Hampton (United States)

Hampton city (1990 pop. 133,793), independent and in no county, SE Va., a port of Hampton Roads at the mouth of the James River, connected to Norfolk by bridge and tunnel; settled 1610 by colonists from Jamestown, inc. 1849. It has a large seafood packing and shipping industry (fish, crabs, and oysters), as well as manufacturing (computers, electronic and transportation equipment, machinery, chemicals, and wood products). Nearby military installations include Langley Air Force Base (est. 1917) and adjacent NASA Langley Research Center, as well as historic Fort Monroe (built 1819-34 to command the entrance to Chesapeake Bay).

One of the oldest continuous English settlements in the country, Hampton was founded on the site of the Native American village Kecoughtan. It was attacked by pirates in the late 17th cent. ( Blackbeard was captured off the coast), shelled in the Revolutionary War, sacked by the British in 1813, and nearly burned to the ground by evacuating Confederates in 1861 to prevent its possession by Union troops. It is the seat of Hampton Univ. Of interest are St. John's Episcopal Church (1728; original church est. 1610) and a nearby reproduction of a Native American village.

Hampton Seaport in se Virginia, USA, on the James River. First settled in 1610, it is reputedly the oldest continuous English settlement in the USA. Industries: defence, tourism, seafood packing, fertilizers. Pop. (2000) 146,437.

Hampton, Canada, USA 1. USA (New Hampshire): named after Hampton Court, the Tudor palace in Richmond upon Thames, England.2. USA (Virginia): founded on the site of a Native American village called Kecoughtan in 1609. It only became a town in 1705 when it was named after Henry Wriothesley (1573–1624), 3rd Earl of Southampton, who was an early member of the Virginia Company (from 1609), which arrived at Jamestown in 1607. Hampton Roads, Virginia, is also named after him.