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North
Carolina, NC

North Carolina is a state located on the
Atlantic Seaboard in the southern region of the United States
of America.
It was one of the original Thirteen Colonies,
originally known as Carolina, and the home of the first
English colony in the Americas.
On 20 May 1861, it became the last of the
Confederate states to secede from the Union, and was
readmitted on 4 July 1868. It was also the location of the
first successful powered heavier-than-air flight by the Wright
brothers at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk in 1903.
Today, it is a fast-growing state with an
increasingly diverse economy and population. As of 1 July
2006, the population estimate is 8,856,505 (a 10% increase
since 1 April 2000), and the capital is Raleigh.
North Carolina has a wide range of elevation,
from sea level on the coast to almost 6,700 feet (2,042 m) in
the mountains.
The climate in the coastal and Piedmont regions
of eastern and central North Carolina is similar to other
southern states such as Georgia and South Carolina, while the
climate in the western mountains is closer to that found in
New England or the upper Midwest.
While the coastal plains, especially the
tidewater areas, are strongly influenced by the Atlantic
Ocean, the western, mountainous part of the state is more than
300 miles (500 km) from the coast, resulting in considerably
less maritime influence.
As such, the climate of the state ranges from a
warm, humid subtropical climate near the coast to a humid
continental climate in the mountains. Most of the state falls
in the humid subtropical zone.
Geography
North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on
the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west,
Virginia on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east.
The United States Census Bureau classifies
North Carolina as a southern state in the subcategory of being
one of the South Atlantic States.
North Carolina consists of three main
geographic sections: the coastal plain, which occupies the
eastern 45% of the state; the Piedmont region, which contains
the middle 35%; and the Appalachian Mountains and foothills.
The Outer Banks form two sounds—Albemarle Sound
in the north and Pamlico Sound in the south; they are the two
largest landlocked sounds in the United States. Immediately
inland, the coastal plain is relatively flat, with rich soils
ideal for growing tobacco, soybeans, and cotton.
The coastal plain is North Carolina's most
rural section, with few large towns or cities, and agriculture
remains an important industry.
The major rivers of this section, the Neuse
River, Tar River, Pamlico River, Cape Fear River, and Roanoke
River, tend to be slow-moving and wide. The coastal plain
transitions to the Piedmont region along the "fall line", a
line which marks the elevation at which waterfalls first
appear on streams and rivers.
The Piedmont region of central North Carolina
is the state's most urbanized and densely-populated section -
all five of the state's largest cities are located in the
Piedmont. It consists of gently rolling countryside frequently
broken by hills or low mountain ridges.
A number of small, isolated, and deeply eroded
mountain ranges and peaks are located in the Piedmont,
including the Sauratown Mountains, Pilot Mountain, the
Uwharrie Mountains, Crowder's Mountain, King's Pinnacle, the
Brushy Mountains, and the South Mountains.
The Piedmont ranges from about 300–400 feet
(90–120 m) elevation in the east to over 1,000 feet (300 m) in
the west. The major rivers of the Piedmont, such as the Yadkin
and Catawba, tend to be fast-flowing, shallow, and narrow.
The western section of the state is part of the
Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the
Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky
Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Great Balsam Mountains,
Pisgah Mountains, and the Black Mountains.
The Black Mountains are the highest in the
Eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at
6,684 feet (2,037 m).
It is the highest point east of the Mississippi
River. Although agriculture remains important, tourism has
become the dominant industry in the mountains. Due to the
higher altitude in the mountains, the climate often differs
starkly from the rest of the state.
Winters in western North Carolina typically
feature significant snowfall and subfreezing temperatures more
akin to a northern state than a southern one. North Carolina
has 17 major river basins; five of the state's river basins -
the Hiwassee, Little Tennessee, French Broad, Watauga and New
- are part of the Mississippi River Basin, which drains to the
Gulf of Mexico.
All the others flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of
the 17 basins, 11 originate within the state of North
Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the
state's borders - the Cape Fear, Neuse, White Oak and
Tar-Pamlico.
Climate
The three geographical divisions of North
Carolina are useful when discussing the climate of the state.
The coastal plain is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, which
keeps temperatures mild in the winter and moderate in the
summer.
Daytime high temperatures on the coast average
less than 89 °F (31.6 °C) during the summer. In the winter,
the coast has the mildest temperatures in the state, with
daytime temperatures rarely dropping below 40 °F (4.4 °C).
This article is licensed under
the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "North Carolina".
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