Province of Carolina

The Province of Carolina was a province of the Kingdom of England (1663–1707) and later the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It consisted of all or parts of present-day Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the Bahamas. "Carolina" is taken from the Latin word for "Charles" (Carolus), honoring King CharlesI. and was first named in the 1663 Royal Charter granting to Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkeley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley, and Sir John Colleton the right to settle lands in the present-day United States states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Roanoke ColonyCarolana and Albemarle Settlements Spanish FloridaFrench FloridaSan Miguel de GualdapeCharlesfort-Santa Elena SiteSpanish assault on French Florida and Santa Elena (Spanish Florida) On October 30, 1629, King Charles I of England granted a patent to Sir Robert Heath for the lands south of 36 degrees and north of 31 degrees, "under the name, in honor of that king, of Carolana." Carolus is Latin for 'Charles'. Heath wanted the land for French Huguenots, but when Charles restricted use of the land to members of the Church of England, Heath assigned his grant to George, Lord Berkeley. King Charles I was executed in 1649 and Heath fled to France where he died. Following the 1660 restoration of the monarchy, Robert Heath's heirs attempted to reassert their claim to the land, but Charles II ruled the claim invalid. Although the Lost Colony on Roanoke Island was the first English attempt at settlement in the Carolina territory, the first permanent English settlement was not established until 1653, when emigrants from the Virginia Colony, with others from New England and Bermuda, settled at the mouths of the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers, on the shores of Albemarle Sound, in the northeastern corner of present-day North Carolina.