North Carolina
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State flag
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NORTH CAROLINA,
one of the South Atlantic states of the U.S., bordered on
the N by Virginia, on the E by the Atlantic Ocean, on the S by South
Carolina and Georgia, and on the W by Tennessee.
North Carolina entered the Union on Nov. 21, 1789, as
the
12th of the 13 original states. It was principally a farming state
until the 1920s, when such manufactures as textiles, furniture, and
tobacco products began to dominate the economy. Manufacturing and
services (including tourism) remained pivotal to the economy
in the early 1990s, and agriculture and forestry were also important.
Two U.S. presidents, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson, were born
here, and another, Andrew Jackson, was born in the border area between
North and South Carolina. North Carolina, named for Charles I and
Charles II of England, is known as the Tar Heel State and the Old
North State.
| NORTH CAROLINA STATE FACTS |
| DATE OF STATEHOOD: |
November 21, 1789; 12th state |
| CAPITAL: |
Raleigh |
| MOTTO: |
Esse quam videri (To be, rather than to seem) |
| NICKNAMES: |
Tar Heel State; Old North State |
| STATE SONG: |
“The Old North State” (words by William Gaston; music by Mrs. E. E. Randolph) |
| STATE TREE: |
Longleaf pine |
| STATE FLOWER: |
Dogwood |
| STATE BIRD: |
Cardinal |
| POPULATION (2000 census): |
8,049,313; 11th among the states |
| AREA: |
139,397 sq km (53,821 sq mi); 28th largest state;
includes 13,217 sq km (5103 sq mi) of inland water |
| COASTLINE: |
484 km (301 mi) |
| HIGHEST POINT: |
Mt. Mitchell, 2037 m (6684 ft) |
| LOWEST POINT: |
Sea level, at the Atlantic coast |
| ELECTORAL VOTES: |
15 (as of the 2004 presidential election) |
| U.S. CONGRESS: |
2 senators; 13 representatives |
| GOVERNOR: |
Mike Easley (Dem.) Took office January 2001 |
North Carolina has some of the most striking contrasts
in
physical geography of any state in the E half of the U.S. It has
an area of 139,397 sq km (53,821 sq mi), making it the 28th largest
of the U.S. states; 7.1% of its land area is owned by the
federal government. North Carolina is roughly rectangular in shape, and
its extreme dimensions are about 815 km (about 505 mi) from
E to W and about 305 km (about 190 mi) from N to S. Elevations range
from sea level, along the Atlantic Ocean, to 2037 m (6684 ft), atop
Mt. Mitchell in the W part of the state. The approximate mean elevation
is 213 m (700 ft). North Carolina has a coastline of 484 km (301
mi); its tidal shoreline includes 5430 km (3375 mi).
About two-fifths of North Carolina is part of the
Atlantic Coastal
Plain, a region formed mainly by the gradual uplifting of the ancient
seafloor next to the continent. The plain is underlain by soft,
unconsolidated sedimentary beds such as sand and clay. Within about
80 km (about 50 mi) of the coast the surface of the plain is especially
flat. Swamps and marshes are widespread; the Great Dismal Swamp,
which extends into Virginia, is in the NE. Broad, shallow sounds
such as Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound lie between the coast and a
line of offshore sandy islands called the Outer Banks. Other
islands are closer to the shore. On the islands are Cape Hatteras,
Cape Lookout, and Cape Fear. Inland the elevation of the plain rises
gradually to about 90 m (about 300 ft). Sand hills extend along
part of the inner plain boundary.
Bordering the Coastal Plain on the W is a section of the Piedmont
Plateau region, which also covers about two-fifths of North Carolina.
These two regions are separated by the fall line, where rivers descend
over rapids as they flow from the more elevated Piedmont onto the
Coastal Plain. Consolidated rocks underlie the Piedmont. Inland
from the fall line is a narrow band of reddish sandstones and shales,
followed by a broader belt composed mainly of slate and then by
a still broader belt of hard crystalline rocks such as granite and gneiss.
Elevations increase steadily inland from about 90 m (about 300 ft)
to about 460 m (about 1500 ft) at the inner margin of the Piedmont.
The westernmost region of North Carolina, the Blue Ridge,
includes more than 40 peaks rising above 1829 m (above 6000 ft).
The region’s rocks, such as gneiss and quartzite, are very
hard. Mountains are mostly rounded in shape, but steep-sided gorges
also occur. The Great Smoky Mts. are the best-known part of this region.
Several basins are in the Blue Ridge region. The city of Asheville
is in the largest of these basins.
Most of the large rivers of North Carolina flow SE
across
the Piedmont Plateau and the Coastal Plain to the Atlantic. These
include the Roanoke, which rises in Virginia; the Tar; the Neuse; and
the Cape Fear. Some rivers, such as the Catawba and the Yadkin
(Pee Dee), flow into South Carolina before continuing toward the
Atlantic. In the Blue Ridge region most rivers flow toward the W or
N. Some other rivers, such as the French Broad, flow into the Tennessee
R. system beyond North Carolina, and the New R. flows N toward the
Ohio R.
North Carolina’s natural lakes are small. Most, including
the largest, Mattamuskeet, are in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Several
large artificial lakes have been formed by dams on rivers. These
include Lake Gaston, on the Roanoke R.; High Rock Lake and Lake
Tillery, on the Yadkin R.; Lake Norman, on the Catawba R.; and Fontana
Lake, on the Little Tennessee R. A number of picturesque waterfalls
are located in the Blue Ridge region.
Important climatic differences exist within North Carolina.
The Coastal Plain and Piedmont Plateau regions are just within the
N limit of the humid subtropical climate area. In the Blue Ridge
the climate is humid continental. The state’s climates
are affected by distance from the Atlantic and by elevation. As
a result, winters are cold and summers cool in the Blue Ridge and
at other higher elevations. The Piedmont Plateau and Coastal Plain
have mild winters because they are relatively low in elevation,
are close to the Atlantic, and are protected by high mountains from
the cold winter air of the interior of North America. Rainfall in
North Carolina comes at all times of the year, but in greater amounts
in late winter and in summer. Precipitation is higher in the Blue
Ridge than in the other regions. The SW corner of the state has
some of the greatest yearly precipitation totals of the eastern
U.S. Snowfall is at times heavy in the Blue Ridge, but the rest
of the state receives little snow. Northward-moving hurricanes occasionally
strike the coast, particularly between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear.
The recorded temperature in North Carolina has ranged from –36.7° C
(–34° F), in 1985 on Mt. Mitchell in the W, to
43.3° C (110° F), in 1983 at Fayetteville in the
SE.
| NORTH CAROLINA AVERAGE CLIMATE |
| |
Asheville |
Wilmington |
| Average January temperature range |
–2.8° to 8.9° C |
27° to 48° F |
2.2° to 13.9° C |
36° to 57° F |
| Average July temperature range |
17.2° to 28.9° C |
63° to 84° F |
22.2° to 31.7° C |
72° to 89° F |
| Average annual temperature |
13.3° C |
56° F |
17.8° C |
64° F |
| Average annual precipitation |
1143 mm |
45 in |
1372 mm |
54 in |
| Average annual snowfall |
457 mm |
18 in |
51 mm |
2 in |
| Mean number of days per year with appreciable precipitation |
130 |
116 |
| Average daily relative humidity |
75% |
71% |
| Mean number of clear days per year |
102 |
114 |
The Atlantic Coastal Plain has forests of shortleaf,
longleaf, loblolly, and Virginia pine. They are part of the much larger
Southeastern
Pine Forest of the U.S. Hardwood trees such as cypress grow in the
wet areas, including the Great Dismal Swamp. In the Piedmont Plateau
region
the forest is a mixture of pines and hardwoods, mainly varieties
of oak. Lower Blue Ridge slopes are covered with oak, hickory, tulip,
poplar, and other hardwood trees. On somewhat higher slopes these
give way to birch, beech, maple, and hemlock; above about 1770 m
(about 5800 ft) are spruce and balsam-fir forests. The mountain
forests have a rich understory of rhododendron and azalea. Other
flowering plants of North Carolina include camellia, dogwood, and
orchid.
Virginia deer, opossum, raccoon, squirrel, and fox are
widespread
in North Carolina. Black bear still survive in Coastal Plain forests
and are common in parts of the Blue Ridge, especially Great Smoky
Mountains National Park. Ducks, geese, and other waterfowl migrate
along the Atlantic flyway in the coastal section of the state. Common
freshwater fish of North Carolina’s rivers and lakes include
bass, catfish, crappie, perch, shad, and trout. Among the marine
life found in North Carolina’s coastal waters are bluefish,
flounder, herring, mackerel, menhaden, oysters, shrimp, and scallops.
North Carolina has deposits of a variety of minerals. Among
the more important are limestone, phosphate rock, sand and gravel,
clay, granite, feldspar, talc, lithium, mica, olivine, asbestos, and various gemstones.
According to the 2000 census, North Carolina had
8,049,313
inhabitants, an increase of 21.4% over 1990. In 2000 the
average population density was 165.2 people per sq mi of land area.
Whites made up 72.1% of the population and blacks 21.6%;additional
population groups included 99,551 American Indians, 113,689 Asians, and
3983 Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. (These figures
do not include the 1.3% of the population who reported
more than one race.) North Carolina had the largest American Indian
population of any state E of the Mississippi R.; the Cherokee and
Lumbee are the state’s principal Indian groups. In 2000
a total of 378,963 persons in North Carolina reported Hispanic
background.
The state’s largest cities were Charlotte; Raleigh, the
capital; Greensboro; Durham; and Winston-Salem.
According to the 1990 census, Baptists form the state’s
largest religious group (47.1%), followed by Methodists
(12.7%), and Roman Catholics (5.9%). North Carolina
is one of the least urbanized states in the nation; in 1990 about
50% of all North Carolinians lived in areas defined as
urban and the rest lived in rural areas.
| POPULATION OF NORTH CAROLINA SINCE 1790 |
| Year of Census |
Population |
Classified As Urban |
| 1790 |
394,000 |
0% |
| 1820 |
639,000 |
2% |
| 1850 |
869,000 |
2% |
| 1880 |
1,400,000 |
4% |
| 1900 |
1,894,000 |
10% |
| 1920 |
2,559,000 |
19% |
| 1940 |
3,572,000 |
27% |
| 1960 |
4,556,000 |
40% |
| 1980 |
5,882,000 |
48% |
| 1990 |
6,628,637 |
50% |
| 2000 |
8,049,313 |
-- |
| POPULATION OF TEN LARGEST CITIES IN NORTH CAROLINA |
| |
2000 Census |
1990 Census |
| Charlotte |
540,828 |
395,934 |
| Raleigh |
276,093 |
207,951 |
| Greensboro |
223,891 |
183,521 |
| Durham |
187,035 |
136,611 |
| Winston-Salem |
185,776 |
143,485 |
| Fayetteville |
121,015 |
75,695 |
| Cary |
94,536 |
44,394 |
| High Point |
85,839 |
69,496 |
| Wilmington |
75,838 |
55,530 |
| Asheville |
68,889 |
61,607 |
North Carolina has notable educational and cultural
institutions and a number of interesting historical sites. Of special
interest
are the handicrafts, music, and pageantry of the people of the
mountainous
W part of the state.
The first school in North Carolina was set up in the early
18th century, but the first steps toward establishing a public school
system were not taken until 1839. In 1795 the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill became the first state university in the
U.S. to hold classes.
In the late 1980s, North Carolina had 1952 public elementary and secondary schools. About 769,800 elementary pupils and 310,900
secondary students were enrolled in these schools each year. About
55,400 of the state’s schoolchildren attended private schools.
In the same period, North Carolina had 126 institutions of
higher education, which had a combined annual enrollment of about
345,400. Besides the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
with divisions in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and
Wilmington, notable schools included North Carolina State University
at Raleigh (1887); Appalachian State University (1899), at Boone;
East Carolina University (1907), at Greenville; Western Carolina
University (1889), at Cullowhee; Bennett College (1873) and Guilford College
(1837), at Greensboro; Davidson College (1837), at Davidson; Duke
University, at Durham; Lenoir-Rhyne College (1891), at Hickory;
Shaw University (1865), at Raleigh; and Wake Forest University (1834),
at Winston-Salem.
North Carolina has a number of notable cultural
institutions. One
of the leading museums is the North Carolina Museum of Art (1956),
at Raleigh, with a large collection of European and American art.
The University of North Carolina maintains art museums at Chapel
Hill (the Ackland Art Museum; 1958) and at Greensboro (Weatherspoon
Art Gallery; 1942). Exhibits on North Carolina history can be found
in the Greensboro Historical Museum (1924) and in the North Carolina
Museum
of History (1902) at Raleigh. Other museums in the state include
the Country Doctor Museum (1967), at Bailey; the Hickory Ridge
Homestead and the Appalachian Cultural Museum, at Boone; the Nature
Museum
at Charlotte (1947); and the High Point Museum and Historical Park
(1966).
The first public library was founded in the state about 1700.
Today the main research libraries are at Duke University and the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Large public libraries
are in Charlotte and Greenville. The state library is in Raleigh.
The North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, based in Raleigh, has
a national reputation. Other musical institutions include the National
Opera Company, in Raleigh; the Charlotte Opera Association; and
the Transylvania Music Camp (a summer school for musicians), at
Brevard. The American Dance Festival, based in Durham, is a noted
summer festival of modern dance. Historical dramas are presented
outdoors each summer on Roanoke Island, at Boone, and at Cherokee.
The Playmakers Repertory Company is a noted theatrical group that
makes its home in Chapel Hill.
Historical landmarks include Fort Raleigh National
Historic
Site, on Roanoke Island, encompassing the first English settlement
(1585) in North America; Moores Creek National Battlefield, near
Currie, the site in 1776 of an important patriot victory in the
American Revolution; Guilford Courthouse National Military Park,
near Greensboro, where American forces defeated the British in 1781;
and
Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site, near Smithfield,
including
the location of a Union victory in 1865 during the American Civil
War. Also of note are Wright Brothers National Memorial, near Kitty
Hawk, where Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1903 made the first sustained
flight in a heavier-than-air machine; Carl Sandburg Home National
Historic Site, at Flat Rock, including the farm home of the poet and
biographer; and the childhood home of the writer Thomas Wolfe,
in Asheville.
Offshore and freshwater fishing, swimming, hiking, and hunting
are popular outdoor activities in North Carolina, which is also
noted for its many fine golf courses. Major automobile racetracks
are at Charlotte and Rockingham. Great Smoky Mountains National
Park and the Carolina seashore are favorite recreation areas.
North Carolina’s professional sports teams include
the Charlotte Hornets (basketball) and the Carolina Panthers (football),
both in Charlotte, and the Carolina Hurricanes (ice hockey) in Raleigh.
In the early 1990s North Carolina had 226 AM and 148 FM
radio stations and 49 television stations. In the same period it had 53
daily newspapers,
with a total daily circulation of nearly 1.5 million. The first
radiobroadcaster to go on the air in the state was WBT, at Charlotte,
in
1922; the first television stations, WBTV in Charlotte and WFMY
in Greensboro, began operations in 1949. The first newspaper, the North
Carolina Gazette, was initially published in New Bern in
1751. Influential newspapers in the early 1990s included the Charlotte
Observer, the News & Record of
Greensboro, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the News & Observer, issued
in Raleigh.
North Carolina is governed under a constitution adopted in
1970; previous constitutions had been adopted in 1776 and 1868.
Amendments to the constitution may be proposed by the state legislature
or by a constitutional convention. To become effective, an amendment
must be approved by a majority of persons voting on the issue in
an election.
The chief executive of North Carolina is a governor, who is
elected to a 4-year term and may serve a maximum of two terms. The
lieutenant governor, also elected for four years, succeeds the governor
on the latter’s death, removal from office, or incapacity
to serve. Other major state officials, all elected to 4-year terms,
are the attorney general, treasurer, auditor, secretary of state, superintendent
of public instruction, and commissioners of agriculture, labor, and insurance.
North Carolina’s legislature, called the General
Assembly, consists of a 50-member senate and a 120-member house
of representatives. All legislators are elected to 2-year terms. The
lieutenant governor presides over the senate, and the house elects
a speaker as its presiding officer.
The court of last resort in North Carolina is the
supreme
court, made up of a chief justice and six associate justices, all
of whom are popularly elected to 8-year terms. The intermediate
appellate
court of the state is the court of appeals, with 12 judges, and
the major trial court is the superior court, with 77 judges. The
state also has 179 district court judges. The appellate justices and
most superior court judges are popularly elected to 8-year terms, and
district judges are elected to 4-year terms.
North Carolina’s 100 counties are governed by popularly
elected boards of commissioners. Other elected county officials
include the sheriff, treasurer, accountant, and attorney. The state
has about 520 municipalities; most larger cities use the council-manager
form of government.
Based on the 2000 census and effective with the election of
2002, North Carolina elects 2 senators and 13 representatives to
the U.S. Congress. The state has 15 electoral votes in presidential
elections.
From the 1870s until the 1960s the Democratic party
dominated all levels of North Carolina politics. The Republican party
has gained strength in the state since the 1960s, and the two parties
are fiercely competitive in statewide contests. Jesse A. Helms, first
elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina in 1972, was for 30
years an influential conservative voice within the Republican party on
foreign policy, agriculture, and a variety of other political, social,
and economic issues. After he decided not to seek reelection in 2002,
his Senate seat was won by another prominent Republican, Elizabeth
Hanford Dole.
The economy of North Carolina was dominated by farming
until
the 1920s, when such manufacturing industries as those producing
textiles, furniture, and tobacco products began to provide the bulk
of the state’s annual income. In the early 1990s manufacturing
remained a leading economic activity, but government, commercial and
financial services, farming, and tourism also were of major
importance. In addition, a large number of research and development
concerns have been established in North Carolina, notably in facilities
such
as Research Triangle Park, near Raleigh. Handicrafts, such as baskets
and pottery, are important products of the Blue Ridge region in
the W part of the state.
*Gross State Product = total
value of goods and services produced in a year.
Sources: U.S. government publications
| NORTH CAROLINA STATE ECONOMY (early 1990s) |
| STATE BUDGET |
|
| General revenue |
$12.3 billion |
| General expenditure |
$12.6 billion |
| Accumulated debt |
$3.1 billion |
 |
| STATE AND LOCAL TAXES, PER CAPITA |
$1675 |
| PERSONAL INCOME, PER CAPITA |
$12,885 |
| POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LEVEL |
13.0% |
| ASSETS, INSURED COMMERCIAL BANKS (78) |
$73.3 billion |
|
| LABOR FORCE (CIVILIAN NONFARM) |
3,068,000 |
| Employed in manufacturing |
28% |
| Employed in wholesale and retail trade |
23% |
| Employed in services |
18% |
| Employed in government |
15% |
|
| MAJOR INDUSTRIES |
% CONTRIBUTED TO GSP* |
| Commercial, financial, and professional services |
43% |
| Manufacturing and construction |
34% |
| Government |
12% |
| Transportation, communications, and public utilities |
8% |
| Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries |
3% |
| Mining |
less than 1% |
| PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA (early 1990s) |
|
Quantity Produced |
Value |
| FARM PRODUCTS |
|
$4.9 billion |
|
| CROPS |
|
$2.2 billion |
| Tobacco |
290,000 metric tons |
$1.1 billion |
| Corn |
1.8 million metric tons |
$189 million |
| Soybeans |
882,000 metric tons |
$185 million |
| Peanuts |
219,000 metric tons |
$154 million |
| Wheat |
614,000 metric tons |
$68 million |
| Hay |
917,000 metric tons |
$61 million |
| Sweet potatoes |
224,000 metric tons |
$51 million |
|
| LIVESTOCK AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS |
|
$2.7 billion |
| Chickens (broilers) |
1.2 million metric tons |
$804 million |
| Hogs |
540,000 metric tons |
$607 million |
| Turkeys |
526,000 metric tons |
$452 million |
| Milk |
674,000 metric tons |
$240 million |
| Eggs |
3.0 billion |
$206 million |
| Cattle |
133,000 metric tons |
$190 million |
|
| MINERALS |
|
$582 million |
| Stone |
46.8 million metric tons |
$268 million |
| Sand, gravel |
11.6 million metric tons |
$64 million |
| Clays |
2.3 million metric tons |
$16 million |
| Feldspar |
436,000 metric tons |
$14 million |
|
| FISHING |
74,000 metric tons |
$71 million |
|
|
|
Annual Payroll |
| FORESTRY |
|
$5 million |
|
| MANUFACTURING |
|
$18.4 billion |
| Apparel and textile mill products |
|
$4.5 billion |
| Industrial machinery and equipment |
|
$1.7 billion |
| Electronic equipment |
|
$1.5 billion |
| Furniture and fixtures |
|
$1.4 billion |
| Chemicals and allied products |
|
$1.0 billion |
| Food and kindred products |
|
$943 million |
| Rubber and plastics products |
|
$843 million |
| Fabricated metal products |
|
$676 million |
| Paper and allied products |
|
$664 million |
| Lumber and wood products |
|
$628 million |
| Tobacco products |
|
$624 million |
| Printing and publishing |
|
$575 million |
|
| OTHER |
|
$41.9 billion |
| Government |
|
$11.8 billion |
| Services |
|
$9.8 billion |
| Retail trade |
|
$5.7 billion |
| Transportation, communications, and public utilities |
|
$4.1 billion |
| Wholesale trade |
|
$3.8 billion |
| Construction |
|
$3.0 billion |
| Finance,insurance, and real estate |
|
$3.0 billion |
| Sources: U.S. government publications |
Farming is an important segment of the economy of North Carolina. Annual
farm income in the late 1980s was about $4.9 billion; about
45% derived from crop sales, and the remainder came from
sales of livestock and livestock products. North Carolina has some
60,000 farms, which have an average size of 65 ha (160 acres). Overall,
the leading agricultural commodities are tobacco, broiler chickens,
hogs, turkeys, corn, soybeans, peanuts, and dairy products. North
Carolina typically leads the nation in annual tobacco and sweet-potato
production, and it ranks third in peanut production; these commodities
are mostly grown in the Atlantic Coastal Plain region. North Carolina’s
yearly broiler chicken output usually ranks fourth in the U.S.;
a large proportion is raised in the Piedmont Plateau region. Among
the state’s other major crops are wheat, beans, tomatoes,
hay, apples, and peaches; additional livestock and livestock products
include beef cattle and chicken eggs.
North Carolina’s extensive forests are the source
of a large annual harvest of timber, which usually is fairly evenly
divided between hardwoods and softwoods. The annual value of forest
products exceeds $650 million. The primary uses of the
timber are for paper and furniture production and in housing construction.
The annual catch of North Carolina’s fishing industry
totals about 74,000 metric tons and has a value of approximately $71
million. The most important types of fish, in order of weight of
catch, are industrial fish (especially menhaden), edible shellfish
(especially shrimp), and edible finfish (especially flounder). Shrimp
is the single most important part of the catch.
The yearly value of North Carolina’s relatively small
mineral output was about $582 million in the late 1980s.
The principal minerals are stone, sand and gravel, feldspar, lithium,
and phosphate rock. The state usually leads the U.S. in the production
of feldspar, lithium, mica, olivine, and pyrophyllite. Additional
minerals produced include asbestos, kaolin and other clays, talc, and
gemstones.
In the late 1980s North Carolina manufacturing
industries
together employed some 868,000 workers and accounted for 30% of
the annual gross state product. The leading categories of manufactures
include apparel and textiles, industrial machinery, electronic
equipment,
furniture and fixtures, chemicals, and processed foods. North Carolina
is the leading textile-producing state in the U.S. Output of such
textile items as cotton yarn, nylon and polyester fiber, and denim
fabric is concentrated in the Piedmont Pleateau region, especially
in Gaston, Cabarrus, Guilford, and Mecklenburg counties. The state also
leads the nation in manufacturing tobacco products and furniture.
Cigarette production is concentrated in Durham, Raleigh, and
Winston-Salem, and furniture making is centered in such Piedmont
Plateau communities
as High Point, Hickory, and Thomasville. Other major manufactures
of North Carolina include pharmaceuticals, fabricated metal products,
rubber and plastic materials, and paper and paper products.
North Carolina’s natural environment, which includes
ocean beaches as well as forested mountains, attracts large numbers
of tourists each year. Travel expenditures in the state exceed $7
billion annually, and tourism-related activities employ nearly 150,000
persons. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located partly in
Tennessee, is one of the most popular national parks in the U.S. The
scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, also a unit of the National Park Service,
is an automobile route built along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mts.
Attractions in the coastal area of North Carolina include two national
seashores, Cape Hatteras, in the Outer Banks, and Cape Lookout,
on the mainland. A major privately owned tourist attraction in the
state is Carowinds, a large amusement park located at the border
with South Carolina, near Charlotte. Many visitors are lured by
North Carolina’s splendid golf courses, such as those at
Pinehurst and Southern Pines, and by the state’s historical
sites. North Carolina maintains 36 state parks and recreation areas.
North Carolina’s comprehensive transportation system
includes some 152,390 km (some 94,690 mi) of roads; there are 1337
km (831 mi) of interstate highways. The state also has about 4255
km (2645 mi) of Class I railroad track, with Greensboro and Raleigh
as major rail hubs. A section of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway,
an important shipping route, is along the coast of North Carolina;
the state’s main seaports are Morehead City, Southport, and Wilmington.
The busiest of North Carolina’s 274 airports and 54 heliports serve
Charlotte, the Greensboro-High Point and
Raleigh-Durham areas, and Winston-Salem.
In the early 1990s North Carolina’s installed electricity
generating capacity was 20.2 million kw, and its yearly electricity
production totaled 79.8 billion kwh. About 59% of the electricity
was generated from fossil fuels; nuclear facilities accounted for
32% and hydroelectric installations for 9%.
On July 4, 1584, two English explorers, commissioned by
Sir
Walter Raleigh, dropped anchor off the coast of the region comprising
present-day North Carolina. Although the region was inhabited by
Indians, the explorers reported favorably on it, and as a result
a colonizing expedition set out from Plymouth the following year.
On Aug. 17, 1585, a colony was established on Roanoke Island, but
it was abandoned a year later. On July 22, 1587, another group
commissioned
by Raleigh landed on the island. The 121 settlers were led by John
White (c. 1550–93), whose granddaughter, Virginia Dare,
born on Aug. 18, 1587, was the first child of English parents born
in America. White went back to England for supplies and returned
in 1590 or 1591 to find that the colony had completely vanished.
In 1629 the land south of Virginia, which was called Carolina, was
granted to Sir Robert Heath (1575–1649) by Charles I, king
of England, but Heath failed to make use of the land, and in 1663
Charles II granted the Carolina territory to eight proprietors.
The proprietors divided the grant into North and South Carolina and
established a Fundamental Constitution, a system of government drawn
up by the English philosopher John Locke. The constitution provided
for four houses of parliament and three orders of nobility; it was
never put fully in operation and was finally abandoned in 1693.
The proprietary period of the colony, which lasted from
1663
to 1729, was turbulent because of the independence of the settlers,
who occasionally drove out a governor whom they regarded as obnoxious.
Indian
troubles also beset the colony, but in 1713 the Tuscarora, after
having massacred many settlers, were defeated and expelled from
the Carolinas. The Carolinas did not prove a financial success to
most of the proprietors, and in 1728 seven of them sold their grants
to the Crown. In 1744 the eighth proprietor exchanged his grant
for a smaller strip of land in North Carolina. The colonists continued
to rebel against the authorities, who were now royal governors, and
from 1768 to 1771 the regulators, a group of colonists who refused
to pay taxes, were in a state of rebellion against royal authority.
The first provincial congress met in 1774 and sent
delegates
to the First Continental Congress. According to tradition, in May
1775 the so-called Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of the
citizens of Mecklenburg Co. was enacted, declaring that the royal
commissions
of the colonies were null and void and advocating the establishment
of an independent government. Few historians, however, believe that
the Mecklenburg Declaration is authentic. On April 12, 1776, North
Carolina became the first colony to instruct its delegates in Congress
to vote for independence. The first constitution of the state was
adopted on Dec. 18, 1776. North Carolina soldiers took part in many
of the important battles of the American Revolution, and in 1776 and
1781 the state was invaded by the British. Delegates were sent
to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but they refused to ratify
the instrument in 1788 on the grounds that the central government
was too strong. The state did not vote in the first presidential
election.
After the adoption of the Bill of Rights, North Carolina ratified
the U.S. Constitution on Nov. 19, 1789. The period between the
ratification
of the Constitution and the American Civil War was marked by internal
dissension over representation in the state government between the
eastern and western counties and by the migration of many North
Carolina settlers to western territories.
In February 1861 the state opposed secession from the Union;
but when Abraham Lincoln issued a call for troops in order to coerce
the seceding states, sentiment in North Carolina changed, and on
May 20, 1861, the state passed an ordinance of secession. During
the Civil War, North Carolina provided the Confederacy with more
than 120,000 troops and lost more soldiers than any other Southern
state; in the last year of the war, the state furnished the Confederate
army with food. In 1867, during the period of Reconstruction, the
civil authority was superseded by the military. The constitution
of 1868 established black suffrage, and in the same year the Ku
Klux Klan began functioning in the state. The federal government
withdrew its military forces from the state in 1868.
During the first half of the century, North Carolina’s
economy centered on its traditional tobacco and textile industries.
World War II produced a shift to more diversified industrial
development
that accelerated in the postwar years. Today, although the state
remains the nation’s leading tobacco producer, the industry
faces an uncertain future, while imports have inflicted losses on
textile mills. The major centers of economic and population growth
are Charlotte, which has become an important hub for transportation and
finance, and the metropolitan area encompassing Raleigh, Durham,
Chapel Hill, and Research Triangle Park, a region known for its
educational facilities and high-technology industries. About half
the population lives and works in urban areas, and demands for expanded
public and social services have increased. Strict conservation laws
protect the state’s unique coastal regions from industrial encroachment.
The eastern third of North Carolina suffered an economic and
environmental disaster in September 1999, when Hurricane Floyd poured
torrential rains on land already saturated by a previous hurricane;
the record floods ruined crops, drowned livestock, swamped water
treatment plants, and released toxic chemicals into the region’s
swollen rivers. Among the many communities inundated by the storm,
which claimed 48 lives, was the historic town of Princeville, site
of the first U.S. village founded by freed slaves after the Civil
War.