Wikipedia has something to say about The Triangle and its history: The Research Triangle, commonly referred to as The Triangle, is a region in the Piedmont of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. The eight-county region, officially named the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA, comprises two Metropolitan and one Micropolitan Statistical Area: Raleigh-Cary and Durham metropolitan area. The region’s population was 1,314,589 at the 2000 census.[1] The research universities of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University are located in this region. The Triangle name was cemented in the public consciousness in the 1950s with the creation of Research Triangle Park, home to numerous high-tech companies and enterprises. Although the name is now used to refer to the geographic region, The Triangle originally referred to the universities, whose research facilities and the educated workforce they provide, have historically served as a major attraction for businesses located in the region.
The Triangle boasts several malls:
• Brier Creek (Raleigh)
• Brightleaf Square (Durham)
• Cameron Village (Raleigh)
• Carolina Premium Outlets (Smithfield)
• Cary Towne Center (Cary)
• Crabtree Valley Mall (Raleigh)
• Crossroads Plaza (Cary)
• Northgate Mall (Durham)
• North Hills (Raleigh)
• South Square Mall - defunct (Durham)
• The Streets at Southpoint (Durham)
• Triangle Towne Center (Raleigh)
• A Southern Season (Chapel Hill)
Raleigh is one of the most alive and developed cities in North Carolina. As the capital of the state, it is a home to lots of museums, well-known schools, hospitals and media stations.
Many a city is not a city without the existence of an energetic shopping culture. Raleigh fits to this category, as it is also the location of many markets and malls. The good thing about The Triangle is that Raleigh is not the only city that can boast of its malls. Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and Smithfield have their share of great malls and shopping centers too.
For individual descriptions of these malls, simply go to History of Shopping Malls.