Search results
The Province of North Carolina, originally known as Albemarle Province, was a proprietary colony and later royal colony of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. [ 2 ] (p. 80) It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies .
- Overview
- The proprietary and royal colony
- Statehood
Several European explorers made their way to present-day North Carolina. In 1524 the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano arrived at the mouth of Cape Fear River. Hernando de Soto traveled through the western mountains in 1540. In 1584 the Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh received a grant from Queen Elizabeth I to claim land in North America, and he sent out an exploratory expedition that returned with a report optimistic for potential settlement. In 1585 Raleigh sent a group of settlers to the area, and they established a colony on Roanoke Island; Raleigh named the colony Virginia. Difficulties in obtaining food led many settlers to abandon the island and return to England. A second group of colonists arrived in 1587, but the problem of sustaining themselves forced the group’s leader, John White, to return to England for supplies. Caught in the outbreak of war between England and Spain, White did not make it back to Roanoke until 1590. No colonists were there when he arrived, and the only clues as to their whereabouts were two trees, one of which bore the carved letters CRO and the other the word CROATOAN, which referred to a neighbouring island. White went to this island but found no colonists there. What happened to the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke remains one of the great mysteries in American history.
Following the attempts by Raleigh and others to colonize the coastal regions in the 1580s, the territory remained the domain of native peoples for decades. A grant by King Charles I in 1629 for the lands south of Virginia brought the term Carolina into being, but no permanent settlement was made until farmers and traders from Virginia moved into the Albemarle Sound area in the 1650s. This resulted in a grant from Charles II in 1663 that created Carolina, but for years the settlers resisted the ineffective government imposed by the proprietors in England. Between 1712 and 1729 the separate province of North Carolina was ruled by a deputy dispatched from Charleston, which had become the centre of proprietary government. Boundaries between North and South Carolina were agreed upon in 1735 but not completely surveyed until 1821.
North Carolina’s growth was hampered by restrictions on shipping tobacco imposed by Virginia, by economic and religious quarrels with absentee proprietors that led to several uprisings, by war with the Tuscarora people (1711–13), and by coastal piracy involving Blackbeard (Edward Teach) and others. Unlike other colonies, which had grown up around coastal towns that represented the first settlements, North Carolina had no town until Bath was incorporated in 1705. By 1729, when the colony came under royal rule, several other towns also had been chartered.
A turnabout in the colony’s fortunes occurred during the decades of royal rule. The population rose rapidly, settlement spread across the Piedmont, and the wealth and quality of life expanded. A large slave population maintained an agricultural economy based on tobacco and rice and on naval stores from the region’s extensive pine forests. Prior to the American Revolution, the beginnings of an intense east-west hostility had grown into several insurrections. In 1768 western North Carolinans organized themselves into the Regulators to defy government policies, and, after being suppressed by the governor’s militia, many moved away from the colony. Hostility to British rule united North Carolinians and forced the flight of the royal governor in 1775. North Carolina quickly joined the efforts to form a new country, three of its citizens signing the Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution, North Carolinians fought both the Cherokee (who sided with the British) and the British army. Their most noteworthy battles ended in victory at Kings Mountain in 1780, just across the state border in South Carolina, and in defeat at Guilford Courthouse in 1781.
Several European explorers made their way to present-day North Carolina. In 1524 the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano arrived at the mouth of Cape Fear River. Hernando de Soto traveled through the western mountains in 1540. In 1584 the Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh received a grant from Queen Elizabeth I to claim land in North America, and he sent out an exploratory expedition that returned with a report optimistic for potential settlement. In 1585 Raleigh sent a group of settlers to the area, and they established a colony on Roanoke Island; Raleigh named the colony Virginia. Difficulties in obtaining food led many settlers to abandon the island and return to England. A second group of colonists arrived in 1587, but the problem of sustaining themselves forced the group’s leader, John White, to return to England for supplies. Caught in the outbreak of war between England and Spain, White did not make it back to Roanoke until 1590. No colonists were there when he arrived, and the only clues as to their whereabouts were two trees, one of which bore the carved letters CRO and the other the word CROATOAN, which referred to a neighbouring island. White went to this island but found no colonists there. What happened to the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke remains one of the great mysteries in American history.
Following the attempts by Raleigh and others to colonize the coastal regions in the 1580s, the territory remained the domain of native peoples for decades. A grant by King Charles I in 1629 for the lands south of Virginia brought the term Carolina into being, but no permanent settlement was made until farmers and traders from Virginia moved into the Albemarle Sound area in the 1650s. This resulted in a grant from Charles II in 1663 that created Carolina, but for years the settlers resisted the ineffective government imposed by the proprietors in England. Between 1712 and 1729 the separate province of North Carolina was ruled by a deputy dispatched from Charleston, which had become the centre of proprietary government. Boundaries between North and South Carolina were agreed upon in 1735 but not completely surveyed until 1821.
North Carolina’s growth was hampered by restrictions on shipping tobacco imposed by Virginia, by economic and religious quarrels with absentee proprietors that led to several uprisings, by war with the Tuscarora people (1711–13), and by coastal piracy involving Blackbeard (Edward Teach) and others. Unlike other colonies, which had grown up around coastal towns that represented the first settlements, North Carolina had no town until Bath was incorporated in 1705. By 1729, when the colony came under royal rule, several other towns also had been chartered.
A turnabout in the colony’s fortunes occurred during the decades of royal rule. The population rose rapidly, settlement spread across the Piedmont, and the wealth and quality of life expanded. A large slave population maintained an agricultural economy based on tobacco and rice and on naval stores from the region’s extensive pine forests. Prior to the American Revolution, the beginnings of an intense east-west hostility had grown into several insurrections. In 1768 western North Carolinans organized themselves into the Regulators to defy government policies, and, after being suppressed by the governor’s militia, many moved away from the colony. Hostility to British rule united North Carolinians and forced the flight of the royal governor in 1775. North Carolina quickly joined the efforts to form a new country, three of its citizens signing the Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution, North Carolinians fought both the Cherokee (who sided with the British) and the British army. Their most noteworthy battles ended in victory at Kings Mountain in 1780, just across the state border in South Carolina, and in defeat at Guilford Courthouse in 1781.
In 1776, early in the war, North Carolina adopted its first state constitution, which established property requirements for its first voters and its first elected public officials but gave little power to the executive branch. There was no official state religion, but no one who rejected the Protestant faith could hold office. The state’s permanent capital was established at Raleigh in 1794. In 1790 much of the state’s western territory was ceded back to the United States, and that land was soon reorganized into the state of Tennessee.
There was little government action in North Carolina during its first decades as a state. Taxes were low, and few services were provided. In 1835 the state rewrote its constitution to give legislators and the governor more power and to make it easier for white men to vote. In the 1840s and ’50s the state government provided more services to the people, including a statewide school system and state-supported transportation networks.
Seal of the Province of North Carolina - 1739 to 1767. On May 14, 1729, the Crown took over control of the colony of North Carolina. King George II had taken the Crown merely two years earlier, and he would live until 1760, when his son, King George III, ascended to the throne.
The northern and southern parts of the original province separated in 1712, with North Carolina becoming a royal colony in 1729. Originally settled by small farmers, sometimes having a few slaves, who were oriented toward subsistence agriculture, the colony lacked large cities or towns.
Jul 25, 2016 · South Carolina had become a royal colony 10 years earlier, setting the stage for North Carolina to follow suit. The English crown, long dissatisfied with proprietary and corporate colonies, had begun the process of converting those colonies to royal control in the 1680s. North Carolina’s sale was the culmination of legal proceedings initiated ...
- Physical Address:, Raleigh, 27601, NC
Jan 1, 2007 · Although North Carolina still had her own assembly and council, the governor of Carolina resided in Charleston and a deputy governor appointed for North Carolina. Royal Colony. In 1729, seven of the Lords Proprietor sold their interests in North Carolina to the Crown and North Carolina became a royal colony.
People also ask
Is North Carolina a royal colony?
When did South Carolina become a royal colony?
When did North Carolina become a colony?
What was the Royal period in North Carolina?
How many colonies did North Carolina have?
How many people lived in North Carolina during the Royal period?
In 1729 North Carolina became a royal colony. With the outbreak of the American Revolution (1775–83), loyalties in North Carolina were divided. The British government was overthrown in 1775, however, and an independent state government was established. North Carolina joined the Union in 1789 as the 12th state.
