Between 1700 and 1775 no colony in British America experienced more impressive growth than North Carolina, and no region within the colony developed as rapidly as the Lower Cape Fear. In his study of this eighteenth-century settlement, Bradford J. Wood challenges many commonly held beliefs, presenting the Lower Cape Fear as a prime example for understanding North Carolina - and the entirety of colonial America - as a patchwork of regional cultures.

Of America's thirteen original colonies, North Carolina was one of the most rural, its urban population miniscule and its maritime commerce severely limited--except in the town of Wilmington. Prior to the Civil War, the coastal town was North Carolina's largest urban area and principal seaport, with shipping as the mainstay of the local economy. Wilmington indeed was a singular place in colonial and antebellum North Carolina. This book presents the history of Wilmington from its founding and development to the eve of the Civil War. Part I traces Wilmington's history from the incorporation of the town in 1739-40 to 1789, when North Carolina joined the newly formed United States of America. This section focuses on the confused and disputed origins of Wilmington, life in a colonial urban setting, the growing importance of the port, and town governance. Part II expands upon the preceding topics for the years 1789 to 1861. It also examines the economic development of the port, the wide variety of social activities, the growth of the African American population, and Wilmington's role in state and national politics.

In the wake of their victory in the Tuscarora War (1711–15), English settlers forced the Tuscarora Indians of eastern North Carolina, along with the Meherrin, Core, Chowan, Mattamuskeet, Neuse, Hatteras, Bay River, and White Oak River Indians, to become colonial tributaries with assigned land reserves. As tributaries, these Native tribes had special duties and rights recognized by the colony, but they also had to navigate a new world thrust upon them by the colonial government and white settlers. Historian David La Vere argues that through this devious sleight of hand, the colony erased these groups’ designation as “Indians,” eliding their official, documented existence. The paper genocide of these Native peoples of eastern North Carolina reinforced the growing binary of Black and white society with no place for Native Americans. La Vere traces the process of racialization for both the Native American and wider North Carolinian populations in the decades that followed the war, using previously undiscovered material to chart the dehumanization that occurred as well as the repercussions of the tributary policies that were still felt nearly 200 years after the conflict.

This extensive study in historical geography exhibits a precise understanding of the physical environment of pre-revolutionary North Carolina and skillfully interprets this environment in terms of mid-eighteenth century culture. Merrens is the first author to effectively examine the relationship between geographical factors and to analyze it for the entire colonial period. Originally published in 1964. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

"Critical essay on authorities": p. 324-356.