Editing North Carolina (section)

===Colonial period===
{{Main|Province of Carolina|Province of North-Carolina|French and Indian War|Treaty of Paris (1763)|American Revolutionary War||United States Declaration of Independence|Articles of Confederation#Ratification}}
<gallery widths="220" heights="165" class="center" style="line-height:130%">
File:Croatoan.jpg|[[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] returns to find the colony abandoned
File:The Carte of all the Coast of Virginia by Theodor de Bry 1585 1586.jpg|Map of the coast of [[Virginia]] and North Carolina, drawn 1585–1586 by [[Theodor de Bry]], based on map by [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] of the [[Roanoke Colony]]
File:Tryon Palace.JPG|Reconstructed royal governor's mansion [[Governor's Palace, New Bern|Tryon Palace]] in [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]]
</gallery>
After the Spanish in the 16th century, the first permanent European settlers of North Carolina were English colonists who migrated south from [[Virginia]]. Virginia had grown rapidly and land was less available. [[Nathaniel Batts]] was documented as one of the first of these Virginian migrants. He settled south of the [[Chowan River]] and east of the [[Great Dismal Swamp]] in 1655.<ref>Fenn and Wood, ''Natives and Newcomers'', pp. 24–25.</ref> By 1663, this northeastern area of the [[Province of Carolina]], known as the [[Albemarle Settlements]], was undergoing full-scale English settlement.<ref>Powell, ''North Carolina Through Four Centuries'', p. 105.</ref> During the same period, the English monarch Charles{{spaces}}II gave provincial land grants to the [[Lords Proprietors]], the group of noblemen who had helped restore him to the throne in 1660. These grants were predicated on an agreement that the Lords would use their influence to bring in colonists and establish ports of trade. This new [[Province of Carolina]] was named in honor and memory of his father, Charles{{spaces}}I (Latin: ''Carolus'').

Lacking a viable coastal port city due to geography, towns grew at a slower pace and remained small. By the late 17th century, Carolina was essentially two colonies, one centered in the Albemarle region in the north and the other located in the south around Charleston.<ref name=":2" /> In 1705 South Carolinian [[John Lawson (explorer)|John Lawson]] purchased land on the Pamlico River and laid out Bath, North Carolina's first town. After returning to England, he published the book A New Voyage to Carolina, which became a travelogue and a marketing piece to encourage new colonists to Carolina. Lawson encouraged Baron Christoph Von Graffenried, the leader of a group of Swiss and German Protestants, to immigrate to Carolina. Von Graffenried purchased land between the Neuse and the Trent Rivers and established the town of [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]]. After an attack on New Bern in which hundreds were killed or injured, Lawson was caught then executed by [[Tuscarora Indians]]. A large revolt happened in the state in 1711, known as [[Cary's Rebellion]]. In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony, and in 1729 it became a royal colony, with the exception of the [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|Earl Granville]] holdings.<ref name="autogenerated1">Lefler and Newsome, (1973).</ref>

In June 1718, ''[[Queen Anne's Revenge]]'', the flagship of pirate [[Blackbeard]], ran aground at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, in present-day [[Carteret County, North Carolina|Carteret County]]. After the grounding, her crew and supplies were transferred to smaller ships. In November 1718, after appealing to the governor of North Carolina, who promised safe-haven and a pardon, Blackbeard was killed in an ambush by troops from Virginia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Blackbeard killed off North Carolina|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blackbeard-killed-off-north-carolina|website=History.com|date=February 9, 2010|access-date=April 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401125703/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blackbeard-killed-off-north-carolina|archive-date=April 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1996, Intersal, Inc., a private maritime research firm, discovered the remains of a vessel likely to be the ''[[Queen Anne's Revenge]]'', which was added to the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>D. Moore. (1997) "A General History of Blackbeard the Pirate, the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Adventure". In Tributaries, Volume VII, 1997. pp. 31–35. (North Carolina Maritime History Council).</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=QAR Discovered|url=http://www.lat3440.com/|website=Intersal, Inc.|access-date=13 July 2016}}</ref>

North Carolina became one of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and with the territory of [[South Carolina]] was originally known as the [[Province of North Carolina]]. 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. [[Piracy|Pirates]] menaced the coastal settlements, but by 1718 piracy in the Carolinas was on the decline. Growth was strong in the middle of the 18th century, as the economy attracted [[Scotch-Irish American|Scots-Irish]], [[Quaker]], [[English American|English]] and [[German American|German]] immigrants. A majority of the North Carolina colonists generally supported the [[American Revolution]], although there were some [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]]. Loyalists in North Carolina were fewer in number than in some other colonies such as Georgia, South Carolina, Delaware, and New York.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The American Revolution in North Carolina – The Loyalists and Their Militias |url=https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_loyalists_militia_nc.html |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=www.carolana.com |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_loyalists_militia_nc.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=North Carolina History Project |title=Tories |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/tories/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=North Carolina History Project |date=March 7, 2016 |publisher=John Locke Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233251/https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/tories/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=North Carolina in the US Revolution |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/history/usrevolution/overview |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401070056/https://www.ncpedia.org/history/usrevolution/overview |url-status=live }}</ref>

During colonial times, [[Edenton, North Carolina|Edenton]] served as the state capital beginning in 1722, followed by [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]] becoming the capital in 1766. Construction of [[Governor's Palace, New Bern|Tryon Palace]], which served as the residence and offices of the provincial governor [[William Tryon]], began in 1767 and was completed in 1771. In 1788, [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] was chosen as the site of the new capital, as its central location protected it from coastal attacks. Officially established in 1792 as both county seat and state capital, the city was named after Sir [[Walter Raleigh]], sponsor of [[Roanoke Colony|Roanoke]], the "lost colony" on [[Roanoke Island]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol/stat_cap/ |title=Capitol History |access-date=May 16, 2013 |author=North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029200430/http://www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol/stat_cap/ |archive-date=October 29, 2013 }}</ref> The population of the colony more than quadrupled from 52,000 in 1740 to 270,000 in 1780 from high immigration from Virginia, [[Maryland]] and [[Pennsylvania]], plus immigrants from abroad.<ref>Wiki Article Historical Demography of the United States.</ref>

North Carolina did not have any printer or print shops until 1749, when the North Carolina Assembly commissioned [[James Davis (printer)|James Davis]] from Williamsburg Virginia to act as their official printer.  Before this time the laws and legal journals of North Carolina were handwritten and were kept in a largely disorganized manner, prompting the hiring of Davis. Davis settled in New Bern, married, and in 1755 was appointed by [[Benjamin Franklin]] as North Carolina's first postmaster. In October of that year the North Carolina Assembly awarded Davis a contract to carry mail between [[Wilmington, North Carolina]] and [[Suffolk, Virginia]]. He was also active in North Carolina politics as a member of the Assembly and later as the Sheriff. Davis also founded and printed the ''[[North-Carolina Gazette]]'', North Carolina's first newspaper, printed in his printing house in New Bern.<ref name=powell34-35>[[#powell2000|Powell, 2000]], pp. 34–35</ref><ref>[[#lee1923|Lee, 1923]], p. 53</ref>

Differences in the settlement patterns of eastern and western North Carolina, or the [[Atlantic coastal plain]] and uplands, affected the political, economic, and social life of the state from the 18th until the 20th century. Eastern North Carolina was settled chiefly by immigrants from rural England and Gaelic speakers from the [[Scottish Highlands]]. The [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] upcountry and western mountain region of North Carolina was settled chiefly by [[Ulster Scots people|Scots-Irish]], English, and German Protestants, the so-called "[[cohee]]". Arriving during the mid-to-late 18th century, the Scots-Irish, people of Scottish descent who migrated to and then emigrated from what is today Northern Ireland, were the largest non-English immigrant group before the Revolution; English indentured servants were overwhelmingly the largest immigrant group before the Revolution.<ref>{{cite web |author= Bethune, Lawrence E |title= Scots to Colonial North Carolina Before 1775 |website= Lawrence E. Bethune's M.U.S.I.C.s Project |url= http://www.dalhousielodge.org/Thesis/scotstonc.htm |access-date= October 26, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120219045151/http://www.dalhousielodge.org/Thesis/scotstonc.htm |archive-date= February 19, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="census.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03a.pdf|title=Ancestry of the Population by State: 1980—Table 3a—Persons Who Reported a Single Ancestry Group for Regions, Divisions and States|access-date=May 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830234458/https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03a.pdf|archive-date=August 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab01.pdf |title=Table 1. ''Type of Ancestry Response for Regions, Divisions and States: 1980'' |access-date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708160626/https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab01.pdf |archive-date=July 8, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/nai_cilh/servitude.html |title=Indentured Servitude in Colonial America |publisher=Webcitation.org |access-date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022161033/http://geocities.com/nai_cilh/servitude.html |archive-date=October 22, 2009 }}</ref>