History of North Carolina

The history of North Carolina from prehistory to the present covers the experiences of the people who have lived in the territory that now comprises the U.S. state of North Carolina.

Before 200 A.d, residents were building earthwork mounds, which were used for ceremonial and religious purposes. Succeeding peoples, including those of the ancient Mississippian culture established by 1000 A.D. in the Piedmont, continued to build or add onto such mounds. In the 500–700 years preceding European contact, the Mississippian culture built large, complex cities and maintained far flung regional trading networks. Historically documented tribes in the North Carolina region included the Carolina Algonquian-speaking tribes of the coastal areas, such as the Chowanoke, Roanoke, Pamlico, Machapunga, Coree, Cape Fear Indians, and others, who were the first encountered by the English; Iroquoian-speaking Meherrin, Cherokee and Tuscarora of the interior; and Southeastern Siouan tribes, such as the Cheraw, Waxhaw, Saponi, Waccamaw, and Catawba.

Spanish attempts to settle the interior, with several forts built by the Juan Pardo expedition in the 1560s, ended when the Indians destroyed the forts and killed most of the garrisons. Nearly two decades later, English colonists began to settle the coastal areas, starting with a charter in 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh (namesake of the city of Raleigh) began two small settlements in the late 1580s, but they failed. Some mystery remains as to what happened to the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island, but most historians think a resupply ship was delayed. By 1640 some growth took place with colonists migrating from Virginia, who moved into the area of Albemarle Sound. In 1663 the king granted a charter for a new colony named Carolina in honor of his father Charles I. He gave ownership to the Lords Proprietors.

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