North Carolina

North Carolina was admitted to the Union on November 21, 1789, as the twelfth state. Located in the southeastern United States, it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, South Carolina , Georgia , Tennessee , West Virginia , and Virginia .

Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano (c. 1485–c. 1528) discovered the North Carolina coast in 1524. Several Native American tribes, including the Iroquois, Cherokee, and Algonquin nations, already inhabited the region. As Europeans settled in later centuries, they brought disease and waged war. These two factors, combined with federal laws that forced the Cherokee to move to what was called Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma ), decimated the Native American population by 1838.

Roanoke Island was founded in 1585, and an all-male colony of Englishmen was established there. Relations between the settlers and the Native Americans were hostile. When supply ships from England landed on the coast, all but fifteen colonists chose to return to England. Those fifteen men were told to hold the island. This proved an impossible task, as the Indians attacked their foes. The men fled by boat and were never heard from again.

Another colony—this one including women and children—was established on Roanoke in 1587. The governor, an English artist named John White, left Roanoke colony to collect supplies in England. His return was delayed for years by war, and when he reached Roanoke Island in 1590, all the settlers had disappeared. To this day, no one knows for certain what happened to the “Lost Colony.”

North Carolina sent more troops than any other state to fight in the American Civil War (1861–65). More than one-fourth of all deaths in the Confederate States of America claimed the lives of soldiers from North Carolina. Following the war, the state's Conservative Party, which called itself the Democrats, passed laws to ensure the power of landlords over tenants and sharecroppers. They also supported the move to develop and construct cotton mills as quickly as possible, a trend that established North Carolina as an industrial state by 1880.

Industry and population

Industry continued to grow throughout and beyond World War II (1939–45). More manufacturing plants moved to North Carolina than to any other state between 1897 and 1990.

Nearly nine million people lived in North Carolina in 2006, making it the tenth most populated state in the country. Whites made up 71.4 percent of the total population; African Americans comprised another 21 percent. Most residents lived in or near small to mid-sized cities and towns.

Once an agricultural economy based on tobacco production, by the early twenty-first century the state relied on industry, particularly textiles, cigarettes, and furniture. Because of the high percentage of workers in industrial sectors, North Carolina experienced higher unemployment rates than many other states in times of economic recession.

North Carolina was the first state to establish a state university when the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill opened in 1795. It also became home to a number of other reputable colleges, including North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Duke University. The state became known for its commitment to the arts and was the first state to fund its own symphony, to establish a state school of the arts, and to endow its own art museum.