The history of North Carolina is a long and storied one, beginning with the first English settlement in the New World in 1587. On August 18th of that year, White's daughter gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first English girl born in the New World. The Spaniards struggled to colonize North Carolina due to its dangerous coastline, lack of ports, and few inland rivers to navigate. In the late 20th century and into the 21st century, North Carolina's metropolitan areas continued to urbanize and grow. In 1719, South Carolina, which had more resources than North Carolina and was therefore more valuable to England, was snatched from the owners and turned into a royal colony. North Carolina was reluctant to secede from the Union when it became clear that Republican Abraham Lincoln had won the presidential election.
In 1665, John Yeamans created a settlement in North Carolina on the Cape Fear River, near present-day Wilmington. That year, North Carolina's 2nd congressional district elected George Henry White, an educated African-American lawyer, as its third black representative to Congress since the Civil War. North Carolina quickly joined efforts to form a new country, with three of its citizens signing the Declaration of Independence. North Carolina was the scene of few battles, although it provided at least 125,000 soldiers to the Confederacy. On October 7th, 1780, a force of 1000 highlanders from western North Carolina (including what is now part of Tennessee) crushed a force of about 1000 loyal British soldiers led by Major Patrick Ferguson. A year earlier, in 1669, prospective Carolina settlers, including John Locke, drafted Carolina's Fundamental Constitutions, which served as an early form of government for the Carolina colony. In 1861, North Carolina became one of 11 states that separated from the United States, starting the American Civil War.
The first letter to include North Carolina included part of Albemarle County and was delivered by Charles I to Robert Heath, the king's attorney general in 1629. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, North Carolina would begin its transition from an economy based primarily on agriculture to industrialization. When the British approved their first series of acts, the settlers of North Carolina rebelled against them. And when the British punished Boston for its acts during the Boston Tea Party, some of the rich merchants in the colonies sent shipments of tea to Boston. Following General Daniel Morgan's victory over the British under Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17th 1781, Southern Commander Nathanael Greene led the British Lord Charles Cornwallis through the heart of North Carolina and away from the Cornwallis supply base in Charleston, South Carolina. The North Carolina colony is a direct result of British colonization efforts in the New World; it was also where the first English settlement was built and mysteriously disappeared. In addition to adding many more new job occupations across the state, North Carolina has become an important part of American history.
