Answer:
Coal is a nonrenewable fossil fuel that takes millions of years to develop and is formed from the remains of ancient organisms. The conditions that would eventually create coal began to develop about 300 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. The first discovery of coal in the United States was by Huguenot settlers on the James River in what is now Richmond, Virginia in 1701. However, coal was used for cooking, heating, and pottery baking by Hopi Indians in North America during the 1300s