North Carolina

TOPOGRAPHY: North Carolina is defined by a wide range of elevations and landscapes. From west to east, North Carolina’s elevation descends from the Appalachian Mountains to the Piedmont and Atlantic coastal plain. North Carolina’s Mount Mitchell at 6,684 ft is the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina consists of three main geographic regions: the Atlantic coastal plain, occupying the eastern portion of the state; the central Piedmont region, and the mountain region in the west, which is part of the Appalachian Mountains.

The coastal plain consists of the Outer Banks, a string of sandy, narrow barrier islands separated from the mainland by sounds or inlets, including Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound, and the inner coastal plain, where longleaf pine trees are native.

The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, the elevation at which waterfalls first appear on streams and rivers. The Piedmont is characterized by gently rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. Small, isolated, and deeply eroded mountain ranges and peaks are located in the Piedmont, including the Sauratown Mountains, Pilot Mountain, the Uwharrie Mountains, Crowder’s Mountain, King’s Pinnacle, the Brushy Mountains, and the South Mountains. The Piedmont ranges from about 300 feet in elevation in the east to about 1,500 feet in the west.

The western section of the state is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains of the larger Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Blue Ridge Mountains located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains and the Black Mountains.

North Carolina has 17 major river basins. The five basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the remainder flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

HISTORY: North Carolina was inhabited for at least 10,000 years by succeeding prehistoric Indigenous cultures. Prior to 200 AD, the indigenous people were building earthwork platform mounds for ceremonial and religious purposes. Succeeding peoples, including those of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture, established by 1000 AD in the Piedmont and mountain region, continued to build this style of mounds. In contrast to some of the larger centers of the classic Mississippian culture most of the larger towns had only one central platform mound. The smaller settlements had none but developed close to the more prominent towns. This area became known as the homelands of the historic Cherokee people, who are believed to have migrated over time from the Great Lakes area.

Historically documented tribes in the North Carolina region include the Carolina Algonquian-speaking tribes of the coastal areas, such as the Chowanoc, Roanoke, Pamlico, Machapunga, and Coree, who were the first encountered by the English; the Iroquoian-speaking Meherrin, Cherokee, and Tuscarora of the interior; and Southeastern Siouan-speaking tribes, such as the Cheraw, Waxhaw, Saponi, Waccamaw, Cape Fear Indians, and Catawba of the Piedmont.

In 1584, British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh established two colonies on the Carolina coast, but both failed. The fate of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke Island remains one of the most widely debated mysteries of American history. Two native Chieftains, Manteo and Wanchese, of which the former helped the colonists and the latter was distrustful, had involvement in the colony and even accompanied Raleigh to England on a previous voyage in 1585. Manteo was also the first Indigenous North American to be baptized by English settlers. Upon White’s return in 1590, neither native nor Englishman were to be found. Popular theory holds that the colonists either traveled away with or assimilated into local native culture.

As early as 1650, settlers from the Virginia colony had moved into the Albemarle Sound region east of the Great Dismal Swamp. By the late 17th century, Carolina had two main population centers, one centered in the Albemarle region in the north and the other located in the south around Charleston.

Differences in the settlement patterns of eastern and western North Carolina, or the Atlantic coastal plain and uplands, affected the political, economic, and social life of the state from the 18th until the 20th century. Eastern North Carolina was settled chiefly by immigrants from rural England and Gaelic speakers from the Scottish Highlands. The Piedmont upcountry and western mountain region of North Carolina was settled chiefly by Scots-Irish, English, and German Protestants, the so-called “cohee”.

Cotton and tobacco became important export crops beginning in the 1800’s and the eastern half of the state, especially the Coastal Plain region, developed based on a plantation system using slave labor. Meanwhile in the western part of the state, families continued to operate small subsistence farms.

After the civil war, the notorious Crop-Lien system developed pushing many family farmers to switch from subsistence agriculture to commodity agriculture. Simultaneously, the “free range” was ended and people had to fence in their animals which could now only graze on privately-owned land. The state economy continued to based on tobacco, cotton textiles and commodity agriculture.

Industrial development came in the late 19th and early 20th century, beginning with cotton mills established at the fall line. Railroads were built to connect the new industrializing cities. After World War II, the North Carlolina’s economy grew rapidly, and industries such as technology, pharmaceuticals, banking, food processing, vehicle parts, and tourism started to emerge as North Carolina’s main economic drivers.