The Founding of the Colony of North Carolina In the 1580’s British established two colonies in North Carolina, both in which they failed. However, in the 1600s permanent settlers from Virginia began to move to North Carolina, and it eventually became part of a British colony known as “Carolina. ” North Carolina was first settled in 1587 by settlers that were led by John White in which they landed on present day Roanoke Island on July 22, 1587. In 1524 Giovanni de Varrazano was the first European to visit North Carolina.
In 1540 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto explored the southwestern part of the state in search of gold. Sir Walter Raleigh sent several shiploads of people over to establish the New World’s first English colony on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island between 1584 and 1585 and eventually in 1586 the colonists were forced to return back to England due to the many hardships they were facing. North Carolina had a dangerous coastline so it gave the Spanish a hard time colonizing it, along with the lack of ports, and rivers for them to navigate through.
The North Carolina Colony landscape included coastal plains, mountain ranges and plateaus. Farming and agriculture were extremely important to the settlers because of the warm climate and vast farmland. North Carolina was the least commercial colony of the 13 colonies it was composed entirely of frontier. Farming and Plantations were important. Exported agricultural products to other colonies.
The Southern colonies were the warmest of the three regions, winters weren’t difficult to survive but the hot and humid summers raised health oncerns as well as the spread of disease. Warmer climate made it possible to grow crops throughout the year and was ideal for plantations. These colonies concentrated on agriculture and developed the plantations exporting tobacco, cotton, corn, vegetables, grain, fruit and livestock The North Carolina Colony was founded in 1653 by the Virginia colonists. North carolina was 1 of the 13 original colonies which were divided into three regions the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies.
North carolina was the first English settlement in the New World. However, by 1590 all of the colonists on the island had disappeared and vanished and were never seen again. It is to this day a mystery and what we refer to it as “The lost colony”. Although no one knows what happened to those colonist, some believe they may have integrated with one of the local tribe groups. In 1655 a Virginia farmer Nathaniel Batts migrated to an area south of virginia in hopes of finding farmland which led to the first permanent English settlement in North Carolina .
Many of the colonist in North Carolina were dissidents from Germany and Ireland who sought greater religious freedom as well as economic opportunity. The Carolina Colony founded in 1653, later in 1663 eight nobleman, referred to as the Lord Proprietors were granted the rights to the colony by King Charles II in honor of their efforts and work on helping him regain the throne of England. The North Carolina Colony also called the Province of North Carolina, was originally one colony being Carolina that later would become present day North and south carolina.
In 1665, Sir John Yeamans established a second permanent colony in North Carolina on the Cape Fear River near present-day Wilmington. In 1670, a settlement near present-day Charleston, Charles town South Carolina was established. Because it had a natural harbor and allowed easy access to trade with the West Indies this settlement grew quickly. Charles Town soon became the principal seat of government for the entire region. Because of the distance between Charles Town and points in the northern part of the colony, the terms North Carolina and South Carolina came into use.
North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729. In 1729, the Lord Proprietors sold their interests in the Carolina colony back to the English Crown and North and South Carolina became separate royal colonies. The North Carolina Colony was classified as one of the Southern Colonies. The Province of North Carolina was an English colony in North America that existed from 1653 until 1776 when it then joined the other 12 of the 13 colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and ultimately became the U. S. state of North Carolina.
During the 1660’s the Proprietors of the vast colony and land named Carolina realized that it was not possible for one governor and one assembly to manage a colony as big as Carolina. The major settlements in the Carolinas were Cape Fear, Charles Town and Albemarle were miles apart and travelling between the settlements was time consuming and difficult. Carolina proprietors in early 1689 named a separate deputy governor for the region of the colony that lay to the north and east of. The Colonial Proprietors of Carolina in 1691 appointed a governor for the whole of Carolina and a deputy governor for the North of the colony.
In 1705 the first town in North Carolina, Bath, was built. In 1711 a terrible Indian massacre took place in North Carolina and by 1714 the lords proprietors sent out Charles Eden for governor and he was the best governor the colony ever had although he dies not too soon after. The division of the colony into North and South was completed at a meeting of the Lords Proprietors held at Craven House in London on December 7, 1710, although the same proprietors continued to control both colonies. So in 1712, North and South Carolina were officially divided. The North Carolina Colony’s first governor was Edward Hyde.
Hyde served from 1711 until 1712. North Carolina became a crown colony or “Royal English Colony” in 1729. The eighth proprietor, Lord Granville, retained economic interest and continued granting land in the northern half of North Carolina. The crown supervised all political and administrative functions in the colony until 1775. By 1775 eight of the colonies had royal governors who were appointed by the king, North Carolina being one of them. The North Carolina Colony became a state on November 21, 1789. The Colony became a state on November 21, 1789. 2
