. Carolina is taken from the
Latin word for "Charles",
Carolus. The region was claimed as part of the Spanish territory named
La Florida by
Ponce de Leon in 1513.
Santa Elena, a Spanish settlement on what is now
Parris Island, South Carolina, was the capital of
La Florida from 1566 to 1587. It was founded by
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the first governor of Spanish Florida. There had been a number of earlier attempts to establish colonies in the area by both the Spanish and the French, who had been inspired by earlier accounts of the plentiful land of
Chicora. Menéndez's Santa Elena settlement shifted the focus of Spanish colonial efforts northward from
St. Augustine, which had been established in 1565 to drive the French from their colony of
Fort Caroline. Santa Elena was ultimately built at the site of the abandoned French outpost of
Charlesfort, founded in 1562 by
Jean Ribault. The establishment of Santa Elena followed the destruction of the French Fort Caroline by Menéndez in 1565. The Spanish settlement housed a sizeable community, and became the base of operations for the
Jesuits and military working in the northern zone of
Spanish Florida. From this base the Spanish founded a number of other ephemeral forts as far inland as the
Appalachian Mountains, but resistance from local Native American tribes and the lack of interest of Spain in the area, caused these to be abandoned, relocated or destroyed. Santa Elena was ultimately abandoned in 1587, with its survivors relocating to St. Augustine. The Spanish never pressed their colonial claims to the area again, focusing on other areas of the American continent. The territory was thereafter left to the native Americans until October 30, 1629, when Charles I granted a patent to his attorney-general, Sir
Robert Heath, for the lands south of
36 degrees and north of
31 degrees, "under the name, in honor of that king, of Carolana".
Carolus is Latin for 'Charles'. The charter was unrealized and later ruled invalid. On March 24, 1663,
Charles II issued a new charter to a group of eight English noblemen, granting them the land of Carolina, as a reward for their faithful support of his efforts to regain the throne of England. The eight were called
Lords Proprietor or simply
Proprietors. The 1663 charter granted the Lords Proprietor title to all of the land from the southern border of the
Virginia Colony at
36 degrees north to
31 degrees north (along the coast of present-day Georgia). The establishment of separate colonies did not officially occur until 1729, when seven of the Lords Proprietors sold their interests in Carolina to
the Crown, and both
North Carolina and
South Carolina became royal colonies. In 1665, the charter was revised slightly, with the northerly boundary extended to 36 degrees 30 minutes north to include the lands of the
Albemarle Settlements along the
Albemarle Sound, which had been settled mainly by Virginians migrating south. Likewise, the southern boundary was moved south to 29 degrees north, just south of present-day
Daytona Beach, Florida, which had the effect of including the existing Spanish settlement at St. Augustine, an unenforceable overreach of English power. The charter also granted all the land, between these northerly and southerly bounds, from the Atlantic Ocean, westward to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, an even more unenforceable overreach. Between 1663 and 1729 there were many disagreements relating to defense, governance and the difference between the two differing
agrarian styles employed by the inhabitants of the
Colony of Virginia and that practiced by the planters arriving to
Charles Town from the
West Indies and
Barbados. In 1729 the Province of Carolina was divided when the descendants of seven of the eight Lords Proprietors sold their shares back to the Crown. Only the heirs of
Sir George Carteret retained their original rights to what would become the
Granville District. Both the
Province of North Carolina and the
Province of South Carolina became
British Crown Colonies in 1729. During the
American Civil War (1861–1865), South Carolina was the first Southern state to
secede from the Union, while North Carolina was the second to last state to secede. South Carolina was generally one of the strongest supporters of the
Confederacy. The war began in Charleston, South Carolina, where cadets of the South Carolina Military Academy, known as
The Citadel, fired the opening shots at the Union Ship
Star of the West. North Carolina was also a key Confederate state, raising and supplying many regiments of soldiers to the Confederacy. At Gettysburg, one in four Confederate soldiers was from North Carolina, despite the fact that some North Carolinians (especially in the western part of the state) refused to support the Confederacy. North Carolina's Civil War governor,
Zebulon Vance, was an outspoken critic of Confederate President
Jefferson Davis and frequently refused to obey Davis's orders for reinforcements and supplies; Vance insisted the soldiers and supplies would be needed for North Carolina's Confederate effort. However, during the seven days' battles, North Carolina did send large numbers of troops for the general aid of the South as a whole. The Carolinas were both instrumental in keeping the Confederacy alive, because of their deepwater ports in
Wilmington and Charleston. These two cities were key in supplying Southern armies with weapons, clothing, and ammunition, and producing food and provisions for Southern civilians. A
Unionist presence would persist throughout North Carolina during the Civil War, with North Carolina forming its own
Union Army regiments. In South Carolina, no Union Army regiments were formed due to a smaller unionist presence, although the
Upstate region of the state was a haven for Confederate Army deserters and resisters, as they used the Upstate topography and traditional community relations to resist service in the Confederate ranks. ==Culture==