Welcome to the North Carolina

Welcome to North Carolina
"The Tar Heel State" North Carolina is probably most famous for being the birthplace of mechanical flight (the Wright Brothers first got their new invention, the airplane, aloft at Kitty Hawk), but it's also notable for a variety of other reasons. In a 2009 survey by the online magazine The Daily Beast, the state's Raleigh-Durham region ranked first in a list of "America's smartest cities." That's due in largest part, no doubt, to its Research Triangle, a hotbed of biotechnology and IT research supported by local universities UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and North Carolina State. Industry and high finance are no strangers to the state, either. Charlotte is the second-largest banking center in the country after New York. North Carolina's industrial output ranks eighth among U.S. states, and unsurprisingly, the state is the country's leading tobacco producer. Coupled with the fact that North Carolina has the ninth highest GDP in the nation, these facts go a long way in dispelling any notion that the state is somehow mired in its Antebellum and Confederate past. Aside from a declining textile industry (and perhaps the inevitable hurricane or two), modern Tar Heels certainly don't have much to complain about. State Name: North Carolina  State Nickname: "The Tar Heel State"  State Mottoes: Esse quam videri ("To be, rather than to seem") "First in flight" (unofficial) Name for Residents: North Carolinian, Tar Heel  Abbreviation: NC Time Zone: Eastern, GMT/UTC -5 / -4 (Daylight Savings Time) Capital City: Raleigh Date of Statehood: November 21, 1789 Statehood Rank: 12th State Area: 53,865 square miles (139,509 km²) Area Rank: 28 of 50 Number of Counties: 100 State Population: 9,222,414 (2008 estimate) Largest Cities:     Charlotte - 687,456 (2008)     Raleigh - 392, 552 (2008)     Greensboro - 250,642 2008) Major Rivers:     Neuse River - Length: 275 mi (443 km)     Tar River - Length: 346 mi (215 km)     Cape Fear River - Length: 202 mi (325 km) Highest Point: Mt. Mitchell, 6,684 ft (2,038 m) Lowest Point: Atlantic Ocean (sea level) Bordering States and Countries:     Virginia (North)     South Carolina (South)     Georgia (Southwest)     Tennessee (West) Record High Temperature:     110°F (43°C)     August 21, 1983 at Fayetteville Record Low Temperature:     -34°F (-37°C)     January 21, 1985 at Mt. Mitchell
	North Carolina State Flag North Carolina State Seal North Carolina Location Map North Carolina
	Author: World Trade Press