北卡罗来纳(North Carolina)

美国大西洋沿岸南部一州。面积约136,413平方公里。首府洛利（Raleigh）。该州西部为阿帕拉契山脉的山岭，包括大烟山脉；东部则有蓝岭。在欧洲人到来之前，有一些印第安人部落居住於此，包括阿尔冈昆人、苏人和易洛魁人。韦拉札诺（G. Verrazzano）在1524年的探险中到达其海岸地区，新大陆的第一个英国殖民地於1585年在洛亚诺克岛（Roanoke Island）建立，1663年成为卡罗来纳特许地的一部分。1776年4月的州国民议会第一次赋予一块美洲殖民地以明确的认可，但1780年这里又被英国军队占领。作为美利坚合众国的发起者之一，北卡罗来纳是第十二个批准美国宪法的州。该州18世纪以奴隶劳作为基础的农业经济一直持续到19世纪。1861年退出合众国。美国南北战争结束後，该州推翻了退出合众国的决定，也放弃了蓄奴制，1868年被重新接纳加入美利坚合众国。1940年代随着一些大型军事设施如布拉格堡（Fort Bragg）等在当地建设，经济情况得以改善。第二次世界大战後，开始取消种族隔离的长期斗争。该州农村人口多，但在附近地区内是一个工业较为发达的州，且高技术工业正在洛利-达拉谟地区扩展。主要产品有烟草、玉米和家俱。人口约8,049,000（2000）。

English version：

North Carolina

State (pop., 1997 est. 7,425,000), U.S., southern Atlantic region. It covers 52,669 sq mi (136,413 sq km); its capital is Raleigh. Ranges of the Appalachian Mtns., including the Great Smoky Mtns., are in the west; the Blue Ridge Mtns. are in the east. Several Indian tribes, including the Algonquians, Sioux, and Iroquois, inhabited the area before Europeans arrived. The coast was explored by Giovanni Verrazzano in 1524, and the first English settlement in the New World was established at Roanoke Island in 1585. It formed part of the Carolina grant of 1663. A provincial congress in April 1776 gave the first explicit sanction of independence by an American colony, and it was invaded by British troops in 1780. An original state of the Union, it was the 12th to ratify the Constitution. Its 18th century agricultural economy based on slave labor continued into the 19th century. It seceded from the Union in 1861; in 1865, following the American Civil War, it annulled the secession order and abolished slavery, and it was readmitted to the Union in 1868. In the 1940s its economy was improved as some of the nation's largest military installations, including Fort Bragg were located there. After World War II the long struggle to eliminate racial segregation began. It has a large rural population but is also the leading industrial state of its region, and has an expanding high technology industry in the Raleigh-Durham area. Products include tobacco, corn, and furniture.