The current flag of North Carolina was introduced on 9 March 1885. It goes back to Johnston Jones, a former Confederate soldier and Adjutant General of North Carolina between 1877 and 1888. It shows two horizontal stripes in red and white and a vertical blue bar on the leech. The three colours red, white and blue correspond to the colours of the US flag. Blue stands for vigilance, endurance and justice, red stands for tenacity and bravery, white stands for purity and innocence. Red and blue are the colours of the state of North Carolina. In the centre of the blue bar is a white star and the initials of the state "N" and "C". Above and below are the two important dates "May 20th 1775" and "April 12th 1776", which are the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (on which the inhabitants of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, declared themselves "free and independent men") and the Halifax Resolutions (the first official demand in the American colonies for independence from United Kingdom). The single star stands for North Carolina itself. Its design is reminiscent of the "Stars and Bars" of the Confederate States of America (CSA), to which North Carolina belonged between 1861 and 1865. North Carolina's first flag of its own was introduced in connection with the declaration of independence from the USA on 20th of May in 1861 and was based on a design by William G. Browne from Raleigh. It showed two horizontal stripes in blue and white and a vertical red bar on the leech. A large white star in the centre of the bar and the two important dates "May 20th 1775" and "May 20th 1861" below and above it. These are the declarations of independence of Mecklenburg and the declaration of independence of North Carolina from the USA. The flag law of 1885 provided for an aspect ratio of 3:4 (as in the flag of 1861), which was changed to 2:3 on 24th of June in 1991 and the blue bar was also set to a width of one third of the flag.
about 8000 B.C. · settlement by Indians (Cherokee, Tuscarora, Muskogee, Cheraw, Tutelo, Catawba, Cherokee, Algonquin)
1524 · the Spanish navigator Giovanni da Verrazano lands on the coast
1526 · founding of the Spanish settlement San Miguel de Gualdape (today's Myrtle Beach)
1584–1586 · the English sailor and adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh receives by Queen Elizabeth I. the permission to found a colony at the coast of America
1585 · first attempt to establish an English settlement on the coast by Sir Walter Raleigh
1587–1590 · second attempt to establish an English settlement on Roanoke Island, "Lost Colony"
30th of September 1629 · the land is granted as a New Carolana to Robert Heath by King Charles I., no colonial activities
1660 · establishing of a settlement by New Englanders in the vicinity of the Cape Fear River
1662 · the governor of Virginia founds Southern Plantation
1663 · Charles II., King of England, gives the land to Lord Clarendon and seven other nobles (Lord Proprietors) as Province of Albemarle
1665 · establishment of Carolina as a separate colony (today's North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and parts of Florida)
1705 · founding of Bath
1710 · founding of New Bern
1710 · differences on the form of government and administration lead to dividing the country into North and South Carolina
1714 · the English king recognizes the division
1722 · Edenton becomes capital of North Carolina
1729 · the rights of the colony become returned by the Lords Proprietors for 17.500 pounds sterling to the British Crown, Carolina will be officially divided, South Carolina becomes a separate Crown Colony
1730 · Foundation of Newton (Wilmington)
1743 · Raleigh becomes capital
1750 · Foundation of Charlotte
1754 · New Bern becomes capital
1758 · Wilmington becomes capital
1765 · New Bern becomes capital
1790 · cede of the Tennessee Territory
1794 · Raleigh becomes capital
1768–1771 · Farmer Uprising (Regulators)
1775–1783 · Independence War of the colonies against United Kingdom, 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain, 1781 Battle of Cowpens, 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse
20th of May 1775 · declaration of independence in Charlotte (Mecklenburg County)
12th of April 1776 · declaration of independence by the Provincial Congress (Halifax Resolutions)
4th of July 1776 · declaration of Independence (USA), North Carolina is one of 13 founding colonies, proclamation of the State of North Carolina
20th of May 1861 · North Carolina declares after the call of Abraham Lincoln on US-forces to invade the neighboring state of South Carolina his resignation from the USA and joins the Confederate States of America (CSA)
1861–1865 · civil war: the northern Atlantic coast of the country (New Bern and the Outer Banks) will be occupied from 1862 by US-troops, the south of the country becomes plundered and devastated by murdering and pillaging troops of the US-General Sherman in 1865, Wilmington (last port of CSA) becomes captured on 22nd of February in 1865
9th of April in 1865 · General Lee surrenders at Appomattox (Virginia) as commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, the other CSA Armies capitulate gradually until July 1865
1865–1877 · "reconstruction", forced return of the CSA states in the USA
25th of June 1868 · reentry into the United States
The name "Carolina" (initially also Carolana) was given to the country by Sir Robert Heath in honour of the English King Charles I in 1619, from the Latin form of the name, namely "Carolus". In 1710, the country was divided into North Carolina and South Carolina. According to other sources, the French introduced the name to the country around 1562 when they named it in honour of their king Charles IX (Charles). Charles I, King of England, liked the name and adopted it for the new English colony in 1629.
