they may refer to their city in everyday language as, RVA, RIC, (its airport code), Fist City or The 804 (its area code).
Richmond entered the twenty-first century in the process of undergoing several redevelopment initiatives. The city completed a $52 million restoration of the James River and Kanawha Canals, as well as the Haxall Canal, in 1999, which included a Canal Walk, designed to attract businesses such as restaurants and nightclubs to the area. The riverfront project has brought the 1.25-mile corridor back to life, with trendy loft apartments, restaurants, shops and hotels winding along the Canal Walk, along with canal boat cruises and walking tours. Riverfront development continued in April 2003 with the start of construction of Riverside on the James, a 720,000 square foot  residential and office complex near Brown's Island between 10th and 12th Streets downtown. The project, costing $90 million, was completed in July 2005, and is expected to attract even more commercial development to the downtown area.
On September 19, 2003, despite Hurricane Isabel's sustained winds of 40–60 mph the day before, as well as major power outages in the area, the city saw the opening of its first open air shopping center, Stony Point Fashion Park. The 690,000 square foot  center is located off of Stony Point Parkway just south of the James River, and saw the arrival of 45 new stores to the area, including Sak's Fifth Avenue, Galyen's Sporting Goods, and Dillard's. Short Pump Town Center, a similar shopping center, opened later in the fall in the nearby suburb of Short Pump.
The next year, in September 2004, Tropical Storm Gaston swept through the area, bringing with it intense rain, causing severe flooding in the Shockoe Bottom business district, as well as major electrical outages throughout the metropolitan area.