The first state capitol, completed in 1794, was destroyed by fire in 1831 and was replaced by the present Greek revival structure in 1840. Near the end of the American Civil War, in April 1865, the city was occupied by Union troops under the leadership of General William Tecumseh Sherman. In the 1970s and 1980s a major urban-renewal program improved housing conditions and transportation networks in the downtown area. In the 1990s Raleigh took a leading role in improving the water quality of the Neuse River basin.

Raleigh covers a land area of 115 sq mi, with a mean elevation of 363 ft. According to the 2000 census, whites are 63.3 percent of the population, blacks 27.8 percent, Asians 3.4 percent, and Native Americans 0.4 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report ethnicity.

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