Chesapeake is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 222,209; in 2013, the population was estimated to be 232,977, 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 Norfolk with the remnants of the former Norfolk County, which dated to 1691. Chesapeake is the second-largest city by land area in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the 17th-largest in the United States.Chesapeake is a diverse city in which a few urban areas are located; it also has many square miles of protected farmland, forests, and wetlands, including a substantial portion of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.