View source for Province of Carolina

{{Short description|British province in North America and the Caribbean (1663–1712)}}
{{About|the British province that existed from 1663 to 1712|other uses|Carolina (disambiguation){{!}}Carolina}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| conventional_long_name = Province of Carolina
| common_name            = Carolina
| subdivision            = [[Province]]
| nation                 = [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
| life_span              = 1663–1712
| image_flag             = Colonial-Red-Ensign.svg
| flag_type              = British Red Ensign|
| symbol_type            = Seal
| image_map              = Colonial Carolina.png
| image_map_caption      = Location of Carolina in North America
| capital                = [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charlestown]]<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change to "Charleston" as it would be ahistorical. Thank you. -->
| coordinates            = {{Coord|34|48|17|N|79|40|31|W|region:US-SC_type:region|display=inline,title}}
| government_type        = [[Proprietary colony]]
| motto                  = {{native phrase|la|Domitus Cultoribus Orbis|italics=on}}<br /><small>"Tamed by the cultivators of the world"</small>
| anthem                 = "[[God Save the King]]"{{Efn|There was no authorized version of the national anthem as the words were a matter of tradition; only the first verse was usually sung.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 January 2016 |title=National Anthem |url=https://www.royal.uk/national-anthem |access-date=4 June 2016 |newspaper=The Royal Family|last1=Berry |first1=Ciara }}</ref> No statute had been enacted designating "God Save the King" as the official anthem. In the English tradition, such laws are not necessary; [[proclamation]] and usage are sufficient to make it the national anthem. "God Save the King" also served as the [[Honors music|Royal anthem]] for certain [[Crown colony|royal colonies]]. The words ''King, he, him, his'' were replaced by ''Queen, she, her'' when the monarch was female.}}<br /><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:United States Navy Band - God Save the King.oga]]</div>
| title_leader           = Lords Proprietor
| leader1                = {{unbulleted list|[[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon|The Earl of Clarendon]]|[[George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle|The Duke of Albemarle]]|[[William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1608–1697)|The Earl of Craven]]|[[John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton|Lord Berkeley of Stratton]]|[[Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury|The Earl of Shaftesbury]]|[[George Carteret|Sir George Carteret]]|[[William Berkeley (governor)|Sir William Berekeley]]|[[Sir John Colleton, 1st Baronet|Sir John Colleton]]}}
| year_leader1           = 1663
| title_deputy           = [[Governor]]
| deputy1                = [[Philip Ludwell]] (first)
| year_deputy1           = 1692–1693
| deputy2                = [[Robert Gibbes]] (last)
| year_deputy2           = 1710–1712
| legislature            = <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please leave blank. Thank you. -->
| house1                 = Grand Council
| house2                 = Parliament of Carolina
| era                    = [[Stuart period|Stuart era]]
| event_start            = Charter of Carolina
| date_start             = March 24,
| year_start             = 1663
| event_end              = Partition of Carolina
| date_end               = January 24,
| year_end               = 1712
| p1                     = Colony of Virginia
| p2                     = Cofitachequi
| p3                     = Joara
| s1                     = Province of North Carolina
| s2                     = Province of South Carolina
| today                  = United States
* Alabama
* Florida
* Georgia
* Mississippi
* {{nowrap|North Carolina}}
* {{nowrap|South Carolina}}
* Tennessee
}}
The '''Province of Carolina''' was a colony of the [[Kingdom of England]] (1663–1707) and later the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] (1707–1712) that existed in North America from 1663 until the Carolinas were partitioned into [[Province of North Carolina|North]] and [[Province of South Carolina|South]] in 1712. However, the two parts did not become separate and administrative [[crown colonies|royal colonies]] until 1729.

The original North American Carolina province of 1663 consisted of all or parts of present-day Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Poore|editor-first=Ben. Perley|editor-link=Benjamin Perley Poore |date=1877 |title=The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the United States, Volume II |url=https://archive.org/details/federalstatecons02poor/page/1382/mode/2up |location=Washington |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] |pages=1382–1390 |oclc=958743486 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

==Etymology==
"Carolina" is taken from the [[Latin]] word for "[[Charles]]" ([[Carolus (name)|Carolus]]), honoring King [[Charles I of England|Charles{{nbs}}I]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/NC/HISTORY/HISTORY.HTM |title=North Carolina State Library—North Carolina History |publisher=Statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us |access-date=July 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205021230/http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/NC/HISTORY/HISTORY.HTM |archive-date=February 5, 2009}}</ref>

==First patents and settlements==
On October 30, 1629, King [[Charles I of England]] granted a patent to Sir [[Robert Heath]] for the lands south of [[36th parallel north|36 degrees]] and north of [[31st parallel north|31 degrees]], "under the name, in honor of that king, of [[Carolana]]."<ref name="cummings1998">{{Cite book |last=Cummings |first=William |title=The Southeast in Early Maps, Third Edition |date=1998 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0807823716 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |page=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=N. C. Board of Agriculture |title=A sketch of North Carolina |date=1902 |publisher=Lucas-Richardson Co |location=Charleston |page=4 |ol=6918901M}}</ref>
Heath wanted the land for French [[Huguenots]], but when Charles restricted use of the land to members of the [[Church of England]], Heath assigned his grant to George, Lord Berkeley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NHC Public Library – New Hanover County – North Carolina |url=http://www.nhcgov.com/Library/Documents/History+of+the+Lower+Cape+Fear.pdf |website=New Hanover County}}</ref>
King Charles I was executed in 1649 and Heath fled to France where he died. Following the 1660 [[English Restoration|restoration of the monarchy]], Robert Heath's heirs attempted to reassert their claim to the land, but [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] ruled the claim invalid.

Although the [[Lost Colony]] on [[Roanoke Island]] was the first English attempt at settlement in the Carolina territory, the first permanent English settlement was not established until the 1653 [[Albemarle Settlements|Albemarle Settlement]], when emigrants from the [[Virginia Colony]], with others from [[New England]] and [[Bermuda]], settled at the mouths of the [[Chowan River|Chowan]] and [[Roanoke River]]s, on the shores of [[Albemarle Sound]], in the northeastern corner of present-day North Carolina.

Within three generations of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]], the Spanish from their Florida base had started to emigrate up the coast of modern North Carolina. A Virginia tribe defending their resources and families drove them back to Georgia.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} A Scottish contingent had meanwhile settled in South Carolina only to be extirpated by the Spanish, who inhabited [[Parris Island, South Carolina|Parris Island]] as late as 1655. The Spanish were again beaten back to Georgia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crane |first=Vernon |title=The Southern Frontier 1670–1732 |publisher=University of North Carolina |year=1928}}</ref>

==1663 Charter==
{{See also|Colony of Virginia|Stuart Restoration}}
[[File:Carolinacolony.png|thumb|left|The Province of Carolina before and after the split into [[Province of North Carolina|north]] and [[Province of South Carolina|south]]]]
===Lords Proprietors===
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 '' [[Lord proprietor|Lords Proprietors]]'' or simply ''Proprietors''.<ref name="Charter">{{Cite web |title=The Charter of Carolina (1663)|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/charter-carolina-1663 |access-date=28 Feb 2024 |website=ANCHOR - A North Carolina History Online Resource}}</ref>

The 1663 charter granted the Lords Proprietor title to all of the land from the southern border of the [[Virginia Colony]] at [[36th parallel north|36 degrees north]] to [[31st parallel north|31 degrees north]]; this included all the land between these northerly and southerly bounds from the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] westward to the shores of the [[Pacific Ocean]].<ref name="Avalon2008">{{Cite web |date=2008 |title=Charter of Carolina – March 24, 1663 |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nc01.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207040908/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nc01.asp |archive-date=February 7, 2009 |access-date=10 February 2016 |website=Avalon Law |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School |quote=Know ye, that we of our further grace, certain knowledge, and meer motion, have thought fit to erect the same tract of ground, county, and island, into a province, and out of the fulness of our royal power and prerogative, we do, for us, our heirs and successors, erect, incorporate and ordain the same into a province, and call it the Province of Carolina,...}}</ref>
The King intended for the newly created province to serve as an English bulwark to contest lands claimed by [[Spanish Florida]] and [[Buffer state|prevent their northward expansion]].<ref name="Hoffer2006">{{Cite book |last=Peter Charles Hoffer |url=https://archive.org/details/bravenewworldhis0000hoff_a3b3 |title=The Brave New World: A History of Early America |date=14 December 2006 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8483-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bravenewworldhis0000hoff_a3b3/page/323 323] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Wickman1999">{{Cite book |last=Patricia Riles Wickman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfxLUWRSkHwC |title=The Tree that Bends: Discourse, Power, and the Survival of Maskoki People |date=2 March 1999 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-0966-4 |page=179}}</ref>

The Lords Proprietors named in the charter were:
* [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon]]
* [[George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle]]
* [[William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1608–1697)|William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven]]
* [[John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton]]
* [[Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury]]
* Sir [[George Carteret]]
* Sir [[William Berkeley (governor)|William Berkeley]] (brother of John)
* Sir [[Sir John Colleton, 1st Baronet|John Colleton, 1st Baronet]]

Of the eight, the one who demonstrated the most active interest in Carolina was Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury, with the assistance of his secretary, the philosopher [[John Locke]], drafted the [[Grand Model for the Province of Carolina]] (which included the [[Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina]]), a plan for government of the colony heavily influenced by the ideas and [[Utopia|utopian]] aspirations of English political scientist [[James Harrington (author)|James Harrington]]. Some of the other Lords Proprietors also had interests in other colonies: for instance, John Berkeley and George Carteret held stakes in the [[Province of New Jersey]], and William Berkeley had an interest in [[Virginia Colony|Virginia]].

The Lords Proprietors, operating under their royal charter, exercised their authority with nearly the independence of the king himself. The colony's government consisted of a governor, a powerful council, on which half of the councilors were appointed by the Lords Proprietors themselves, and a relatively weak, popularly elected assembly.

In 1665, the charter was revised slightly (see [[Royal Colonial Boundary of 1665]]), with the northerly boundary extended to [[Parallel 36°30' north|36 degrees 30 minutes north]] to include the lands of settlers along the [[Albemarle Sound]] who had left the [[Virginia Colony]]. Likewise, the southern boundary was moved south to [[29th parallel north|29 degrees north]], just south of present-day [[Daytona Beach, Florida]], which had the effect of including the existing [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] settlement at [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]].<ref name="Avalon2008a">{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Charter of Carolina – June 30, 1665 |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nc04.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124015532/https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nc04.asp |archive-date=January 24, 2009 |access-date=3 May 2023 |website=Avalon Law |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School |quote=Know ye, That we, of our further grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, have thought fit to annex the same tract of ground or territory unto the same province of Carolina; and out of the fullness of our royal power and prerogative, we do, for us, our heirs and successors, annex and unite the same to the said province of Carolina.}}</ref>

===Settlements===
In 1663, Captain William Hilton noted the presence of a wooden cross erected by the Spaniards that still stood before the town meeting house of the Indians living at what later became [[Port Royal, South Carolina|Port Royal]].<ref name="Crane1928">{{Cite book |last=Verner Crane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4voBZqHuCIUC&pg=PA6 |title=The Southern Frontier 1670–1732 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=1928 |isbn=978-0-8173-5082-6 |page=6}}</ref> In 1665, Sir [[John Yeamans]] established a second short-lived English settlement on the [[Cape Fear River]], near present-day [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], which he named Clarendon. From 1675 to 1677, the Province and [[Chowanoc]] Natives [[Chowanoc War|fought]].

[[File:Carolina Vintage Map.JPG|thumb|left|Map of Carolina (1676)]]

In 1669, [[William Sayle]] of Bermuda had taken over the command of the party of settlers gathered in Bermuda after Sir [[John Yeamans]] resigned while undergoing repairs of his vessel in Bermuda. Most of the party was made up of emigrants from England who had arrived in Bermuda en route to the establishment of the settlement in the Carolinas. Sayle arrived in Carolina aboard a [[Bermuda sloop]] with a number of Bermudian families to found the town of Charlestown.

In early 1670 the Lords Proprietors founded a sturdier new settlement named Charles Town (present day [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]]) when they sent 150 colonists to the province, landing them on the south bank of the Ashley River, South Carolina. (The town moved across the river to a more defensible site on the peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers in 1680.

In 1670, William Sayle, then in his eighties, became the first [[List of colonial governors of South Carolina|Colonial Governor of the colony of Carolina]].<ref>''The Exodus'', by Michael Jarvis, in The Bermudian magazine, June 2001.</ref>
<ref>''In the Eye of All Trade'', by Michael Jarvis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press (2010). {{ISBN|9780807872840}}.</ref> Many of the other colonists were planters from [[Barbados]].<ref name="Butler">{{cite web |last1=Butler |first1=Nic |title=Barbados and the Roots of Carolina, Part 1 |url=https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/barbados-and-roots-carolina-part-1 |website=Charleston County Public Library |access-date=29 February 2024 |date=16 November 2017}}</ref>

The "[[History of Charleston, South Carolina|Charles Town]]" settlement, as it was known then, developed more rapidly than the Albemarle and Cape Fear settlements due to the advantages of a natural harbor and expanding trade with the [[West Indies]]. Charles Town was made the principal seat of government for the entire province; Lord Shaftesbury specified its street plan. The nearby [[Ashley River (South Carolina)|Ashley]] and [[Cooper River (South Carolina)|Cooper river]]s are named for him.

Due to their remoteness from each other, the northern and southern sections of the colony operated more or less independently until 1691, when [[Philip Ludwell]] was appointed governor of the entire province. From that time until 1708, the northern and southern settlements remained under one government. The north continued to have its own assembly and council; the governor resided in Charles Towne and appointed a deputy-governor for the north. During this period, the two halves of the province began increasingly to be known as North Carolina and South Carolina.

==Government==
In 1669, the [[Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina]] divided the colony of Carolina into two provinces, Albemarle province in the north and Clarendon province in the south.<ref>Richard Middleton, ''Colonial America: A History'' (Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley Blackwell, 1992), p. 125.</ref> Due to dissent over the governance of the colony, and the distance between settlements in the northern half and settlements in the southern half, a deputy governor was appointed to administer the northern half of Carolina (Albemarle province) in 1691.<ref>Charles McLean Andrews, ''The Colonial Period of American History,'' Volume III (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934), p. 258.</ref> In 1712, the two provinces became separate colonies, the colony of North Carolina (formerly Albemarle province) and the colony of South Carolina (formerly Clarendon province).<ref>Alan Taylor, ''American Colonies: The Settlement of North America'' (New York: Penguin Books, 2001), 226.</ref>

Carolina was the first of three colonies in North America settled by the English to have a comprehensive plan. Known as the [[Grand Model for the Province of Carolina|Grand Model]], or Grand Modell, it was composed of a constitution and detailed guidelines for settlement and development. The constitution, titled [[Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina]], was drafted by the philosopher John Locke under the direction of Anthony Ashley Cooper (later made [[Earl of Shaftesbury]]).<ref>Wilson, Thomas D. ''The Ashley Cooper Plan: The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture.'' Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Chapter 1.</ref>

From 1708 to 1710, due to disquiet over attempts to establish the Anglican church in the province, the people were unable to agree on a slate of elected officials; consequently, there was no recognized and legal government for more than two years, a period which culminated in [[Cary's Rebellion]] when the Lords Proprietors finally commissioned a new governor. This circumstance, coupled with the [[Tuscarora War]] and the [[Yamasee War]], and the inability of the Lords Proprietors to act decisively, led to separate governments for North and South Carolina.

==Later years==
Some identify the 1708–1710 period as the establishment of separate colonies, but that 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. The eighth share was Sir George Carteret's, which had passed to his great-grandson [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville]]. He retained ownership of a sixty-mile-wide strip of land in North Carolina adjoining the Virginia boundary, which became known as the [[Granville District]]. This district was to become the scene of many disputes, from 1729 until the [[American Revolutionary War]], at which time it was seized by the North Carolina revolutionary government. Governments under proprietary rule and under crown rule were similarly organized. The primary difference was who was to appoint the governing officials: the Lords Proprietors or the Sovereign.

Although the division between the northern and southern governments became complete in 1712, both colonies remained in the hands of the same group of proprietors. A rebellion against the proprietors broke out in Charlestown, South Carolina (as it was now spelled) in 1719, which led to the appointment of a [[Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies|royal governor]] for South Carolina in that same year. North Carolina would become a royal colony in 1729.<ref>[https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/07/25/north-carolina-became-royal-colony North Carolina Became a Royal Colony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125194827/https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/07/25/north-carolina-became-royal-colony |date=January 25, 2023 }}. ''ncdcr.gov''. Retrieved January 14, 2022.</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
|align=none
|type= USA
|1660|1000
|1670|4050
|1680|6630
|1690|11500
|1700|16424
|1710|26003
|footnote=Source: 1660–1710;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purvis |first=Thomas L. |url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 |title=Colonial America to 1763 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0816025275 |editor-last=Balkin |editor-first=Richard |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 128–129]}}</ref>
}}

==See also==
* [[Bibliography of South Carolina history]]
* [[History of South Carolina]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
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* {{Internet Archive author|name=Province of Carolina}}
<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please follow the [[WP:EL]] guideline where possible and consider discussing on the talk page. Thank you. -->

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
 |title  = Province of Carolina
 |years  = 1663–1712
 |before = Southern part of the [[Colony of Virginia]]<br>1606–1663
 |after  = [[Province of North Carolina]]<br>1712–1776
 |after2 = [[Province of South Carolina]]<br>1712–1776
}}
{{s-end}}

{{British overseas territories}}
{{Thirteen Colonies}}

{{Portal bar|British Empire|Caribbean|North America}}<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add "Portal:United States" as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carolina, Province of}}
[[Category:Province of Carolina| ]]<!--please leave the empty space as standard-->
[[Category:1712 disestablishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1712 disestablishments in North America]]
[[Category:1663 establishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1663 establishments in North America]]
[[Category:Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas]]
[[Category:Former English colonies]]
[[Category:Former Christian states]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Alabama]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Mississippi]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of North Carolina]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of South Carolina]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Tennessee]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1663]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1712]]