South Carolina historical timeline

Origins

The Catawba, Cherokee and Yamasee held this land. English settlers founded Charleston in 1670, and the colony grew rich on rice and indigo grown by enslaved West Africans whose agricultural knowledge made the crop possible.

Turning points

For much of the eighteenth century the colony held a Black majority. South Carolina was the first state to secede, in December 1860, and the war began when its forces fired on the fort in Charleston harbour in April 1861.

Influential people

The Penn Center on one of the Sea Islands was among the first schools for formerly enslaved people, founded in 1862, and later served as a planning retreat for the civil rights movement.

Cultural evolution

An earthquake levelled much of Charleston in 1886, and the iron bolts fitted to hold the buildings together are still visible on their facades. Poverty after the rice economy collapsed is the accidental reason the historic centre was never redeveloped.

Present-day significance

Tourism, aerospace, car manufacturing and the port carry the economy. The murder of nine parishioners at a Charleston church in 2015 led to the Confederate flag being removed from the State House grounds.