North Carolina Summary

With more than 8 million people, North Carolina is the nation’s 11th most populous state and is the largest producer of tobacco, textiles, and wooden furniture. The state’s most compelling attraction is its still largely undeveloped natural beauty, particularly its mountain ranges, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, parks, and scenic coastline. Its historic houses, battlefields, and gardens are also major draws.

The Atlantic coastal plain dominates the state’s east, while the hilly center is known as the piedmont. This region contains most of the population, as well as manufacturing industries, the famous Research Triangle, and the popular sandhills area. In the western part of the state are the southern Appalachians, featuring some of the most spectacular scenery in the southeast, especially in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The first European in North Carolina was Giovanni da Verrazano, who in 1524 explored the Cape Fear area for France. The first English colony in the United States was established on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, but it completely disappeared between 1587 and 1590. Migrants from Virginia settled on the coast of Albemarle Sound around 1650. North Carolina became the 12th US state in 1789 with Raleigh as the capital.

Before the Civil War (1861-65), North Carolina tried to preserve the Union but, once it had joined the Confederacy, it dedicated itself to the cause, losing about 40,000 soldiers. The post-war economy recovered, with cotton and tobacco leading the way, although discrimination prevented African- Americans from capitalizing on their liberation and joining in the prosperity.

Two historic events associated with North Carolina are the Wright brothers’ first airplane flight in 1903, and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement at Greensboro in 1960.