3.  In the 1650’s Virginia’s population was exploding (with over 200,000 people in the colony) so in 1653 a group of Virginians went south to gain land, these were the first settlers of North Carolina.  In 1663 King Charles II issued a royal charter to 8 nobles (lead informally by Anthony Ashley-Cooper) this was when the Province of Carolina was officially founded.  In 1729 the Province of Carolina was split into the colonies of North and South Carolina due to internal problems

4.  Official religion was the Church of England  Had Anglican population in similar amounts to other states of its size  Had a relatively low puritan population in comparison to other colonies  There was one thing about its religious landscape that made it stand out, it had a very high Quaker population.  Due to its low puritan population and relatively thin connection with the British it became a haven for Quakers, who played a very active role in politics and life in North Carolina.

5.  Due to north Carolinas location the slave trade was very small.  There were only about 40,000 slaves at most until the 1890’s when their numbers skyrocketed.  There were extremely brutal laws about slaves in North Carolina, they were called the North Carolina Slave Code and contained amendments like: “slaves are never allowed gather in large groups outside of work environment, even for religious purposes.”  The amount of slaves went form 40,000 to 140,000 between 1885 to 1895 due to reduced restrictions on slave importation and increasing numbers of Bright Leaf Factories.

6.  Tobacco is and always has been North Carolina’s largest industry.  Tobacco was the only crop that could have been grown in its arid climate and dry soil, but it could only be produced in small amounts and was inferior in quality to its Virginian counterpart.  Up until the American Revolution the North Carolinian market was controlled by 3 families.  The tobacco market opened up for North Carolina in 1776 when the British set nearly all of Virginia’s tobacco ablaze.  But North Carolina had a complete game changer in 1839…

7. Bright leaf which was first made in North Carolina and is very sited to the type of tobacco grown in its climate. By 1890 North Carolina was producing 100 million pounds of Bright Leaf tobacco every year with very little competition in the market.

9. Born 1532 Died 1603 Ralph Lane was the first governor of the doomed Roanoke colony and was also the first governor in North Carolina.

10. Date of birth and death unknown Was alive during the late 1830’s Discovered the method for creating bright leaf tobacco

11. Born 1767 Died 1845 Was the seventh president of the United States of America

12. Born 1554 Died 1618 Was the discoverer of tobacco