North Carolina was initially founded as part of the Carolina colony. The success of the Virginia colony led King Charles II to grant a charter to eight noblemen in 1663 for the establishment of a new colony south of Virginia. This charter included the land that constitutes current day North Carolina and South Carolina.

The first ships set out for the settlement in 1669, though settlers from Virginia had moved onto land in the Carolina colony by 1660, predating the chartered area's royal claim. The first official settlement in Carolina was the port city of Charleston.

The northern and southern parts of the colony drew different populations of settlers with different economic visions. In the northern part, the tobacco economy of Virginia was copied. In the southern part, the economy relied more heavily on rice. The population grew large enough by 1712 that the colony was officially divided into North and South Carolina.