NORTH CAROLINA 



NORTHMEN 



523 



Copyright 1891, 1697, 

 1(00 III tbe I . S. br J. B. 

 Llppineott Compioy. 



Nordkyn ( 71 6' N. lat. ), 6 miles farther south than 

 the North Cape, and some 45 miles to the east of it. 

 North Carolina, one of the thirteen original 

 states of the American Union, is situated on the 

 Atlantic Ocean, south of Vir- 

 ginia, in 33> 50 1 36 33? N. lat., 

 and 75 27' 84 3tf W. long. Its 

 extreme length is about 500, its breadth 186 miles. 

 Area, 52,250 sq. m., or larger than that of England. 

 The eastern j>art of the state is low, and in some 

 parts swampy, the central part undulating, and the 

 western mountainous ; but everywhere, except in 

 limited areas in the eastern section, the soil is 

 remarkably fertile and the climate salubrious. 

 The highest mountains in the United States east 

 of the Mississippi are in North Carolina, at least 

 twelve peaks being higher than Mount Washington, 

 in the White Mountains, and more than fifty 

 exceeding 6000 feet in altitude Mitchell's Peak 

 ( 6707 feet ) the highest. Most of these are clothed 

 to their tops with thick forests, but some have 

 prairie-like summits covered with deep turf. All 

 this picturesque region, known as ' the 1 .ami of the 

 Sky, is a favourite resort in summer for southerners 

 and in winter for northerners. 



North Carolina is rich in mineral products. The 

 value of ite gold and silver deposited for coinage 

 and assay from 1793 to 1891 exceeds 812,000,000. 

 A branch U.S. mint was established at Charlotte in 

 1838, and has since 1873 been continued as an a^ay 

 office. Silver occurs associated with lead in Clay 

 and Davidson counties, and zinc in the latter 

 county. Iron is widely disseminated in the form 

 of specular ores, hematites, and magnetites ; copper 

 and plumbago also are found in many counties. 

 Bituminous coal of excellent quality is mined, 

 lll.iKK) tons being raised in 1897. There are valu- 

 able deposits of corundum and extensive beds of 

 mica in the west, quarries of brownstone and gran- 

 ite, and mines of talc, all of which are worked ; 

 in the eastern section are valuable phosphate beds ; 

 and more than 150 species of gems, &c., including 

 the rich 'hiddenite or lithia-emerald, which is 

 not known to occur elsewhere, are found in the 

 state. 



Maize has hitherto been the principal agricult- 

 ural product, but has recently been rivalled by 

 cotton in the annual value of its crop. Wheat, 

 oats, hay, tobacco, and sweet ]xtatoes are the 

 next rmwt valuable products of the soil. One of 

 the chief industries in eastern North Carolina has 

 long been the production of tar, rosin, and spirits 

 of turpentine from the forests of long-leaved pine 

 ( /</,.< r ,i/,,if,-l.i) and allied species. The manu- 

 facturing industries until 1880 were limited, but 

 since that date the spindles and looms for the 

 manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics have 

 been largely increased, tobacco- factories have been 

 established and enlarged, and in 1888 the first silk- 

 factory in the southern states was established. 

 Fisheries constitute a profitable industry along the 

 coast, and employ from 000 to 7000 men. 



North Carolina contains 97 counties, and returns 

 ten members to congress. It has about 3700 miles 

 of railway. The largest city is Wilmington, the 

 capital Raleigh. In 1896 there were 7249 public 

 school* (4875 for whites and 2374 for coloured i, 

 with an enrolment of 348,616 pupils. Besides 

 several denominational colleges, there is a state 

 university ( 1795) at Chanel Hill, and a state agri- 

 cultural college was established at Kaleigh in 1889. 

 There art; asylums for the insane at Goldsboro, 

 Raleigh, and Morganton the first for negroes only ; 

 and provision is also made by the state for the 

 Mind and deaf-mutes, both white and black. The 

 penitentiary has about 1300 convicts, but most of 

 them are hired out by contract. 

 lliatury, In 1584 Kaluigh' first expedition landed 



on Roanoke Island, and was kindly received. In 



1585, 1586, and 1587 Raleigh planted colonies on 

 the island, but the first returned with Drake in 



1586, and the others were destroyed. In 1629 

 Charles I., claiming under Cabot's discovery, 

 granted to Sir Robert Heath the territory, also 

 claimed by Spain and called Florida, from lat. 30" 

 to 36 as Carolana Florida. By the English it 

 was called both Carolana and Carolina. In 1653 

 a colony from Virginia settled on the banks of 

 the Roanoke and Chowan rivers : this was the 

 first permanent settlement in North Carolina. In 

 1663 Charles II. granted the region across the con- 

 tinent between lat. 31 and 36 to eight of his 

 favourites, under the name of Carolina. In June 

 1665 the king extended the limits of Carolina to 

 29 on the S. and to 36 30' N. The proprietors, 

 ' to avoid erecting a numerous democracy ' in 

 Carolina, adopted a Utopian form of ' fundamental 

 constitutions, prepared by John Locke and Shaftes- 

 bury, which recognised a nobility of landgraves 

 and cassiques. The eldest proprietor was palatine, 

 and the other seven had high-sounding titles. The 

 proprietary rule ceased in 1729, when the king 

 bought out the claims of the proprietors for 2500 

 each, and North Carolina became a royal province. 

 Under the administration of the second royal gov- 

 ernor, Gabriel Johnston (1734-53), the colony 

 increased in population from 14,000 to 45,000, and 

 became very pros|>erou8. The arbitrary rule of 

 Governor Dobbs (1754-66) and Governor Tryon 

 (1766-73) served to intensify the dislike of the 

 people to the taxation policy of parliament ; and 

 when the colonial assembly at Wilmington pro- 

 tested against taxation without representation it 

 was dissolved by Governor Tryon. The Mecklen- 

 burg Convention met at Charlotte and adopted a 

 declaration of independence on May 20, 1775. The 

 early years of the war ( 1775-83) were marked by 

 bitter local and partisan conflicts between Whigs 

 and Tories. In the years 1779-81 North Carolina 

 furnished about one-tenth of the American army ; 

 still, it was the last state but one to ratify the 

 federal constitution, November 21, 1789. It was 

 the last, too, of the eleven Confederate States to pass 

 in convention an ordinance of secession, May 21, 

 1861, which was not submitted to the people. The 

 capture of Fort Fisher in January 1865 led to the 

 federal occupation of Wilmington, the advance of 

 the union forces on Raleigh, and the surrender of 

 General Johnston, which practically ended the 

 war of secession. Pop. (1800) 487,103; (1840) 

 753,419; (1890) 1,617,94? : (1000) 1,893,810 making 

 North Carolina the fifteenth state in order of 

 population. Presidents Jackson, Polk, and John- 

 son were natives; and Flora Macdouald (q.v. ) for 

 a time resided here. 



Northcote, SIR STAFFORD. See IDDESLEIOH. 



North Dakota, one of the two states con- 

 structed in 1890 out of the former territory of Da- 

 kota(q.v.). Area, 70,795sq.m. Pop.( 1900) 319,146. 



Northern Territory. See SOUTH AUS- 

 TRALIA. 



North German Confederation. See GER- 

 MANY, Vol. V. p. 184. 



Northmen, or NORSEMEN, the name given in 

 the middle ages by the coast-dwellers of Germany, 

 France, and England to the sea-rovers who came 

 From tbe north Denmark, Norway, Sweden. In 

 a narrower sense the word sometimes means the 

 inhabitants of Norway only. The most prominent 

 characteristics of these North Teutonic tribes were 

 iheir love for the sea anil for war. Bolder navi- 

 gators than even the Phoenicians of old, they sailed 

 ;ast, west, south, and even north into the Arctic 

 Ocean, to indulge their passion for fighting, to win 

 fame, to gain wealth, to plunder, and to slay. We 



