North Carolina

HISTORY

In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent out 108 colonists from Plymouth, England under his cousin Sir Richard Grenville to establish two colonies in what is now known as North Carolina. One of these, the Roanoke Colony later became known as the Lost Colony, the settlers having disappeared without trace by 1590.

Map of the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, drawn 1585–1586 by Theodor de Bry

Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, was born in the Roanoke Colony.

Manteo, a Native American Croatan Indian, was the chief of a local tribe that befriended the English settlers who landed at Roanoke Island.  On Sunday, August 13, 1587, Manteo was christened on Roanoke Island, making him the first Native American to be baptized into the Church of England.

Manteo

The first permanent settlers in North Carolina came from the state of Virginia in 1655 as there was not enough farmland in their previous residence.

The name Carolina comes from the Latin for Charles (Carolus) after King Charles I of England.

The Province of Carolina was granted by charter in 1663 to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.

In 1722 the land was divided into present day North Carolina and South Carolina.

Thomas Jefferson's father, Colonel Peter Jefferson, was a land surveyor who was one of the surveyors who laid out the virginal North Carolina border.

North Carolina made the smallest per-capita contribution to the Revolutionary War of any state, as only 7,800 men joined the Continental Army under General George Washington.

In 1789 North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution and was admitted as the 12th U.S. State.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the oldest public universities in the United States, received its charter on December 11, 1789. The university first began enrolling students in 1795, and was the only one to award degrees in the 18th century,

Old East Residence Hall, built in 1793. By Caroline Culler Wikipedia

In 1860, North Carolina was a slave state. About one third  of the people in the state were slaves.

North Carolina fought as part of the Confederacy during the Civil War, although it was the last of the states to leave the Union. The state sent about 125,000 troops to fight in the war and about 40,000 of them died.

Shaw University, the first historically black university in the United States, was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1865.

The largest house in the world was built in Asheville, North Carolina in 1885. Biltmore House has 250 rooms and is on an estate of 12,000 acres.

The first powered flight took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903. Orville Wright flew in his Wright Flyer One for 12 seconds at a height of 500 feet and covered 37,120 feet.

WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided the world's first internet radio broadcast in 1994.

FUN FACTS

As of 2015, there was about 10,042,802 people living in North Carolina.

North Carolina topographic map. The Appalachian Mountains brown, the Piedmont yellow, and Atlantic Coastal Plain green

It is against the law to sing out of tune in North Carolina.

North Carolina produces with 1.2 billion pounds of sweet potatoes a year.

North Carolina is the largest producer of tobacco in the United States, growing nearly 375 million pounds per year.

Charlotte, the biggest city in North Carolina, is the second biggest banking center in the United States, making banking very important in North Carolina. BB&T and Bank of America have their main offices in the state.

Charlotte skyline. By Riction - Wikipedis Commons

Charlotte is the only major U.S. city where a one-bedroom apartment is actually cheaper than a studio, on average.

North Carolina has more state maintained roads than any other American state.