Bordered by Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, West Virginia is located in the Appalachian Mountains, being nicknamed The Mountain State and having the motto Montani Semper Liberi (Mountaineers are always free). The capital and largest city is Charleston, founded at the end of the 18th century. Natural resources, such as salt, coal and later natural gas contributed to the growth of the city. West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions, in which 50 northwestern counties of Virginia whose landowners owned few to no slaves decided to break away from Virginia during the American Civil War, being the only one which was formed by seceding from a Confederate state. The new state was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state.
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