North Carolina

North Carolina, state in the southeastern United States; bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina and Georgia to the south; and Tennessee to the west.

Land and climate

North Carolina has 3 main land regions. The eastern Atlantic coastal plain consists of low-lying, swampy marshland covered with trees and shallow lakes and rivers that extends into broad, grassy plains called savannas. The central Piedmont plateau is an area of rolling hills and numerous rivers. The western mountain region includes the Blue Ridge mountain range, as well as other ranges in the Appalachian system. Most of North Carolina's rivers rise in the Piedmont or mountain regions and flow southeast. Above the fall line are many waterfalls and rapids. The Roanoke, Neuse, and Tar are the major rivers. The only natural lakes lie on the coastal plain; the others are formed by dammed rivers. Forests cover about two-thirds of the state. North Carolina's climate is mild, ranging from the cool mountain regions to the subtropical temperatures of the southeast. Principal cities are Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh.

Economy

North Carolina's leading industries are manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism. Chief manufactured goods are textiles, tobacco products, chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, food products, and furniture. Tobacco is the most important agricultural product; others are corn, soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, feed grains, vegetables, and fruits. Chief livestock products are broilers (chickens), hogs, and turkeys. The chief mineral products are crushed stone (particularly limestone), clay, sand and gravel, and lithium compounds.

Government

North Carolina's present constitution was adopted in 1971. The governor serves a 4-year term. The state's legislature, called the General Assembly, consists of 50 senators and 120 representatives; all serve 2-year terms. In the U.S. Congress, North Carolina is represented by 2 senators and 11 representatives.

History

Several Native American tribes, including the Cherokee and Tuscarora, inhabited what is now North Carolina when Giovanni da Verrazano explored the coast in 1524. Spanish explorers also visited the region. Twice in the 1580s, Sir Walter Raleigh and English followers failed to establish settlements; the second was the famous “Lost Colony of Roanoke.” The next white settlers came in the mid- 1600s, from Virginia. In 1712, North Carolina became a separate British colony, one of the original 13. White settlers and Tuscarora Native Americans clashed in the Tuscarora War (1711–13), while settlers on the coast faced raids by pirates. North Carolina supported the colonists cause during the American Revolution. During the mid-1800s national debate over slavery, North Carolina tried to preserve the Union, but seceded when the Civil War broke out in 1861 and was the scene of several battles. After the war, federal troops oversaw the state's government until 1868, when it rejoined the Union. By World War II, North Carolina had become a leading industrial state. In 1960, a lunch counter sit-in staged by black college students in Greensboro sparked a new phase in the U.S. civil-rights movement. Today, the state's tobacco industry has been threatened by evidence of the dangers of smoking. North Carolina is working to improve its public schools, health-care and other social services, highways, and urban areas.