About North Carolina | North Carolina History

In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony and, with the exception of the Earl Granville holdings, it became a royal colony seventeen years later as the other seven Lords were bought out by the Crown. Eastern North Carolina was settled largely by immigrants from England and the Highland Scots. Western North Carolina was settled largely by Scots-Irish and German Protestants. During the Revolutionary War the English and Highland tended to remain loyal to the British Crown, while the Scots-Irish and German settlers tended to favor American independence from Britain.

On April 12, 1776, the colony became the first to instruct its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence from the British crown. North Carolina often witnessed fierce guerilla warfare between bands of pro-independence and pro-British colonists throughout the Revolutionary War. A major American victory in the war took place at King's Pinnacle along the North Carolina-South Carolina border. A force of 1000 mountain men from western North Carolina overwhelmed a force of some 1000 British troops led by Major Patrick Ferguson. The American victory at Kings Mountain gave the advantage to colonists who favored American independence over the Tory colonists, and prevented the British Army from recruiting new soldiers from the Tories.

As the British Army moved north from victories in Charleston and Camden, South Carolina, the Southern Division of the Continental Army and local militia prepared to meet them. Southern commander Nathanael Greene led British Lord Charles Cornwallis across the heartland of North Carolina, and away from Cornwallis's base of supply in Charleston, South Carolina. Generals Greene and Cornwallis finally met at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in present-day Greensboro on March 15, 1781. Although the British troops held the field at the end of the battle, their casualties were crippling. Following this victory, Cornwallis chose to move his battered army to the Virginia coastline to get reinforcements. This decision would result in Cornwallis's eventual defeat at Yorktown, Virginia later in 1781, a victory which guaranteed American independence.

North Carolina remained an agrigultural state until well into the 1900's, although it did develop a strong textile industry. Since the development of the Research Triangle Park in the 1950's, many high tech companies have move to the area to take advantage of the partnership with Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and N.C. State University. The state has also developed a strong recreation and tourism industry, with watersports along the Atlantic Coast and the Outer Banks, to ski resorts in the Blue Ridge Mountain areas of western North Carolina.