North Carolina Geography

Basic Facts

• Geographical Region: South
• Size: 53821 sq.mi., 28th rank overall.
• Admitted to Statehood: November 21, 1789
• Population: 9,380,884;10th rank overall.
• Capital: Raleigh
• Other Major City: Charlotte
• Abbreviation: NC

Fun Facts

• Nickname: Old North State / Tar Heel State
• State Flag: Click Here (opens window to 50states.com)
• State Bird: Cardinal (opens window to 50states.com)
• State Flower: Dogwood (opens window to 50states.com)

Geographical Description

• North Carolina consists of three main geographic sections. The Coastal Plain is relatively flat, with rich soils occupying the eastern 45% of the state. This region contains the Outer Banks which together the narrow islands form a barrier between the Atlantic Ocean and inland waterways. The Outer Banks form two sounds?Albemarle Sound in the north and Pamlico Sound in the south. They are the two largest landlocked sounds in the United States.
• The Piedmont region consists of gently rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges covering the middle 35% of the state. Some of the small, isolated and deeply eroded mountain ranges and peaks include the Sauratown Mountains, Pilot Mountain, the Uwharrie Mountains, Crowder's Mountain, King's Pinnacle, the Brushy Mountains, and the South Mountains.
• Making up the western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the sub ranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Balsam Mountains. Last but certainly not least are the Black Mountains standing 6,684 feet high and labeled the tallest in the Eastern United States.
• North Carolina has 1,500 lakes of 10 acres or more in size and 37,000 miles of fresh water streams.

Map: Relief Map of NC

Industry

Tobacco products, furniture, textile goods, chemical products, electric equipment, lumber, machinery, computers, minerals, tourism.

Agriculture

Sweet potatoes, poultry and eggs, tobacco, hogs, milk, nursery stock, corn, cattle, soybeans, peanuts.

Other Information

Fun Facts:

• The oldest State University in the United States is the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
• Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk is where the Wright Brothers in 1903 made the first successful powered flight by man.
• The largest lighthouse ever to be moved due to erosion is the Cape Hatteras.
• Walter Raleigh founded the first English colony in America on Roanoke Island. The colony vanished with only ?Croatoan
• scrawled on a nearby tree as evidence.
• The Mecklenburg Declaration of 1775 has led people to believe that North Carolina was the first to declare independence from England.
• Krispy Kreme Doughnut was founded in Winston-Salem.
• Pepsi was invented and first served in New Bern in 1898.
• Bath, incorporated in 1705 is the oldest town in the state and first state capital.

More Fun Facts: http://www.50states.com/facts/ncarolin.htm