Named after the
Lords Proprietors Story by Janice Cole Hopkins
Many of the place names in North Carolina stem from the early days of settlement. Do you know how the first settlement took place in North Carolina after it was initially explored and the first attempts at colonization failed? To fully understand what took place, let’s consider some background material. When
the
New
World
was
first
colonialized by the British, the most common way of obtaining land was through a trading company, such as the East India Company. That changed in 1632, however, when King
George Monck, Duke of Albemarle
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
Charles I gave George Calvert proprietary rights to a large area of land east of the Potomac River in exchange for a portion of the incomes gained from it. This became the colony of Maryland, and similar grants would follow. These Lords Proprietors were to govern the land and had immense power. The land grant or license normally spelled out their exact responsibilities and powers. In 1629, King Charles I had given Sir Robert Heath the southern half of the English property in the New World between 36 degrees and 31 degrees north latitude from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, and it was named Carolina, meaning “land of Charles.” Did you know Carolina once included part of California and everything in between? Yes, it stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific
John Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Stratton 52
William Craven, Earl of Craven
Ocean.
