North American Free Trade Agreement See NAFTA North Atlantic Treaty Organization See NATO
North Canadian River River, south-central Oklahoma, U.S. It rises in a high plateau in New Mexico and flows east through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles past Oklahoma City, joining the Canadian River in the Eufaula Reservoir. The North Canadian River is 800 mi (1,287 km) long. Above the mouth of the Wolf River, one of its tributaries, the North Canadian is know as Beaver River.
North Carolina State (pop., 2000: 8,049,313), southern Atlantic region, U.S. Lying on the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Virginia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It covers 52,671 sq mi (136,417 sq km); its capital is Raleigh. Ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, including the Great Smoky Mountains, are in the west; the Blue Ridge Mountains are in the east. Several Indian peoples inhabited the area before Europeans arrived. The coast was explored by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, and the first English settlement in the New World was established at Roanoke Island in 1585. It formed part of the Carolina grant of 1663. A provincial congress in 1776 gave the first explicit sanction of independence by an American colony, and North Carolina was invaded by British troops in 1780. An original state of the Union, it was the 12th to ratify the Con¬ stitution. Its 18th-century agricultural economy based on slave labour continued into the 19th century. It seceded from the Union in 1861; fol-
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lowing the American Civil War, it annulled the secession order and abol¬ ished slavery, and it was readmitted to the Union in 1868. In the 1940s its economy improved as some of the nation’s largest military installa¬ tions, including Fort Bragg, were located there. It has a large rural popu¬ lation but is also the leading industrial state of its region, and it has an expanding high technology industry in the Raleigh-Durham area. Prod¬ ucts include tobacco, corn, and furniture.
North Carolina, Regulators of See Regulators of North Carolina
North Cascades National Park National park, northwestern Washington, U.S. Established in 1968 to preserve mountain snowfields, glaciers, alpine meadows, and lakes in the northern part of the Cascade Range, it covers an area of 504,781 acres (204,278 hectares). The Ross Lake National Recreation Area separates the park into two sections, the northern unit extending to the Canadian border and the southern unit adjoining the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.
North Dakota State (pop., 2000: 642,200), U.S. Situated in the north- central region, it is bordered by Canada and the U.S. states of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Montana. It covers 70,704 sq mi (183,123 sq km); its capital is Bismarck. The Missouri River crosses it; the Red River forms its eastern boundary. There is evidence of prehistoric inhabitation through¬ out the state. At the time of European contact, it was inhabited by vari¬ ous tribes of Plains Indians. It became part of the U.S. with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The northeastern corner was added by a treaty with Great Britain in 1818. In 1804-05 the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered there among the Indians. In 1861 it became part of the Dakota Territory. Separated from South Dakota, it was admitted to the Union in 1889 as the 39th state. In the 20th century North Dakota’s history was marked by the increasing mechanization of agriculture, the enlargement of farms, and the loss of a rural population. In the 1950s it became an oil-producing state, and in the 1960s air bases and missile sites were built there. Its larger cities include Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, U.S.
©ANNIE GRIFFITHS BELT
North Down District (pop., 2001: 76,323), eastern Northern Ireland. Located on the southern shores of Belfast Lough, it was established in 1973, with Bangor as its administrative seat. Most of the working popu¬ lation is employed in Belfast. Tourism flourishes, and Bangor is a popu¬ lar seaside resort.
North German Confederation (1867-71) Union of the German states north of the Main River, formed after Prussia’s victory in the Seven Weeks' War. The confederation recognized the individual states’ rights but was effectively controlled by Prussia, whose king served as its presi¬ dent and whose chancellor was Otto von Bismarck. Its constitution served as a model for that of the German Empire, with which it merged in 1871.
North Island Island (pop., 2001 est.: 2,849,724), New Zealand. The smaller of the country’s two principal islands, it is separated from South Island by the Cook Strait. It has an area of 44,702 sq mi (115,777 sq km). A growing majority of the population of New Zealand lives on North Island, concentrated in the cities of Wellington and Auckland.
North Korea See North Korea
North Platte River River, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, U.S. One of the two main arms of the Platte River, it rises in northern Colo¬ rado, flows north into Wyoming, then turns east and southeast across the Nebraska border to join the South Platte and form the Platte. It is 680 mi (1,094 km) long and is part of an irrigation, power, and flood-control project of the Missouri River basin. It has large reservoirs and dams.
North Pole Northern end of the Earth’s geographic axis, located at lati¬ tude 90° N. It is the northern point from which all meridians of longitude start. Lying in the Arctic Ocean and covered with drifting pack ice, it has six months of constant sunlight and six months of total darkness each year. Robert E. Peary claimed to have reached the pole by dogsled in 1909, but that is now in dispute; Roald Amundsen and Richard E. Byrd claimed to have reached it by air in 1926. The geographic pole does not coincide with the magnetic North Pole, which in the early 21st century lay at about 82°45' N, 114°25' W, or with the geomagnetic North Pole, which is at about 79°45'N, 71 °45'W.
North Sea ancient Mare Germanicum Arm of the Atlantic Ocean. Extending south from the Norwegian Sea between Norway and the Brit¬ ish Isles, it connects the Skagerrak (channel between Norway and Den¬ mark) with the English Channel. It is about 600 mi (970 km) long and 350 mi (560 km) wide, with an average depth of 308 ft (94 m). Parts of the sea feature deep trenches, while others have excellent fishing, renowned fisheries, and extensive oil and natural gas deposits.
North Star See Polaris
North West Co. (1783 -1821) British-Canadian fur-trading company. Its operations were centred around the Lake Superior region and the val¬ leys of the Red, Assiniboine, and Saskatchewan rivers. It later spread north and west to the Arctic and Pacific oceans. When its competitor, the Hudson's Bay Co., established a colony on the Red River (1811-12), North West workers destroyed the colony in the Seven Oaks Massacre. Hudson’s Bay workers retaliated by destroying the North West post at Fort Gibral¬ tar. The British government pressured the two companies to merge in 1821 as the Hudson’s Bay Co.