Portal:North Carolina

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The North Carolina Portal

A view of Harris Lake from the Harris Lake County Park in Wake County, North Carolina, with the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant in view (2021)

North Carolina (/ˌkærəˈlaɪnə/ ^ⓘ KARR-ə-LY-nə) is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia to the southwest, and Tennessee to the west. The state is the 28th-largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. Along with South Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast. At the 2020 census, the state had a population of 10,439,388. Raleigh is the state's capital and Charlotte is its most populous city. The Charlotte metropolitan area, with an estimated population of 2,805,115 in 2023, is the most populous metropolitan area in North Carolina, the 22nd-most populous in the United States, and the largest banking center in the nation after New York City. The Research Triangle, with an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023, is the second-most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, 31st-most populous in the United States, and is home to the largest research park in the United States, Research Triangle Park.

The earliest evidence of human occupation in North Carolina dates back 10,000 years, found at the Hardaway Site. North Carolina was inhabited by Carolina Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan speaking tribes of Native Americans prior to the arrival of Europeans. King Charles II granted eight lord proprietors a colony they named Carolina after the king and which was established in 1670 with the first permanent settlement at Charles Town (Charleston). Because of the difficulty of governing the entire colony from Charles Town, the colony was eventually divided and North Carolina was established as a royal colony in 1729 and was one of the Thirteen Colonies. The Halifax Resolves resolution adopted by North Carolina on April 12, 1776, was the first formal call for independence from Great Britain among the American Colonies during the American Revolution.

On November 21, 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the United States Constitution. In the run-up to the American Civil War, North Carolina declared its secession from the Union on May 20, 1861, becoming the tenth of eleven states to join the Confederate States of America. Following the Civil War, the state was restored to the Union on July 4, 1868. On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully piloted the world's first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina's Outer Banks. North Carolina often uses the slogan "First in Flight" on state license plates to commemorate this achievement, alongside a newer alternative design bearing the slogan "First in Freedom" in reference to the Mecklenburg Declaration and Halifax Resolves. (Full article...)

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The flag of Raleigh is the official municipal flag of Raleigh, North Carolina. It is one of the few American city flags to currently feature different designs on the obverse and reverse. Both sides feature a similar red-white-red vertical triband with an emblem in the center. The obverse features the Seal of Raleigh. The reverse has a modified version of the coat of arms of Sir Walter Raleigh.

The initial design of the flag was created in October 1899, though the idea was first proposed in April of that year. It was supposed to be given to the USS Raleigh (C-8); however, the ship was decommissioned before it could receive it. While the ship was commissioned again in the future, it is not known if the flag made it on board. One of the original flags was found in city storage in 1960. After modifications to the design were made, it was readopted as the city flag of Raleigh on April 25 of that year and has remained since. (Full article...)

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Pleasure Island is a coastal barrier island in Southeastern North Carolina, United States, just south of the City of Wilmington. Pleasure Island is located within Federal Point Township, in New Hanover County. The coastal resort towns of Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, as well as the annexed communities of Wilmington Beach and Hanby Beach are located on the island. The southern end of Pleasure Island was separated from Bald Head Island (Smith Island) by Corncake Inlet (New Inlet) until the inlet was shoaled and closed in 1998 by Hurricane Bonnie; thus Pleasure Island and Bald Head Island are no longer separate islands.

The combined island now stretches from Carolina Beach Inlet in the north, the Cape Fear River to the west, Onslow Bay (Atlantic Ocean) to the east and Long Bay (Atlantic Ocean) to the south. It is 17 miles long, 2 miles wide in the far north, 3 miles wide at the far south and about ½ mile wide in the middle. On the southeastern tip of the combined island lies "the point", or headland, known as Cape Fear. The shallow and treacherous Frying Pan Shoals jut 30 miles into the Atlantic Ocean southeasterly from the point. The shoal (or sandbar) is formed by the intersection of the longshore currents of Onslow Bay and Long Bay as well as the discharge from the Cape Fear River. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various North Carolina-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1William Woods Holden, a Unionist who served as the 38th and 40th Governor of North Carolina, and during the Reconstruction era (from History of North Carolina)
Image 2Map of North America by Vesconte Maggiolo after an earlier map made on the Verrazzano expedition of 1524. The narrow isthmus of land separating "Tera Florida" from "Francesca" is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Cape Fear is labeled "C. de la Forest". (from History of North Carolina)
Image 3Signers Monument, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, in Greensboro (from History of North Carolina)
Image 4Ceremony of Secotan warriors in North Carolina. Watercolour by English colonist John White, 1585 (from History of North Carolina)
Image 5Union captures Fort Fisher, 1865 (from History of North Carolina)
Image 6Halifax Resolves plaque (from History of North Carolina)
Image 7Reconstructed royal governor's mansion, Tryon Palace, in New Bern (from History of North Carolina)
Image 8North Carolina is named after King Charles I of England. Carolina is taken from the Latin word for "Charles", Carolus. (from History of North Carolina)
Image 9Map of Research Triangle, with points representing NC State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (from History of North Carolina)
Image 10Artists conception of Town Creek Indian Mound during the late Town Creek-early Leak phases circa 1350 CE (from History of North Carolina)
Image 11Country store in Gordonton, North Carolina, 1939 (from History of North Carolina)
Image 12A map showing the proposed route of the de Soto Expedition, based on the 1997 Charles Hudson map (from History of North Carolina)
Image 13Map of the roads and railroads of North Carolina, 1854 (from History of North Carolina)
Image 141st Maryland Regiment holding the line at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, 1781 (from History of North Carolina)
Image 15Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsor of the Roanoke Colony, and namesake of the capital city of North Carolina, Raleigh (from History of North Carolina)
Image 16Bennett Place, historic site of major Confederate surrender in Durham (from History of North Carolina)
Image 17First successful flight of the Wright Flyer, near Kitty Hawk, 1903 (from History of North Carolina)
Image 18Commercial Airports in North Carolina (from Transportation in North Carolina)
Image 19Map of the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, drawn 1585–86 by Theodor de Bry, based on map by John White of the Roanoke Colony (from History of North Carolina)

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... that a work by Bettie Freshwater Pool was proposed to be the official state song of North Carolina?
... that in 2022, Julia Dorsey helped North Carolina win a national lacrosse championship and reach the national soccer final?
... that Kanye West performed an additional Touch the Sky Tour date at the University of North Carolina Wilmington after coming third in a student survey?
... that despite its sizable population, Cary is classified as a town?
... that The Washington Post described a North Carolina dive bar as "a middle finger to the development surrounding it"?
... that equipment from a bankrupt North Carolina TV station was dismantled, loaded on three rental trucks, and reassembled to start a station in Virginia?

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