 Differences in the settlement patterns of eastern and western North Carolina, or the low country and uplands, affected the political, economic, and social life of the state from the eighteenth until the twentieth century.The Tidewater in eastern North Carolina was settled chiefly by immigrants from rural England and the Scottish Highlands.The upcountry of western North Carolina was settled chiefly by Scots-Irish, English and German Protestants, the so-called "cohee".