The leading state of the Old South, and once predominantly agricultural, South Carolina today has become an industrial leader of the New South. A state with a turbulent history, it was a major battleground of the American Revolution and suffered severely during the American Civil War--a conflict into which it led the other Southern states in its futile attempt to preserve the aristocracy of the plantation culture. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, and over the harbor at Charleston the Civil War's first guns sounded in the Confederacy's bombardment of Fort Sumter.
The Civil War and the bitter Reconstruction period that followed brought the collapse of South Carolina's long-dominant (though never very profitable) plantation system and thrust the state into a long economic depression. The leading landowners lost their property, and the era was marked by military occupation, disenfranchisement of former Confederates, and corrupt government. A popular Confederate general, Wade Hampton, was elected governor in 1876 with the support of white militants (called Red Shirts) who intimidated black voters. After his election the leadership of the old guard planters and merchants was reestablished until a farmers' movement led by Benjamin Tillman fought for and won certain rights for small farmers, including provisions for agricultural and vocational education.
The development of industry, which began on a large scale late in the 19th century and accelerated in the mid-20th century, has been the key to the state's gradual return to prosperity. Textile manufacturing, much of it attracted from New England by low wages, the lack of unions, and the nearness of raw materials, became the major industry. Manufacturing remains the backbone of South Carolina's economy--with billions of dollars in investment--but the service sector is steadily growing in importance.
The Palmetto State is as famous today for the federal government's nuclear-materials plant on the Savannah River as it once was for its cotton plantations and beautiful tropical gardens. The palmetto has been the emblem on the state's flag as well as the state seal since the late 1700s. It is a symbol of the defeat of the British fleet at Fort Moultrie near Charleston in 1776. The ramparts of the fort were made of palmetto logs. South Carolina was named in honor of King Charles IX of France and then in honor of Charles I and Charles II of England.
A rough triangle set into the southeastern coast of the United States, South Carolina slopes upward from the Atlantic Ocean to the Blue Ridge Mountains. One side of the triangle borders the ocean for 187 miles (301 kilometers). The opposite tip reaches into the mountains in the northwest. North Carolina borders it on the north; Georgia, on the west and southwest. Its area is 31,113 square miles (80,582 square kilometers), including 909 square miles (2,354 square kilometers) of water surface. The greatest length, along the Georgia border, is 250 miles (402 kilometers). The greatest width, near the coast, is 200 miles (322 kilometers).
