Carolinas

The Carolinas
Region
Coordinates: 34°48′17″N 79°40′31″W
Country	United States of America
States	North Carolina South Carolina
Principal cities	- Charleston, South Carolina  - Charlotte, North Carolina  - Columbia, South Carolina  - Durham, North Carolina  - Greensboro, North Carolina  - Greenville, South Carolina  - Raleigh, North Carolina  - Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Colonized as Province of Carolina	1663
Area
• Total	85,839 sq mi (222,320 km2)
• Land	78,804 sq mi (204,100 km2)
• Water	7,025 sq mi (18,190 km2)  8.2%
Population  (2020)
• Total	15,557,813
• Density	180/sq mi (70/km2)
Demonym	Carolinian
GDP (nominal)
• Total	$1.014 trillion (2022)
• per capita	$65,145 (2022)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)

The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. They were both part of the original Thirteen Colonies, which gained independence from the British Empire in 1783. During the colonial period, the southern portion of the Carolinas was primarily a support for the British West Indies; where thousands upon thousands of slaves were brought in to feed the growing trade. The same could not be said about the northern part of the region, which was a sparsely populated area, mostly inhabited by decommissioned servants from the Chesapeake area, many of whom set up small tobacco farms.