North Carolina

North Carolina borders Tennessee to the west, south with South Carolina, southwest with Georgia, north with Virginia and east with the Atlantic Ocean.

The coastal plain is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, which maintains mild temperatures in winter and moderate temperatures in summer. In summer, the maximum temperature on the coast averages less than 32 ° C. In winter, the coast enjoys the mildest temperatures in the state, with daytime temperatures that rarely fall below 5 ° C. On the coast it snows about three days a year, with years without snow.

The Atlantic Ocean exerts less influence on the Piedmont region and, as a result, its summers are hotter and winters colder than those on the coast. In Piedmont, the maximum daytime temperature in summer normally averages 32 ° C. While it is not common for temperatures in North Carolina to exceed 37 ° C, when it happens, the highest temperatures are recorded in the lower areas of Piedmont, especially around the city of Fayetteville.

In 1795, North Carolina opened the first public university in the United States – the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More than 200 years later, the University of North Carolina encompasses 16 public universities, including the two largest: North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There are also several universities historically known as North Carolina A&T State University, Winston-Salem State University and North Carolina Central University. In addition to public universities, North Carolina has 58 public colleges.

However, North Carolina has recently been affected by industrial relocation and the growth of countries such as China: one in five jobs in the manufacturing sector in the state has been lost as a result of overseas competition.

During the 20th century, North Carolina grew to become a national leader in agriculture, financial services and manufacturing. The state’s industrial production – mainly Textiles, chemical industry, chemical products, electrical equipment, Paper and Pulp – placed it in eighth place in the nation in the early 1990s.

The textile industry, which was one of the pillars of the state economy, has been losing jobs in front of producers in Latin America and Asia since the 1980s, although it is still the state with the highest production in the United States. In recent years, another important industry in North Carolina, such as furniture production, has also been hit hard by competition from Asian countries (especially China) and relocation and job losses. Tobacco is one of the main sources of income and remains vital for the local economy despite concerns about whether the federal government will continue to support tobacco growers with subsidies; this has led some producers to switch to other crops such as Vine or abandon agriculture altogether. North Carolina is the leading producer of tobacco in the country. Farming in the counties of western North Carolina (particularly Buncombe and surrounding counties) is undergoing revitalization along with the market, driven by the growing demand for organic products and local products.

Carolina del Norte