In South Carolina, the modern age has neither masked the romance of the Old South nor overshadowed the powerful events of colonial and Confederate times. This state's turbulent and romantic history tells a story that remains deeply ingrained in the history of the US.

Spanish explorers made the first attempt to settle in present-day South Carolina in 1526, less than 35 years after the Europeans discovered America. A severe winter, hostile natives, and disease proved too much for the Spanish to overcome, and the settlement was abandoned. In 1562, a group of French Huguenots, led by Jean Ribaut, landed near the site of present-day Parris Island Marine Corps Base. The French colony might have been a success, had Ribaut's return to the colony from business in France not been delayed. The remaining colonists, fearing they had been abandoned, built a craft and sailed for home. Light winds stranded their boat at sea, and they faced the danger of starvation until a passing English ship rescued them.

The task of settlement fell to the English, whose challenge to Spanish control of the New World eventually met with success. A land grant from England's King Charles II gave the Carolinas to eight English noblemen (still known today as the "Lords Proprietors"). In 1670, the English arrived at Albemarle Point and established Charles Towne, the first successful European settlement in the Carolinas.

During the American Revolution, almost 200 battles and skirmishes were fought in South Carolina. The first overt act of revolution occurred at Fort Charlotte on July 12, 1775; this was the first British property seized by American Revolutionary forces. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. The initial clash of the Civil War also occurred on South Carolina soil; the bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861 resulted in its seizure by Confederate forces, who maintained possession until the evacuation of Charleston in 1865. Bloodied, impoverished, and blackened by the fires of General Sherman's "March to the Sea," South Carolina emerged from the difficult Reconstruction days and was readmitted to the Union in 1868.

For most of the period since the Civil War, South Carolina has had economic problems, but in recent years these difficulties have eased as industry has been attracted by hospitable communities and favorable tax rates. From town to town throughout the state, diversified industries have brought greater prosperity with them. South Carolina is a major producer of tabacco, cotton, pine lumber, corn, oats, sweet potatoes, soybeans, peanuts, peaches, melons, beef cattle, and hogs. Power projects have been created by damming the Santee, Saluda, Savannah, and other rivers. Four atomic energy plants provide commercial energy. Tourism, the state's second-largest industry, continues to grow.