The capital of North Carolina, a city named for Sir Walter Raleigh, is Raleigh.
Raleigh was established in 1792 as North Carolina’s planned capital. It was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier who sponsored the Roanoke Colony, an early English attempt to establish a settlement in what became the United States.
The city was deliberately created near the geographic center of North Carolina to make the seat of government more accessible from different parts of the state. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” because of its many oak trees.
Charlotte is North Carolina’s largest city and a major banking center, but it is not the capital. Raleigh forms part of the Research Triangle with Durham and Chapel Hill, a region noted for universities, technology, and scientific research.