North Carolina

State of North Carolina

Flag of North Carolina Seal of North Carolina
State nickname: Tar Heel State; Old North State
Official languages	English
Capital	Raleigh
Largest city	Charlotte
Governor	Michael Easley (D)
Senators	Elizabeth Dole (R) Richard Burr (R)
Area  - Total  - % water	Ranked 28th 139,509 km² 9.5
Population  - Total (2000)  - Density	Ranked 11th 8,049,313 63.80/km² (17th)
Admission into Union	November 21, 1789 (12th)
Time Zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Coordinates  - Latitude  - Longitude  - Width  - Length	34°N to 36°21'N 75°30'W to 84°15'W 805 km 240 km
Elevation  - Highest point  - Mean  - Lowest point	2,039 m 215 m (sea level) 0 m
Abbreviations  - USPS  - ISO 3166-2	NC US-NC
Web site	www.ncgov.com

North Carolina is a Southern U.S. state in the United States, also considered a Mid-Atlantic state in some cases. North Carolina is one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. It is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The state is named for King Charles I of England (in Latin, Carolus means Charles).

The USS North Carolina was named in honor of this state.

North Carolina has 3 metropolitan combined statistical areas with a population of over 1 million. As of July 1, 2004:

• Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC - population 2,067,810
• Raleigh-Durham-Cary - population of 1,467,434
• Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point - population of 1,335,217

Source: US Bureau of the Census Released April 2005

History

North Carolina was originally inhabited by a number of native tribes, including the Cherokee, Creek, Tuscarora, Lumbee, and Catawba. North Carolina was the first American territory the English attempted to colonize. Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom the state capital is named, chartered two colonies on the North Carolina (then Virginia) coast in the late 1580s, both ending in failure. The demise of one, the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island, remains one of the great mysteries of American history. Virginia Dare, the first English child to be born stateside, was born in North Carolina. Dare County is named for her.

The first permanent European settlers of North Carolina were poor English and Scots-Irish settlers who had failed at establishing themselves in Barbados. By the late seventeenth century, several permanent settlements had taken hold in the Carolina territory, which encompassed present-day South Carolina and Tennessee as well. The Carolina territory was a gift from King Charles II of England to the so-called Lords Proprietors, a group of noblemen who had helped restore Charles to the English throne in 1660. In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony. With the exception of the Earl Granville's holdings, it became a royal colony seventeen years later. According to legend, on May 20, 1775, Mecklenburg County became the first North Carolina county to declare its independence from Great Britain. (No period documentation survives to verify this legend.) On April 12, 1776, the colony became the first to instruct its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence from the British crown. The dates of both of these independence-related events are memorialized on the state flag and state seal.

On November 21, 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution to become the twelfth state in the Union. Between the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, North Carolina worked to establish its state and local governments. In 1840, it completed the state capitol building in Raleigh, still standing today. In mid-century the state's rural and commercial areas were further connected by construction of a 129 mile (208 km) wooden plank road, known as a "farmer's railroad," from Fayetteville in the east to Bethania (northwest of Winston-Salem).

In 1860 North Carolina was a slave state, however according to the Museum of the Cape Fear, it was only two percent of the population that owned over 99 percent of the slaves in the state. There were also about 30,000 free blacks residing in the state. Somewhat divided on whether to support the North or the South in the Civil War, North Carolina was the last state to secede from the Union in 1861. Governor Ellis, leader of the state at the war's beginning in 1861, famously declared in response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops to suppress the "rebellion" that "you can get no troops from North Carolina." However, under his leadership and that of his successor, Governor Zebulon Baird Vance of Asheville, elected in 1862, the Tar Heel State did provide 125,000 troops to the Confederacy, more than any other Confederate state. Approximately 40,000 of those troops never returned home, dead of battlefield wounds, disease and privation.

Although few major engagements took place in North Carolina itself, her troops served in virtually all the major battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. The largest battle that occurred in North Carolina was at Bentonville, a futile attempt by Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston to slow Union Gen. Sherman's advance into the Carolinas in the spring of 1865. Gen. Johnston surrendered one of the largest Confederate armies near Durham in late April 1865, weeks after Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, but the final surrender in North Carolina came at Waynesville in Western North Carolina in May, when remnants of Thomas' Cherokee Legion laid down their arms.

Today, North Carolina is home to Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville; it is one of the largest and most comprehensive military bases in the United States and is the headquarters of the XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Next to Fort Bragg is Pope Air Force Base. North Carolina is also home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune which, when combined with nearby Marine bases MCAS Cherry Point, Camp Geiger, Camp Johnson, Stone Bay and Courthouse Bay, makes up the largest concentration of Marines and sailors in the world.

Over the past century, North Carolina has grown to become a national leader in agriculture, financial services, and industry. The state's industrial output—mainly textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, paper and paper products—ranked eighth in the nation in the early 1990s. Tobacco, one of North Carolina's earliest sources of revenue, remains vital to the local economy. Recently, technology, research, and banking has become a driving force in the state, especially with the creation of the Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham in the 1950's, along with Charlotte's newfound international status as the second largest banking center in the entire United States. The state is also a center of American motorsports with many NASCAR racing teams and related industries located near Charlotte.

In 2005, the state Legislature voted to implement a state lottery, killing North Carolina's reputation as the "anti-lottery" state, where owning a lottery ticket, even from another state, was once a felony.

North Carolina has had three constitutions:

• 1776: This one was ratified December 18, 1776, as the first constitution of the independent state. The Declaration of Rights was ratified the preceding day.
• 1868: This was framed in accordance with the Reconstruction Acts after North Carolina was readmitted into the Union. It was a major reorganization and modification of the original into fourteen articles. It also introduced townships which each county was required to create, the only Southern state to do so.
• 1971: This is a minor consolidation of the 1868 constitution and subsequent amendments.

Also see North Carolina Constitution for more information

Law and Government

The governor, lieutenant governor, and eight elected department heads form the North Carolina Council of State. Ten other department heads appointed by the Governor form the North Carolina Cabinet. The state's current governor is Democrat Mike Easley. See List of North Carolina Governors

Legislative branch

The North Carolina General Assembly consists of two houses, a 50-member Senate and a 120-member House of Representatives. For the 2005–2006 session, the current President Pro Tempore of the Senate is Democrat Marc Basnight (the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the President of the Senate); The House Speaker is Democrat James B. Black. The prior term's power sharing Co-Speaker arrangement is no longer in effect, as the House Democrats won a decided victory and majority of the seats in the 2004 election.

Judicial branch

The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court; it numbers seven justices. The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state; it consists of fifteen judges who rule in rotating panels of three. Together, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals constitute the Appellate division of the court system.

The Trial division includes the Superior Court and the District Court. All felony criminal cases, civil cases involving more than $10,000 and misdemeanor and infraction appeals from District Court are tried in Superior Court. A jury of 12 hears the criminal cases. In the civil cases, juries are often waived.

Civil cases such as divorce, custody, child support and cases involving less than $10,000 are heard in District Court, along with criminal cases involving misdemeanors and infractions. The trial of a criminal case in District Court is always without a jury. The District Court also hears juvenile cases involving children under the age of 16 who are delinquent and children under the age of 18 who are undisciplined, dependent, neglected or abused. Magistrates accept guilty pleas for minor misdemeanors, accept guilty pleas for traffic violations, and accept waivers of trial for worthless-check cases among other things. In civil cases, the magistrate is authorized to try small claims involving up to $4,000 including landlord eviction cases.

Source: North Carolina Court System official site

Economy

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state's 2003 total gross state product was $314 billion. Its 2003 Per Capita Personal Income was $28,071, 38^th in the nation. North Carolina's agricultural outputs are poultry and eggs, tobacco, hogs, milk, nursery stock, cattle, and soybeans. Its industrial outputs are tobacco products, textile goods, chemical products, electric equipment, machinery, and tourism. Charlotte, the largest city in the state, is also the nation's largest banking presence outside of New York City. North Carolina is also the largest film making state outside of California. Movie studios are located in Shelby, Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, and the most popular, EUE Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington. Some of the films and television shows filmed there include: Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Cape Fear, Maximum Overdrive and The Crow.

Demographics

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, North Carolina's population was 8,683,242.

See Metropolitan_Combined_Statistical_Area

The racial makeup of the state is:

• 70.2% White Non-Hispanic
• 21.9% Black
• 4.1% Hispanic of any race
• 1.4% Asian
• 1.2% Native American
• 1.3% Mixed race

The five largest ancestry groups in North Carolina are: African American (21.6%), American (13.9%), English (9.5%), German (9.5%), Irish (7.4%). It is probable that most of those claiming "American" descent are descended from the early Scots-Irish settlers who settled primarily in the Piedmont and the mountains.

African-Americans are concentrated in the state's eastern Coastal Plain and in parts of the Piedmont Plateau where plantation agriculture was most dominant (See "History"). Until the mid 1860s, North Carolina had more small farms and fewer plantations than adjacent South Carolina and Virginia. These farmers were called "Yeoman" farmers who were non-slave owning, private land owners of tracts of approximately 500 acres (2 km²).

North Carolinians of British ancestry are concentrated in the western mountains, coastal areas, and Piedmont areas. Residents who claim American descent are most prevalent in the rural areas of the central Piedmont and most of the mountains. The tri-racial Lumbee Indians, who claim descent from the Lost Colony survivors, live primarily in Robeson County, and the Cherokee Indians live in western Swain County. The state has one of the fastest growing Latino and Asian populations in the country; these populations have nearly quintupled and tripled respectively between 1990 and 2002.

6.7% of North Carolina's population were reported as under 5, 24.4% under 18, and 12.0% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.

Transportation

Airports

• Asheville Regional Airport
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport
• Fayetteville Regional Airport - Grannis Field
• Piedmont Triad International Airport (Greensboro/High Point)
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport
• Wilmington International Airport

Major Highways

• Interstate 26
• Interstate 40
• Interstate 74
• Interstate 77
• Interstate 85
• Interstate 240
• Interstate 277
• Interstate 440
• Interstate 485
• Interstate 540
• U.S. Highway 1
• U.S. Highway 15
• U.S. Highway 17
• U.S. Highway 19
• U.S. Highway 25
• U.S. Highway 52
• U.S. Highway 64
• U.S. Highway 70
• U.S. Highway 74
• U.S. Highway 76
• U.S. Highway 117
• U.S. Highway 158
• U.S. Highway 178
• U.S. Highway 220
• U.S. Highway 421
• U.S. Highway 501
• NC 147 (Durham Freeway)

Religion

North Carolina, like other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant, with the largest Protestant denomination being the Baptists. The current religious affiliations of the people of North Carolina are shown below:

• Christian – 88%
  • Protestant – 77%
    • Baptist – 40%
    • Methodist – 10%
    • Presbyterian – 3%
    • Other Protestant or general Protestant – 24%
  • Roman Catholic – 10%
  • Other Christian – 1% (Eastern Orthodox, etc.)
• Non-Religious – 11% (atheists, agnostics, etc.)
• Other Religions – 1% (Judaism, Muslim, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.)

Important cities and towns

Small towns/areas with interesting names:

• Bat Cave (in Henderson County, near Asheville)
• Buies Creek (in Harnett County, near Raleigh)
• Climax (in Guilford County, near Greensboro)
• Frog Level (in Pitt County)
• Frying Pan Landing (in Tyrrell County)
• Fuquay-Varina (in Wake County)
• Kill Devil Hills (in Dare County)
• Lizard Lick (in Wake County, near Raleigh)
• Mount Airy (in Surry County, was the inspiration for Mayberry in the popular TV program The Andy Griffith Show, and is Griffith's birthplace)
• Rich Square (in Northampton County)
• Rockfish (in Hoke County)
• Soul City (in Warren County)
• Tickbite (in Pitt County)
• Welcome (in Davidson County)

Education

Colleges and universities