Greenville

City, seat of Pitt County, eastern North Carolina, USA, on the Tar River; 117 km/73mi southeast of Raleigh; population (2000) 60,500. It is the commercial centre of a rich agricultural area producing tobacco, peanuts, soybeans, corn, livestock, and poultry. Its industries include tobacco and food processing, and the production of pharmaceuticals, textiles, boats, plastic items, forklift trucks, and timber. It is the site of East Carolina University (1907) and a community college. Its growth from a small market town followed the arrival of the railway in 1889 and the establishment of a tobacco market in 1891.

The city, founded in 1771, was first called Martinsborough, but in 1786 was renamed Greenesville (later Greenville) after Gen Nathanael Greene, a hero of the American Revolution.