Southside (Virginia)

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Southside, or Southside Virginia, has traditionally referred to the portion of the state south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name. This was the first area to be developed in the colonial period.^[1]

During the colonial era, Southside was considered the area where entrepreneurs settled, as opposed to some of the more established and wealthier families in the Tidewater counties. Many early Southside settlers were younger sons of established Tidewater families. A major portion of the territory was formed in 1703, when Prince George County, Virginia was organized from Charles City County. Four other counties and three independent cities were formed from this territory, the counties in the 18th century and some of the independent cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the 21st century, however, some people use a more limited definition of the region that is confined to the Piedmont area: those counties lying south of the James River, west of the Fall Line, and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This is the southern portion of Virginia's Piedmont region. This definition describes an area often considered to be the heart of Southside. It also accounts for social and economic changes as the eastern counties developed dense populations, and the Richmond suburbs expanded to occupy large portions of Chesterfield and Powhatan counties.

Southside Virginia is also known as Virginia's Black Belt, as it has long had a high concentration of African-Americans relative to other regions of the state. Southside represents the northeastern extremity of the American Black Belt, a heavily African-American region stretching from Virginia to East Texas.