Richmond is a city built on seven hills, straddling the Tidewater and Piedmont regions of Virginia. It was named by William Byrd II, who laid out the city at the falls of the James River in 1737; he probably named it after the English borough Richmond upon Thames. In 1780, it became the capital of Virginia, largely through the efforts of Thomas Jefferson. From secession through the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Richmond was capital of the Confederacy. Reminders of this historical legacy can be glimpsed around almost every city corner.

At the start of the Civil War, Richmond was the most industrialized city in the South, and it remains home base to national industries such as Reynolds Metals and tobacco manufacturers. The nerve center of Virginia's business community, it has added high technology to traditional economic bases that include shipping and banking.

Richmond has three universities and numerous professional schools, professional and amateur sports, many public parks, and a lively arts scene. Historians and amateur genealogists will find a wealth of archival information at the Virginia State Library and Archives, the Virginia Historical Society Museum of Virginia History, the Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives, and other museums in this history-minded city.

More recent significant figures from Richmond include the first elected African-American governor, L. Douglas Wilder; the first African-American tennis player to win Wimbledon, Arthur Ashe Jr.; and the first African-American woman bank president, Maggie Walker.