Chesapeake is an independent city located in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 222,209, in 2013, the population was estimated to be 232,977,[4] making it the third-most populous city in Virginia.

Chesapeake is included in the Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, VA–NC MSA. One of the cities in the South Hampton Roads, Chesapeake was organized in 1963 by voter referendums approving the political consolidation of the city of South Norfolkwith the remnants of the former Norfolk County, which dated to 1691. (Much of the territory of the county had been annexed by other cities.) Chesapeake is the second-largest city by land area in the Commonwealth of Virginia.