North Carolina Colony

This page tells about the history of the North Carolina Colony.

North Carolina Colony

The North Carolina Colony developed from some of England's earliest attempts to establish settlements in North America. Its history included the mysterious Lost Colony of Roanoke, the growth of permanent English settlements, and the eventual division of the larger Carolina territory into North Carolina and South Carolina.

The Lost Colony

One of England's earliest attempts to establish a permanent colony in North America took place on Roanoke Island in 1587. About 120 settlers led by John White arrived on the island in July of that year. On August 18, White's daughter, Eleanor Dare, gave birth to Virginia Dare, often remembered as the first English child born in an English colony in the Americas. White soon returned to England for supplies, but war with Spain delayed his return. When he finally reached Roanoke again in 1590, the settlement was deserted. The word "CROATOAN" had been carved into a post, but the colonists themselves had vanished. Their fate remains uncertain, although historians have long considered the possibility that some joined or lived among Native communities in the region.

The Baptism of Virginia Dare

Nathaniel Batts

Permanent English settlement in the region developed decades later. In the 1650s, Nathaniel Batts, a settler from Virginia, established himself in the Albemarle region south of Virginia. Other settlers gradually moved into the area in search of farmland, creating communities that became part of the northern Carolina settlements.

The Lords Proprietors

In 1663, King Charles II granted the Province of Carolina to eight noblemen known as the Lords Proprietors. The grant rewarded them for supporting Charles during his restoration to the English throne. The Province of Carolina included the lands that would eventually become both North Carolina and South Carolina.

Carolina Splits

Settlement developed differently in the northern and southern parts of Carolina. Communities in the north were scattered and closely connected to Virginia, while settlements around Charles Town in the south grew rapidly because of their excellent harbor and strong trade connections with the Caribbean. The great distance between the northern and southern settlements made governing the entire province difficult, and the terms North Carolina and South Carolina gradually came into common use. By the early 1700s, the two regions were being governed separately, and in 1729 most of the Lords Proprietors sold their interests back to the British Crown. North Carolina and South Carolina then became separate royal colonies.

Why it mattered: North Carolina grew from some of England's earliest colonization attempts into a distinct southern colony shaped by agriculture, scattered settlement, and strong connections to neighboring Virginia.