The richly varied economy of North Carolina is based upon its abundance of hydroelectric power, a generally pleasant climate that encourages outdoor sports, and a wide variety of soils. The land supports small truck farms as well as broad grazing areas for beef and dairy cattle. Since more than half of the state is forested, lumbering is extensive. Shipping and commercial fishing are also important industries.
The state abounds in attractions for its expanding tourist industry. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site marks the scene of the first attempt at English settlement in the New World. Interesting historic areas of North Carolina include important battlefields of the American Revolution and the American Civil War. The people of North Carolina may have received their nickname Tarheels during one of those wars. When the British forces of Lord Cornwallis waded across the Tar River in 1781, the soldiers supposedly found their feet blackened with tar that had been dumped into the water. According to another popular tradition, North Carolina soldiers said that Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was going to put tar on the heels of troops who had retreated during battle in order to make them stick better; Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Southern forces, reportedly commented, God bless the Tarheel boys. Most historians believe that the term dates from colonial days, when the area was the leading producer of naval stores--tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine--and from the tar riverfront where it was loaded on rafts.
Today the state of North Carolina is a leader in many other fields. It is first in the nation in tobacco growing and in the manufacture of cigarettes, textiles, and wooden furniture. Although it ranks second in population among the South Atlantic states, it leads in industry and agriculture. Fontana Dam, in the far western part of North Carolina near the Tennessee border, is the highest dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority--480 feet (146 meters). Fort Bragg is one of the largest military reservations in the United States. Mount Mitchell, in the northwestern part of the state, is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi.
In history also North Carolina has been a leader. As the site of the first English colony in the New World, it was the birthplace of Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. In 1775 North Carolina was the first colony to authorize a vote for independence from England. Twenty years later it opened the first state university in the United States. In 1903, near Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers launched the new age of transportation when they made the first flights in a self-propelled aircraft.
In extent from east to west North Carolina is the longest state east of the Mississippi River for a distance of 560 miles (901 kilometers). From north to south its greatest extent is 188 miles (302 kilometers). The total area of the state is 52,586 square miles (136,197 square kilometers), including 3,788 square miles (9,811 square kilometers) of inland water. North Carolina is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the north by Virginia. Tennessee is on the west. On the south are Georgia and South Carolina. The surface of the state is a long slope from west to east. At the Tennessee boundary are the Appalachian Mountains, some of which are more than 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) high. From here the surface descends to the Piedmont Region, which has an elevation of 500 to 1,000 feet (150 to 300 meters). At the eastern end of the Piedmont a geomorphic separation called a fall line marks the western edge of the Coastal Plain.
