Columbia South Carolina

Columbia South Carolina is the capital of South Carolina. It is also the largest city in South Carolina. Columbia was named for Christopher Columbus.
Columbia is located where the Saluda River and Broad River merge to create the Congaree River. The Congaree River was named for a local tribe.

Demographics

Columbia, South Carolina was home to 130,000 as of the 2010 census. It is surrounded by a number of suburbs and the center of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, home to roughly 800,000 people. That makes it the second largest metropolitan area in the state.

Statistics

The city covers 135 square miles. It is located at the junction of Interstate 20 and routes 26 and 77. It is also located at the transition point between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Piedmont region, a plateau that transitions from the coastal plains to the Appalachian Mountains.

Economy

The city’s economy revolves around government and education. It is the state capital and the county seat for Richland County. The city is the home of the flagship campus of the University of South Carolina. The university was founded so that the local population wouldn’t have to travel to Europe to be educated.
Columbia is home to Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest training base.

Attractions

Columbia, South Carolina is the home of the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden. It has a canal and riverfront park in downtown. It is home to several museums, including the South Carolina State Museum. This facility contains exhibits on science, history, technology and natural history.
South Carolina was a dedicated member of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Columbia is home to many antebellum homes and pre-Civil War structures, such as the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens. It is also the home of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

Columbia hosts the South Carolina State Fair in October.

History

Herman De Soto passed through the area on his 1540 expedition. A fort was later established at the merging point of the rivers; the location of Columbia is considered the fall line or location where the river cannot be navigated upstream. Columbia was settled in the 1700s by Europeans. It was selected as the state capital site in 1786. The city’s site was chosen as a capital for the state because of its central location in the state.

By 1800, a canal to connect Columbia to Charleston was finished; this was one of the first canals in the U.S. Columbia was chartered as a town in 1805. It became a city in 1854. In 1865, a large part of the city was destroyed deliberately by fire by Union troops.
Columbia, South Carolina was the first state capital whose layout was planned. It was the second city in the U.S. to be planned in a grid pattern; Savannah, Georgia was the first. Ironically, none of the streets were paved until 1908.

After the Civil War, Columbia became a regional textile manufacturing hub.

Trivia

Columbia was the location of the South Carolina Secession Convention. The vote was 159 to 0 to secede. This is where the state of South Carolina voted to leave the Union, an action that eventually led to the U.S. Civil War.