Towns and Cities in North Carolina, USA

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States; it is south of Virginia, east of Tennessee, north of South Carolina, and west of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the 9th most populous with 10,488,084 inhabitants in 2019. Its capital is Raleigh, but its largest city is Charlotte. Its governor is Roy Cooper.

North Carolina’s climate ranges from medium continental conditions in the mountain region, though summers are cooler and rainfall heavier, to the subtropical conditions of the state’s southeastern corner. July and August are the wettest months, and October and November are the driest. Vegetation varies greatly throughout the state, primarily because of the geographic and climatic differences between the three main regions. However, changes effected by human habitation are perhaps becoming an equally significant determinant of the state’s biodiversity. Although more than half the state is still covered with forests, many trees have been cut and burned, not only affecting animal life by changing important habitats, but also contributing to soil erosion and leaching.

Plenty of famous folks were born in North Carolina, like jazz coming from the slave culture: slaves of African descent were an important part of the early North Carolina population; the labour-intensive crops of rice, indigo, tobacco, and cotton stimulated the spread of slavery in the state, especially after the appearance of the cotton gin in the 1790s. In the early 21st century, African Americans accounted for about one-fifth of the population.

A specific place to visit are the Outer Banks: a group of islands with beaches, state parks, and shipwreck-diving sites. One of those islands, Roanoke Island, was home to the first colony of English settlers in the New World. In the late 1500s the settlers disappeared, and historians are still trying to solve the mystery of the Lost Colony.