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.