CAROLINA, NORTH, an Atlantic state of the American union, having South Carolina and Georgia on the s., Tennessee on the w., and Virginia on the n.; iu lat. 33' 53' to 36' 33' n., and long. 75° 25' to 84' 30' w., being about 430 m. long, and about 180 broad, with an area of about 50,704 sq. miles. The census of 1870 gave 678,470 whites, 891,650 negroes, and 1241 civilized ludians-1,071,361 in all. North Carolina was restored to a place in the union in 1868, after a new constitution had been adopted by the state gov ernment, and approved by congress. It sends 8 members to the lower house of congress, returning also, in common with every other state, 2 senators to the upper. The public debt of North C., in 1874, was 38,921,848 dollars, and its valuation of property was 143,723,813 dollars. Annual expenses of government, 1,400,000 dollars. Of railways, there were, in the year 1875, in actual operation, 1346 miles. The principal rivers are the Chowan, Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear. Of these, the first four divide themselves equally between Albemarle and Pamlico sounds—inlets which, besides being shallow and difficult in themselves, are almost entirely cut off from the sea by a nearly continuous series of low islands—and the last of the five, though it does fall into the open ocean, is yet not materially superior to the others, never showing more than 14 ft. of water ou the bar. With this insular breast-work, the mainland is geologically connected to a depth of about 60 in., being everywhere alluvial, and iu many places swampy. To
the w. of this belt, the country, after undulating into hills, is traversed by the ridges of the Alleghanies, which, culminating in Mt. Mitchell to an elevation of 6470 ft., bear aloft between them a table-laud of fully one third of that altitude. Through the mari time 'tract, and even beyond it, the rivers are practicable for steam-boats. Among the productions, the most characteristic is the pitch-pine of the lower level; so that, in the matter of naval stores, this state surpasses all the rest of the union taken together. In mineral resources, also, North C. takes a lead, more especially in gold, copper, iron, and coal. The value of the manufactured products of North C. in 1870 was 19,021,327 dollars; the value of the cotton brought to its shipping ports in 1876 was L'1,122,959. The chief towns are Raleigh, the capital, near the Neuse; Wilmington and Fayetteville on the Cape Fear (the former within reach of tide-water, and the latter at the head of the navigation); New Berne, and Charlotte. North C. was first colonized from Virginia in 1653. Down to 1693, it continued to form one province along with South Carolina, the two being frequently still called the Carolinas. In a local dec laration of independence of May, 1775, 14 months before the 4th of July, 1776, North C. first demanded a separation from Great Britain.