North Carolina became a state in 1789.
It is one of the thirteen colonies that rebelled 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 II of England (in Latin, Carolus
means Charles).North Carolina’s nickname is
the Tar Heel state. It is called this because from
the time before the revolutionary war, NC had, for
several years exported 100,000 barrels of tar and
pitch. The tar had gotten stuck to the workers feet.
North Carolina consists of three main geographic sections:
the coastal plain, which occupies the eastern 45%
of the state; the Piedmont region, which contains
the middle 35%; and the Appalachian Mountains and
foothills, which take up the remaining 20% of the
state in the west. The coastal plain begins in the
east as a chain of narrow, sandy barrier islands known
as the Outer Banks. The Outer Banks form two sounds
— Albemarle Sound in the north and Pamlico Sound
in the south; they are the two largest landlocked
sounds in the United States. Immediately inland, the
coastal plain is relatively flat, with rich soils
ideal for growing tobacco, soybeans, and cotton. The
major rivers of this section, the Neuse River, Tar
River, Pamlico River, Cape Fear River, and Roanoke
River, tend to be slow-moving and wide.
