One of the original 13 colonies, North Carolina became the 12th U.S. state on November 21, 1789. With a current population of 10.5 million, North Carolina is the ninth-most populous state in the ...

Just outside North Carolina's Outer Banks is Roanoke Island, the scene of one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in U.S. history: the disappearance of an entire colony of English settlers.

North Carolina, which was at one time combined with South Carolina to form a single territory, was one of the original 13 colonies and became the 12th state in 1789. It sent the most troops to ...