ALBEMARLE SOUND

coastal inlet of northeastern North Carolina, U.S. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the Outer Banks, extends (east-west) for about 50 miles (80 km), and varies in width from 5 to 14 miles (8 to 23 km). Its average depth is 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 metres), and nowhere is it deeper than 25 feet (8 metres). It receives the Pasquotank, Alligator, Chowan, and Roanoke rivers and discharges this flow at its southeastern end through the Roanoke and Croatan sounds to Pamlico Sound. It is connected with Chesapeake Bay by the Great Dismal Swamp and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal and is crossed by the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway. Elizabeth City is the chief port. Explored by Ralph Lane from the Roanoke Island colony in 1585, Albemarle Sound was first called the Sea of Rawnocke (Roanoke Sea) and later Albemarle Bay or River after George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle. Along its shores were the state's earliest European settlements.