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Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water and a metropolitan region in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, United States. Comprising the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC metropolitan area and an extended Combined Statistical Area that includes the Elizabeth City, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area and Kill Devil Hills, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, Hampton Roads is known for its large military presence, ice-free harbor, shipyards, coal piers, and miles of waterfront property and beaches, all of which contribute to the diversity and stability of the region's economy. The body of water known as Hampton Roads is one of the world's largest natural harbors (more accurately a roadstead or "roads"). It incorporates the mouths of the Elizabeth River, Nansemond River, and James River with several smaller rivers and empties into the Chesapeake Bay near its mouth leading to the Atlantic Ocean.〔U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed April 1, 2011〕〔http://www.norfolkdevelopment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137&Itemid=69〕 The land area (also known as "Tidewater"〔) includes a collection of cities, counties and towns on the Virginia Peninsula and in South Hampton Roads. Some of the outlying areas further from the harbor may or may not be included as part of "Hampton Roads", depending upon the organization or usage. For example, as defined for federal economic purposes, the Hampton Roads metropolitan statistical area (MSA) includes two counties in northeastern North Carolina and two counties in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA has a population of over 1.7 million, making it the 37th-largest metropolitan area in the United States.〔http://www.civiceconomics.com/html/rank_order.html〕〔http://www.norfolkdevelopment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169:business-data&catid=60:business-data&Itemid=62〕 The Combined Statistical Area includes four additional counties in North Carolina, pushing the regional population to over 1.8 million residents, the 32nd largest CSA in the country. The area is steeped in 400 years of American history, with hundreds of historical sites and attractions that draw visitors from around the world each year. The harbor was the key to Hampton Roads' growth, both on land and in water-related activities and events. While the harbor and its tributaries were (and still are) important transportation conduits, at the same time they presented obstacles to land-based commerce and travel. Creating and maintaining adequate infrastructure has long been a major challenge. The Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel (HRBT) and the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel (MMMBT) are major harbor crossings of the Hampton Roads Beltway interstate, which links the large population centers of Hampton Roads. In 2007, the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority (HRTA) was formed under a controversial state law to levy various additional taxes, fees, and tolls to generate funding for major regional transportation projects, including a long-sought but costly third crossing of the harbor of Hampton Roads. ==Etymology== The term "Hampton Roads" is a centuries-old designation that originated when the region was a struggling English outpost nearly four hundred years ago. The origin of the two words is noteworthy. The word Hampton honors one of the founders of the Virginia Company of London and a great supporter of the colonization of Virginia, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. The early administrative center of the new colony was known as Elizabeth Cittie, named for Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I, and formally designated by the Virginia Company in 1619. The town at the center of Elizabeth Cittie became known as Hampton, and a nearby waterway was designated Hampton Creek (also known as Hampton River). Other references to the Earl include the area to the north across the bay (in what is now the Eastern Shore) which became known as Northampton, and an area south of the James River which became Southampton. As with Hampton, both of these names remain in use today. The term Roads (short for roadstead) indicates the safety of a port; as applied to a body of water, it is "a partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor".〔(Dictionary. com )〕 Examples of other roadsteads are Castle Roads, in another of the Virginia Company's settlements, Bermuda, and Lahaina Roads, in Hawaii. In 1755, the Virginia General Assembly recorded the name "Hampton Roads" as the channel linking the James, Elizabeth, and Nansemond rivers with the Chesapeake Bay.〔(What's in a name? Hampton Roads | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com )〕 Though it may be a misnomer, Hampton Roads has become known as the world's largest natural harbor, in part because it is the northernmost major East Coast port of the United States which is ice-free year round. (This status is claimed with the notable exception of the extraordinarily cold winter of 1917, which was the entire U.S.'s coldest year on record.) Over time, the entire region has come to be known as "Hampton Roads", a label more specific than its other moniker, "Tidewater Virginia", which could, by implication, include other areas of tidal land in eastern Virginia. The U.S. Postal Service changed the area's postmark from "Tidewater Virginia" to "Hampton Roads, Virginia" beginning in 1983.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hampton Roads」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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