Virginia's First People Past & Present

WINGAPO (pronounced win-gà-po) – Welcome, my beloved friend

Watch The Virginia Indians: Meet the Tribes and download a Meet the Tribes student activity book (PDF).

European colonists arriving in Virginia may have been greeted with, "Wingapo." Indians have lived in what is now called Virginia for thousands of years. While we are still learning about the people who inhabited this land, it is clear that Virginia history did not begin in 1607. If you ask any Virginia Indian, "When did you come to this land?", he or she will tell you, "We have always been here."

Use the menu to the right to navigate sub-sections of this topic and learn more about the people now called Virginia Indians:

Ice Age Discoveries

Recent archaeological digs in Virginia have provided compelling evidence that humans inhabited Virginia at least 18,000 years ago, well before the Clovis culture and thousands of years before previously thought. See Ice Age Discoveries for information about pre-Clovis culture and to watch streaming videos.

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