North Carolina

Before Europeans arrived, several Indian peoples inhabited the area of present-day North Carolina.⁠[1]

In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the coast and reached the mouth of the Cape Fear River.⁠[1][2]

In 1540, Hernando de Soto crossed the western mountains of the present-day state.⁠[2]

In 1584, Queen Elizabeth I granted Walter Raleigh the right to claim land in North America. In 1585, settlers sent by Raleigh founded a colony on Roanoke Island, which he named VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry; it was the first English settlement in the New World, and food shortages led many of the settlers to return to England.⁠[2][1]

A second group of colonists arrived in 1587, and its leader, John White, returned to England for supplies. When White came back to Roanoke in 1590, the colonists were gone; he found the letters “CRO” carved on one tree and “CROATOAN” on another. The fate of the colonists remains unknown.⁠[2]

A 1629 grant by Charles I of lands south of Virginia introduced the name “Carolina.” In the 1650s, farmers and traders from Virginia settled the Albemarle Sound area, and in 1663 a grant by Charles II created Carolina.⁠[2][1]

In 1705, Bath was incorporated as the colony’s first town.⁠[2]

From 1711 to 1713, the colony fought a war with the Tuscarora people.⁠[2]

From 1712 to 1729, North Carolina was governed as a separate province by a deputy sent from Charleston, and in 1729 it came under royal rule. In 1735, North and South Carolina agreed on their boundary, which was not fully surveyed until 1821.⁠[2]

From 1764 to 1771, the Regulators, a vigilance society in the frontier counties, opposed exorbitant legal fees and corruption among appointed officials; the governor’s militia suppressed the movement, and many of its members moved away.⁠[1][2]

Tryon Palace in New Bern was built from 1767 to 1770; its main building burned on February 27, 1798.⁠[3]

In 1775, hostility to British rule forced the royal governor to flee. In 1776, a provincial congress gave the first explicit sanction of independence by an American colony, and three North Carolinians signed the Declaration of Independence.⁠[1][2]

In early December 1776, delegates to the Fifth Provincial Congress adopted North Carolina’s first constitution, and on December 21, Richard Caswell became the first governor under it.⁠[3]

British troops invaded North Carolina in 1780; that year the Americans won at Kings Mountain, in South Carolina. In 1781 they were defeated at Guilford Courthouse.⁠[1][2]

In 1788, the convention at Hillsborough declined to ratify the U.S. Constitution, proposing many amendments and calling for a bill of rights; the convention also chose Raleigh over Fayetteville as the site of the capital.⁠[4][3]

A second convention met in Fayetteville on November 16, 1789, with Anti-Federalists holding less than one-third of its 272 seats. On November 21 it ratified the U.S. Constitution by a vote of 194 to 77, and it adjourned on November 23.⁠[5][4]

In 1790, North Carolina ceded its western lands to the federal government; the area was called Tennessee Territory until 1796, when TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state in the southeast-central United States, with its capital at Nashville. It was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 6,910,840 residents.Open the full entry became the 16th state.⁠[3][2]

Fayetteville had built a brick State House in 1778, where the General Assembly met several times before moving permanently to Raleigh in 1793. Raleigh’s first capitol was completed in 1794 and burned on June 21, 1831; that same year a fire in Fayetteville destroyed its State House. The present capitol was completed in 1840.⁠[4][3]

Chartered by the General Assembly in 1789, the University of North Carolina admitted its first class in 1795, making it the first public university in the United States to open its doors.⁠[6]

In 1835, a constitutional convention strengthened the legislature and the governor, expanded white male suffrage and provided for the popular election of the governor; Edward Bishop Dudley became the first governor elected by the people. In the 1840s and 1850s the state expanded public services, including a statewide school system and state-supported transportation.⁠[2][3]

North Carolina sought compromise until President Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States (1861–1865). Born to a frontier farming family in Kentucky, he had less than a year of formal schooling, taught himself law, and served in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives before winning the presidency as the Republican candidate in 1860. During the Civil War he preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and pushed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865, and died the next day.Open the full entry called up troops for war. On May 20, 1861, the state’s delegates unanimously approved an Ordinance of Secession from the United States, the last legislative vote to secede, and the state then aligned with the Confederacy. Many North Carolinians fought for the Confederacy, though most of the fighting took place elsewhere.⁠[7][8]

After the Civil War, North Carolina annulled its secession ordinance and in 1865 ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. In 1867, Congress took control of Reconstruction, sent the U.S. Army to oversee Southern state governments and required new constitutions protecting the rights of African Americans. A convention in 1868 produced a new constitution under which the major state officers were elected by the people, and the state was readmitted to the Union that year.⁠[1][8][3]

Opponents of the new government used terrorism, including Ku Klux Klan night-riding and murders. By 1872 the Democrats had regained control of the state and began discriminatory policies, and low government spending left education and health services inadequate through the late 1800s and early 1900s. Constitutional amendments adopted in 1900 disfranchised nearly all African American voters.⁠[8]

In the late 19th century, cotton mills spread across the Piedmont; after the invention of a cigarette-making machine in the 1880s, tobacco manufacturing grew rapidly, mainly around Winston-Salem, and manufacturing income eventually surpassed farm income.⁠[8]

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved the first successful piloting of a powered aircraft at Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk. Orville made the first flight at 10:35, landing about 120 feet from the launching rail; the brothers took turns making four flights that day, and Wilbur’s fourth and final flight covered 852 feet in 59 seconds.⁠[9][8]

In 1915, the state established a highway commission and designated Mount Mitchell as its first state park. In 1916, Pisgah National Forest became one of the first national forests in the eastern United States.⁠[10]

North Carolina enacted its first sterilization law in 1929. The Eugenics Board, created by the General Assembly in 1933 and not abolished until 1977, oversaw the sterilization of more than 7,600 people, primarily African Americans and the poor.⁠[10]

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the state suffered hardship and cuts to education and public services, while New Deal programs provided relief and farm price supports. In 1939, the dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which extends into North Carolina, was completed.⁠[8][10]

During World War II, defense spending revived the state’s economy; Fort Bragg was a major installation, and North Carolina delivered more textile goods to the military than any other state.⁠[8]

In 1956, the General Assembly responded to BrownBrown UniversityBrown University is a private nonprofit research university in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Chartered by Rhode Island's colonial legislature in 1764, it is known for its undergraduate Open Curriculum, which has no common required core. Christina H. Paxson, president since July 2012, announced on August 3, 2026, that the 2026–27 academic year would be her last in office. As of October 1, 2026, the search for Brown's 20th president remained underway.Open the full entry v. Board of Education by allowing private school attendance in place of desegregation. Sit-ins at lunch counters in Greensboro took place in 1960, and sit-ins and protests continued throughout the 1960s; in 1971, the federal government required the schools to desegregate.⁠[10][8]

In 1970, voters adopted an entirely new state constitution, and in 1977 they allowed the governor and lieutenant governor to seek consecutive reelection.⁠[3]

The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was concluded in 1998. By the end of the 20th century, health concerns and litigation had tempered the growth of tobacco, and tobacco and furniture competed heavily with knowledge-based enterprises in Research Triangle Park and Charlotte.⁠[10]

In the 2020 census apportionment results released on April 26, 2021, North Carolina was one of five states to gain one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, going from 13 seats to 14; accordingly, it has 16 electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[11][12][13]

Hurricane Helene, which had made landfall on FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm, reached North Carolina on September 27, 2024. Three-day rainfall totals exceeded 8 inches across the mountain region and 12 inches in many areas, with local maximums above 30 inches and 1,000-year floods in some places; more than 100 deaths were confirmed in North Carolina, and more than 73,000 homes were damaged.⁠[14]

The state’s revised assessment of December 13, 2024, put Helene’s damage and needs at about $59.6 billion: $44.4 billion in direct damage, $9.4 billion in indirect or induced damage and $5.8 billion in potential strengthening and mitigation investments, roughly three and a half times the $16.7 billion impact of Hurricane Florence in 2018. Thirty-nine counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were designated for FEMA federal disaster assistance; about 4.6 million people, more than 40% of the state’s population, live in those counties.⁠[14]

On January 1, 2025, Josh Stein was sworn in as North Carolina’s 76th governor in the Old Senate Chambers of the historic Capitol in Raleigh; North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby administered the oath of office.⁠[15]

The legislature, the General Assembly, is bicameral, with 50 members in the Senate and 120 in the House of Representatives. Regular sessions convene in January of odd-numbered years, with a shorter session in the following even-numbered year. The House elects a Speaker from its members; the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate and votes only to break a tie, and the Senate also elects a President Pro Tempore.⁠[16]

The Supreme Court of North Carolina was created by the General Assembly in November 1818 and first met on January 1, 1819; it is now a seven-member court and sits in the North Carolina Justice Building in downtown Raleigh.⁠[17]

North Carolina lies on the Atlantic coast and is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina and the State of GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)The State of Georgia is a U.S. state in the Deep South whose capital and largest city is Atlanta. It ratified the U.S. Constitution on January 2, 1788, becoming the 4th state, and had a population of 10,711,908 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry to the south and Tennessee to the west. Ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, including the Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains, lie in the west, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore is on Hatteras Island in the east.⁠[18][1]

U.S. Census Bureau area data (boundaries as of January 1, 2010) give the state a total area of 53,819 square miles (139,391 km²), of which 48,618 square miles (125,920 km²) is land and 5,201 square miles (13,471 km²) is water, including 4,052 square miles of inland water and 1,149 square miles of territorial water.⁠[19]

The mountains have a “medium continental” climate with cooler summers and heavier rainfall, while the southeastern corner is subtropical. Average annual temperatures are about 66 °F (19 °C) in the east, 60 °F (16 °C) in the central region and 55 °F (13 °C) in the mountains; annual precipitation ranges from 46 to 54 inches (1,170 to 1,370 mm), with July and August the wettest months and October and November the driest. The growing season ranges from 275 days along the coast to 175 days in the mountains.⁠[20]

At the end of the 20th century, 58% of North Carolina was still forested.⁠[10]

North Carolina’s estimated population on July 1, 2025 (U.S. Census Bureau), was 11,197,968, ninth among the states. It grew by 145,907, or 1.3%, from 2024 to 2025, ranking third among states in both numeric and percent growth, driven mainly by domestic migration.⁠[21]

From 2024 to 2025, Wake County grew by 27,760 (to 1,257,235 on July 1, 2025) and Mecklenburg County by 26,554 (to 1,233,383), ranking fifth and seventh among U.S. counties by numeric growth; the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area grew by 54,122, fifth among metro areas, and the Raleigh-Cary and Wilmington metro areas grew by 2.4% and 2.6%, both in the national top ten.⁠[22][23]

The state’s most populous cities include Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro, and the state has a large rural population.⁠[10][1]

Members of the NC Commission of Indian Affairs are drawn from Indian groups recognized by the state, including the Coharie, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, the Haliwa-Saponi, the Lumbee, the Meherrin, the Waccamaw-Siouan, the Sappony and the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, as well as Indian associations in Cumberland County and the Guilford, Metrolina and Triangle areas.⁠[24]

North Carolina’s nominal GDP in 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis) was $895,919.2 million (current dollars, not seasonally adjusted).⁠[25]

The economy was based mainly on tobacco in the 18th and 19th centuries and on tobacco products and textiles in the early 20th century; these industries remain important but are now largely overshadowed by other industries and services. The state has nearly 50,000 farms and is a national leader in sweet potatoes, dry beans, tobacco, hogs, broilers and turkeys; it has long led in lumber, furniture wood, Christmas trees and pulp for paper, and it leads in phosphate rock, lithium minerals, feldspar, olivine, mica and pyrophyllite.⁠[26]

For nearly a century North Carolina has been the most successful manufacturing state in the South; in the early 21st century manufacturing employed less than one-fifth of workers and produced about one-fifth of GDP. Textile jobs have declined steadily since the 1970s, furniture making remains a major industry, and growth has been strongest in computers, electronic communications equipment, chemicals and machinery. Charlotte became a regional and national banking center in the 1980s and 1990s, and the Research Triangle (Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill) hosts a wide range of research and development.⁠[26]

Coal-fired plants generate most of the state’s electricity, nuclear stations nearly one-third and hydroelectric dams most of the rest. The deepwater ports of Wilmington and Morehead City are the state’s Atlantic gateways, and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham are its only airports with international passenger service.⁠[26]

North Carolina’s nickname is the “Tar Heel State.” The state motto, “Esse quam videri,” established by an act of 1893, is engraved on the great seal and at the foot of the state coat of arms, which also bears the date “May 20th, 1775.”⁠[18][27]

The current state flag was adopted by an act of 1885 (1885, c. 291) and amended in 1991. It has a blue union with a white star at its center, flanked by a gilt “N” and a gilt “C,” with gilt scrolls above and below the star reading “May 20th 1775” and “April 12th 1776”; the fly consists of two equal horizontal bars, red above and white below, and the flag is one and a half times as long as it is wide.⁠[27][28]

The state’s official symbols include the cardinal (state bird), the dogwood (state flower), the pine (state tree), the gray squirrel (state mammal), the song “The Old North State,” the state colors red and blue, gold (state mineral), granite (state rock), the sweet potato (state vegetable) and stock car racing (state sport).⁠[28]

In 1971 the General Assembly passed legislation bringing the state’s remaining public senior institutions into the University of North Carolina, creating a 16-campus university; in 1985 the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics became its 17th constituent institution. The UNC Board of Governors is the policy-making body for all constituent institutions; it elects the system’s president, and its 32 voting members serve four-year terms.⁠[6]

State of North Carolina: Official website: https://www.nc.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[29]

North Carolina Office of the Governor: Official website: https://governor.nc.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[15]

North Carolina General Assembly: Official website: https://ncleg.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[16]

North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Official website: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

NCpedia: Official website: https://www.ncpedia.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[28]