Raleigh

Raleigh, city in central North Carolina, capital of the state, and seat of Wake County. The city is located near the Neuse River. Raleigh is a commercial and distribution hub for an extensive agricultural area. The city, along with Durham and Chapel Hill, forms one of the corners of a region dubbed the Research Triangle, an area containing extensive facilities used for scientific and educational research and development. More than 70 companies and government agencies have research laboratories in nearby Research Triangle Park, a large campus-like development devoted to high technology enterprise. The city is served by Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Raleigh is the site of Shaw University (1865), Saint Augustine’s College (1867), North Carolina State University at Raleigh (1887), Meredith College (1891), and a number of junior colleges. Points of interest include the State Capitol (1833-1840); the State Legislative Building (1963), designed by American architect Edward Durell Stone; the North Carolina Museum of Art; the North Carolina Museum of History; the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; 18th-century houses, including the birthplace of President Andrew Johnson, now in Mordecai Historic Park; J. S. Dorton Arena, on the state fairgrounds; and the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center, which includes the Memorial Auditorium. The Carolina Hurricanes, a National Hockey League team, play in the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena. The North Carolina State Fair is held every October in the city.

The Tuscarora people lived in what is now the Raleigh region before Europeans arrived. After the American Revolution ended in 1783, the citizens of North Carolina decided to establish a centrally located permanent capital. The present site was selected in 1788, and the settlement was laid out in 1792 and named for the English courtier and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. The city incorporated in 1795.

The first state capitol, completed in 1794, was destroyed by fire in 1831 and was replaced by the present Greek revival structure in 1840. Near the end of the American Civil War, in April 1865, the city was occupied by Union troops under the leadership of General William Tecumseh Sherman. In the 1970s and 1980s a major urban-renewal program improved housing conditions and transportation networks in the downtown area. In the 1990s Raleigh took a leading role in improving the water quality of the Neuse River basin.

Raleigh covers a land area of 297 sq km (115 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 111 m (363 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 63.3 percent of the population, blacks 27.8 percent, Asians 3.4 percent, and Native Americans 0.4 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 7 percent of the people. Population 150,255 (1980); 207,951 (1990); 276,093 (2000); 356,321 (2006).