Early History
Spanish colonial forces were the first Europeans to make a permanent settlement in the area, when the Juan Pardo-led Expedition built Fort San Juan in 1567. This was sited at Joara, a Mississippian culture regional chiefdom near present-day Morganton in the western interior. It lasted only 18 months as the natives killed all but one of the 120 men Pardo had stationed at a total of six forts in area.
North Carolina became one of the English Thirteen Colonies, and was originally known as Province of Carolina. Originally settled by small farmers, sometimes having a few slaves, who were oriented toward subsistence agriculture, the colony lacked cities or even towns. The menace of pirates along the seacoast settlement, but by 1718 the pirates had been captured and executed. Growth was strong in the middle of the 18th century, as the economy attracted Scotch-Irish, Quaker, English and German immigrants. The colonists supported the American Revolution, as the Loyalists were weak. North Carolina made the smallest per-capita contribution to the war on any state, as only 7800 men joined the Continental Army under General George Washington; an additional 10,000 served in local militia units under such leaders as General Nathanael Greene. There was some military action especially in 1780-81. Many Carolinian frontiersman had moved over the mountains into Tennessee, and the state relinquished its claims to his Tennessee to the national government in 1789. After 1800, cotton and tobacco became important export crops, and the eastern half of the state developed a plantation system based on slavery, while the western areas were dominated by white families who operated small farms. In the early national period, the state became a center of Jeffersonian Democracy and Jacksonian Democracy with a strong Whig presence especially in the West.
On May 20, 1861, North Carolina was the second to last (Tennessee) of the Confederate states to declare secession from the Union. Some 125,000 North Carolinians saw military service; 20,000 were killed in battle and 21,000 died of disease. The state government was reluctant to support the demands of the national government in Richmond, and the state was the scene of only small battles. With the end of the war in 1865, the Reconstruction Era began, slavery was abolished without any compensation to the slave-holders, or reparations to the freedmen. A coalition of black Freedmen, northern Carpetbaggers, and local Scalawags controlled state government for three years but the white conservatives were back in control by 1871. The system of Jim Crow and legal segregation made the blacks into second-class citizens from the 1880s until 1964. Angry memories of Reconstruction helped make the Democratic Party dominant in state and national elections. By the 1960s, changing party politics, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, significantly reversed the role of Democrat and Republican parties in the South.
North Carolina was impoverished by the Civil War, and became increasingly locked into a cotton economy. Towns and cities remained few in the east, but a major industrial base emerged in the late 19th century in the western counties based on cotton mills. The state was the site of the first successful controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight, by the Wright brothers, near Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903. North Carolina was hard hit by the Great Depression, but the New Deal's farm programs for cotton and tobacco significantly helped the farmers. After World War II, the state's economy grew rapidly, highlighted by the growth of such cities as Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham. In the 1990s, Charlotte became a major regional and national banking center.
North Carolina became one of the English Thirteen Colonies, and was originally known as Province of Carolina. Originally settled by small farmers, sometimes having a few slaves, who were oriented toward subsistence agriculture, the colony lacked cities or even towns. The menace of pirates along the seacoast settlement, but by 1718 the pirates had been captured and executed. Growth was strong in the middle of the 18th century, as the economy attracted Scotch-Irish, Quaker, English and German immigrants. The colonists supported the American Revolution, as the Loyalists were weak. North Carolina made the smallest per-capita contribution to the war on any state, as only 7800 men joined the Continental Army under General George Washington; an additional 10,000 served in local militia units under such leaders as General Nathanael Greene. There was some military action especially in 1780-81. Many Carolinian frontiersman had moved over the mountains into Tennessee, and the state relinquished its claims to his Tennessee to the national government in 1789. After 1800, cotton and tobacco became important export crops, and the eastern half of the state developed a plantation system based on slavery, while the western areas were dominated by white families who operated small farms. In the early national period, the state became a center of Jeffersonian Democracy and Jacksonian Democracy with a strong Whig presence especially in the West.
On May 20, 1861, North Carolina was the second to last (Tennessee) of the Confederate states to declare secession from the Union. Some 125,000 North Carolinians saw military service; 20,000 were killed in battle and 21,000 died of disease. The state government was reluctant to support the demands of the national government in Richmond, and the state was the scene of only small battles. With the end of the war in 1865, the Reconstruction Era began, slavery was abolished without any compensation to the slave-holders, or reparations to the freedmen. A coalition of black Freedmen, northern Carpetbaggers, and local Scalawags controlled state government for three years but the white conservatives were back in control by 1871. The system of Jim Crow and legal segregation made the blacks into second-class citizens from the 1880s until 1964. Angry memories of Reconstruction helped make the Democratic Party dominant in state and national elections. By the 1960s, changing party politics, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, significantly reversed the role of Democrat and Republican parties in the South.
North Carolina was impoverished by the Civil War, and became increasingly locked into a cotton economy. Towns and cities remained few in the east, but a major industrial base emerged in the late 19th century in the western counties based on cotton mills. The state was the site of the first successful controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight, by the Wright brothers, near Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903. North Carolina was hard hit by the Great Depression, but the New Deal's farm programs for cotton and tobacco significantly helped the farmers. After World War II, the state's economy grew rapidly, highlighted by the growth of such cities as Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham. In the 1990s, Charlotte became a major regional and national banking center.