North+Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina was settled in 1584, and would later come to be known as the lost colony. After the settlers of this colony dissapeared mysteriously, North Carolina was permanently settled in 1655. All of this started when King Charles II, in order to keep his seat on the throne, gave a charter to eight englishmen known as the Lord's Proprietors, allowing them to settle in the new world. They named the colony Carolina in honor of King Charles I. In 1729, seven of the Lord's Proprietors sold their share of land to the Crown, therefore making Carolina a royal colony. North Carolina's main insudtries on colonial times were furniture, textiles, and tobacco. North Carolina's present day capital is Raleigh, named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who funded the attempted settlement of the Lost Colony.

Walter Raleigh was born in Devon, England in 1552. In 1585, he rose in Queen Elizabeth's favor so much to be knighted, changing his name to Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1591 he married one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting without permission and was sentenced to the Tower of London. He got out and in 1594 set out on a voyage to find the "city of gold" in South America. His voyage was unsuccessful, and when Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was imprisoned for a suspected plot against King James I. He was released in 1616 to conduct a second journey to the "city of gold". This again was unsuccessful and when he returned in 1618 he was arrested and executed.