North Carolina Information
North Carolina, abbreviation NC, is a state on the east coast of the United States of America. The state’s nickname is “the Old North State”. North Carolina’s capital, Raleigh, and its largest city, Charlotte, are two of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. See all cities in North Carolina.
In North Carolina, a visit to The Blue Ridge Parkway and The Great Smoky Mountains is worthwhile. If you’re going for a more relaxing holiday, you can visit one of the many spas.
History buffs will also love North Carolina, as it was one of the original thirteen states that founded the Union and fought against the English in the American Revolutionary War.
Geography
North Carolina is the fourth largest state east of the Mississippi and measures up to 800 kilometers from west to east and 300 kilometers from north to south. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean and has an extensive coastline that includes the Outer Banks, lagoons (Pamlico Sound) and estuaries. The state is bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia and South Carolina to the south.
The state is typically divided into three geographic regions. To the east is the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which is predominantly forested and extends approximately 200 kilometers inland and covers nearly half of the state’s area. The center of the state is formed by the Piedmont, a low-lying plateau with small elevation changes. Most of North Carolina’s major cities are located here. The area here is also predominantly forested.
Western North Carolina is made up of the Appalachian Mountains and their foothills. This area varies from hilly to mountainous on the border with the state of Tennessee. The 2,037-meter-high Mount Mitchell is not only the highest point in North Carolina, but that of the entire eastern part of North America.
History
The original inhabitants were American Indians, including the Cherokee, who are counted among the Five Civilized Nations. Around 1830 they were forced to ‘move’ to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, and this grueling journey cost many lives. However, some of them managed to hold their own in the inhospitable mountains on the western side of the state, and others returned later. Their descendants still live in the state. Yet the area was the first area where the British attempted to establish a colony in the 1580s at the hands of Sir Walter Raleigh after whom the state capital is named. However, nothing more was heard of one of his settlements on Roanoke Island.
In the 18th century a number of settlements were established and in 1712 the colony was split into north and south. The two parts have a rather different character to this day. South Carolina was a slave state par excellence and the first state to secede from the Union, sparking the American Civil War. North Carolina did not secede until all its neighbors did, and reluctantly in 1861. Ironically, the surrender of the South took place in this very state, and the state suffered greatly during the Civil War.
The Reconstruction and the Jim Crow years after with their renewed repression of the black population condemned the state to long years of lagging behind the rest of the country. It was mainly an area of tobacco growers and poverty. That only changed after the 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement’s transformation has been quite smooth compared to other cities in the south where tensions were running high. A technological change of major importance to the entire South and also to North Carolina was the advent of air conditioning. Without this equipment, the summer months are a time when hard work becomes a difficult task, it is too hot and humid for that.
The technology was introduced after the 1960s. Between the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary, the Research Triangle Park with its many advanced research institutions was born and the Triangle (the triangular ‘border city’) of the state became a hefty metropolis.
Economy
North Carolina has been one of the most successful states in the east of the country since the 1980s, with sustained population growth and diversification of the economy. The cities of Charlotte and Raleigh in particular attract many high-tech companies. North Carolina is seen as a competitor for California and the northeastern United States, mainly because house prices are significantly lower. Aside from neighboring states, most of the domestic migrants in North Carolina come from states such as California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The largest city of Charlotte is a major financial center in the United States and is the headquarters for the Bank of America and formerly Wachovia. The cities in North Carolina are often praised for their good investment climate. North Carolina has also become a competitor to the Atlanta area, which has similar traits. North Carolina has weathered the crisis better than the Atlanta area since 2008.
| Abbreviation: | NC |
| Nickname: | Tar Heel State |
| Joined the US as the 12th state on: | 21 November 1789 |
