Wilmington

Sister cities

• Doncaster
• Bridgetown
• San Pedro
• Dandong

History

The city was founded in the 1730s. After going through a series of different names (New Carthage, New London, Newton), its name became Wilmington. In the early 16th century, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, commissioned by the king of France with a French crew, was reportedly the first European to see this area, including the city's present site. The first permanent colonial settlement in the area was established in the 1720s by European settlers. The settlement, founded by the first royal governor, George Burrington, was called New Carthage, and then New Liverpool; it gradually took on the name New Town or Newton. Governor Gabriel Johnston soon after established his government there for the North Carolina colony. Some early settlers of Wilmington came from the Albemarle and Pamlico regions, as well as from the colonies of Virginia and South Carolina, but most new settlers migrated from the northern colonies, the West Indies, and Northern Europe. Many of the early settlers were indentured servants from Northern Europe. As the indentured servants gained their freedom and fewer could be persuaded to travel to North America because of improving conditions back home, the settlers imported an increasing number of slaves to satisfy the labor demand. Many worked in the port as laborers, and some in ship-related trades. Naval stores and lumber fueled the region's economy, both before and after the American Revolution. During the Revolutionary War, the British maintained a garrison at Fort Johnston near Wilmington. Due to Wilmington's commercial importance as a major port, it had a critical role in opposition to the British in the years leading up to the revolution. The city had outspoken political leaders who influenced and led the resistance movement in North…

Geography

Wilmington is the eastern terminus of Interstate 40, an east-west freeway that ends 2,554 miles away at Barstow, California, where it joins I-15, the gateway to Southern California. This road passes through many major cities and state capitals along the way. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (2.95%) is water. The lower Cape Fear River estuary contains a chain of artificial dredge-spoil islands formed during 19th-century navigation improvements, which draw recreational kayakers and amateur fossil hunters to the area's shell beds and exposed shoreline. Wilmington has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with these characteristics: * Winters are generally mild with January highs in the mid-50s °F (≈12 °C) and lows in the mid-30s °F (≈1 °C). Snowfall does not occur in most years, and when it does, is generally light. * Spring is reasonably lengthy, beginning in late February and lasting to early May. The presence of abundant dense vegetation in the area causes significant pollen dusting in the springtime that tends to turn rooftops and cars yellow. * Summer brings high humidity, with daily high temperatures usually ranging from the upper 80s to lower 90s °F (31–34 °C), and daily low temperatures usually from 70 to 75 °F (≈22 °C). Heat indices can easily break the mark, though the actual temperature does not in most years. Due to the proximity of warm Atlantic Ocean waters and prevailing tropical-system tracks, the Wilmington area is subject to hurricane or tropical storm activity, mostly from August to early October, with an average frequency of once every seven years. Such tropical systems can bring high winds and very heavy rains, sometimes or more in a single tropical…

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