Charleston History, South Carolina

Charleston can be called the living museum of America. Amidst its beautiful beaches, colonial houses and intriguing culture you find history that is not available anywhere else in America.

The history of Charleston goes back to the year 1663 when King Charles II gave away Carolina to Florida. It was Eight Lords Proprietors who received this land to convert into a colony to settle in

Later, in April 1670, the Carolina ship berthed in the harbor to bring in the colonists. This led to settlers moving into Charles Towne, the ancient English city of Virginia.

Reasons for immigration to Charleston

Free land, religious thoughts and titles of landed nobility is what drew people of various cultures to Charles Town. In the meantime, colonists considered the rich mud of the city to be perfect for harvesting rice and for cultivating indigo, the innovative blue denim dye.

With such a vast opportunity for agriculture, wealth and trade, the slave trade flourished in Charles Town. With this, majority of the people here were blacks and it was their hard slavery that made Charles Town a large municipality with the richest per capita during the Revolution.

With the Revolution, the Palmetto State was born in Charles Town. Charles Town was later renamed to the existing Charleston in 1783, and is still the capital of South Carolina.

Signing of the Ordinance of Secession

It was in the 19th century that John C. Calhoun vouched the need for a formidable state government. Thus, the Ordinance of Secession was signed in 1860 in Charleston. Within six months of this signing, Fort Sumter was attacked by Confederate, with which war erupted here.

During the war, Charleston provided cover to besieged runners who had supplied to the Confederacy. Once the Civil War ended, all the states of America moved into the 20th century not as America, but as ‘The Untied States of America’.

There were significant changes, for the better, in Charleston. The landmark change of the city was the abolishment of the age long slavery with which not only the people, but also the city witnessed a huge changeover.

Slowly wealth in Charleston started withering while the local leaders of the city managed to gain control of the state and city from the reconstruction government. Thus, apartheid became the law of Charleston while its mellow history is still preserved, polished and displayed for the world to see. 

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