 Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. It is the county seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 276,093, making it the second most populous city in North Carolina, behind Charlotte. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill make up the three cities of The Triangle, so named in 1959 with the creation of the Research Triangle Park, a research park between Durham and Raleigh (mostly located within Durham County). The Triangle is equivalent to the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area of Raleigh-Durham-Cary. Its estimated total population as of 2005 was 1,509,560. The estimated Raleigh-Cary metropolitan statistical area population, as of 2004, is 914,680.
The City of Raleigh estimates its population to be 353,604 as of July 1, 2006, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. Raleigh placed fourth on MONEY Magazine's 2006 list of Best Big Cities.
Raleigh was selected as the site of a new state capital in 1788 and established in 1792 as both the new county seat and the new state capital. It was named in November 1792 for Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsor of the Colony of Roanoke, which was also known as the "Lost Colony" (today, the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site).
The site was chosen as being within ten miles of Isaac Hunter's Tavern, which was apparently popular with the legislators of the time. No city or town existed on the site before it was chosen to house the capital. Raleigh is one of the few cities in the U.S. planned and built specifically to serve as a state capital.
The North Carolina General Assembly first met in Raleigh in December 1794, and within one month, the legislature officially granted the city a charter, with a board of seven appointed commissioners (starting in 1803, elected by the people) and an "Intendant of Police" (what would later be called "Mayor") to govern it. John Haywood was the first Intendant of Police.
Despite being spared destruction in the Civil War, Raleigh grew very little from its original 1792 size until the introduction of streetcar lines in the 1920's, the establishment of the Research Triangle Park in the 1950's, and a freeway known as the Beltline (I-440/US-1/US-64) in the 1960's.
Raleigh's industries include electrical, medical, electronic, telecommunications equipment, clothing apparel, food processing, paper products, and pharmaceuticals. Raleigh is part of North Carolina's Research Triangle, a center of researching and textiles. The city is a major retail shipping point for eastern North Carolina and a wholesale distributing point for food stores.
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