Greensboro (IPAEng: ˈɡriːnzbɜroʊ or /ˈɡriːnzbʌroʊ/) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city, by population, in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. As of the 2000 census, Greensboro was home to 223,891 residents. Its estimated 2007 population was 244,610. On June 30, 2008, Greensboro annexed more than 10,000 residents over an area of slightly more than , bringing its population to 258,6711.

The city is located at the intersection of two major interstate highways (I-85 and I-40) in the Piedmont ("foot of the mountains") region of central North Carolina.

In 1808, Greensborough (as was the spelling prior to 1895) was planned around a central courthouse square to succeed the nearby town of Guilford Court House as the county seat. This act moved the county courts closer to the geographical center of the county, a location more easily reached by the majority of the county's citizens.

In 2003, the previous Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was re-defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, resulting in the formation of the Greensboro-High Point MSA and the Winston-Salem MSA. The 2006 population estimate for the Greensboro-High Point MSA was 685,378. The Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point combined statistical area (CSA), popularly referred to as the Piedmont Triad, had an estimated population of 1,535,926 in 2007 making it the 30th largest metropolitan area in the USA. Source: US Bureau of the Census, Annual Estimates of the Population Table CBSA-EST2007-02

Early history

The city was named for Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the American forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781., Although the Americans lost the battle, Greene's forces inflicted such heavy casualties on the British Army of Lord Cornwallis that Cornwallis chose to pull his battered army out of North Carolina and into Virginia. This decision allowed a combined force of American and French troops to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, where the British were forced to surrender on October 19, 1781, after a 20-day siege, thus ending the American Revolution. As such, Greene's successful efforts at weakening the British Army played a key role in securing America's victory over the British. Historian David McCullough considers Nathanael Greene to be "the best general" in the American military during the Revolution, including George Washington.

Greensboro was established near the geographic center of Guilford County, on land that was "an unbroken forest with thick undergrowth of huckleberry bushes, that bore a finely flavored fruit." Property for the future village was purchased for $98, and three north-south streets (Greene, Elm, Davie) were laid out intersecting with three east-west streets (Gaston, Market, Sycamore). The courthouse stood at the center of the intersection of Elm and Market streets. By 1821, the town was home to 369 residents.