State of South Carolina general data
- Time zone: 6 hours less than Italy
- Capital: Columbia
- Main towns: Charleston, Greenville, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Rock Hill, Spartanburg
- Area: 82.931 km²
- Population: About 5,000,000 inhabitants.
- Population density: 60,2 residents / km²
- State abbreviation: SC
- Entry into the United States: It joins the United States on May 23, 1788, it is the 8th state to join the union.
According to thembaprograms.com, the territory of South Carolina can be divided into three major regions from the morphological point of view: the Blue Ridge, the coastal plain and the Piedmont region. This variety is reflected in a landscape that includes beaches, mountains, swamps and lush forests. With an average elevation of 107m, the highest point in the state is located on the top of Mount Sassafras, at 1,085m. The highlands of the state include the Blue Ridge mountain range and the Piedmont region. The region of the chain occupies a small sector of the extreme northwest of the state, with a great wealth of forest and which extends into North Carolina. This chain mountainous counts on mountains between 365 m and 1,085 m.
The Piedmont region extends from the Blue Ridge range to the central area of South Carolina. This area of the state is made up of low hills. The Piedmont region includes the Sand Hills, or Sand Hills that cross the center of the state from the border with North Carolina to that of Georgia. The coastal plain region is the main part of the state. It extends from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the widest part of South Carolina, to connect with the Sand Hills, which separate it from the Piedmont region. This region is divided into two zones, the highest section of the plain, the one connected with the Sand Hills belt, it has fertile lands where large plantations were concentrated, and the section of the plains near the ocean, are frequently swampy, forest areas and are preferably used as pasture or for the cultivation of rice. South Carolina’s major rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean, having paralleled the state lands from northwest to southeast. The major rivers are the Pee Dee, Santee, Savannah and Edisto. Most are used for the production of electricity and are a major communication route between the coast and the interior. On the course of these rivers, dams were built that formed the main lakes of the state.
Flora and fauna – The coves are covered by maritime forests of palmetto (a typical local plant), oak, pine and myrtle, while inside grow cypresses, oaks, willows, pines and various species of poplars. The fauna is very rich: foxes, possums, hares, squirrels, minks and other species are protected while the numerous white deer, ducks, quail, wild turkeys and geese can be hunted; there are numerous species of fresh and salt water fish.
The climate – of South Carolina is hot and humid, as it is influenced by the currents of the Gulf of Mexico. The winters, therefore, are short and mild, and the summers, long and hot. Temperatures do not vary excessively from one region to another, with the exception of the mountainous northwestern area, although on the coast, the thermometer normally marks a couple of degrees lower than in the interior, both in the winter months as those of summer. Average temperatures in January are 9 ° C and in July 27 ° C. As for rainfall, they are more abundant in summer and at the end of winter, with annual averages ranging between 1,110 mm and 1,270 mm, although they are more intense in the mountainous area, where in some points there is precipitation of 1,950 mm per year. Precipitation in the form of snow is rare, not so tornadoes and hurricanes.
South Carolina: places of interest – what to see
The territory can be divided into three regions (Low Country, Midland, Up Country). It is in the Low Country that the traces of the easy and rich life of the English ancestors of a part of the population are most evident, even if a harmonious balance between history and progress has been established everywhere. Even in the relatively important port of Charleston (not to be confused with the capital of West Virginia), partially transformed under industrial pressure, the traces of the colonial era are still numerous, especially along the History Trail which crosses on one side on the other the old city center. In spring, visitors flock to the small narrow streets lined with brightly colored gardens; passing through the wrought iron portals, you enter the opulent residences (white or pale pastel) of the ancient colonial shopkeepers, decorated on each floor with columned verandas. The old churches and museums bear witness to a past that the slave market remembers was not spotless, while Fort Sumter, located on an islet of the same name, evokes a glorious episode: the first cannon shots were fired from there of the Civil War. But it is as summer approaches that the Charleston region shows its wonders. The three parks she is proud of then justify their reputation as “the most beautiful gardens in the United States” in the eyes of the enchanted visitor. The Magnolias garden competes with its dazzling colors with the Cypress garden and in the English park of Middleton (the oldest in the United States).
The days when the first Englishmen, landing at Bulls Bay in 1670, settled in South Carolina in a short time, quickly establishing extensive plantations that only asked to develop under the blazing sun. At the heart of the Midlands (Middle Lands), the capital Columbia holds museums and monuments to the glory of the past, but its face is that of a modern city in full expansion.
In the north of the Up Country (High Country) with valleys and mountains crossed by streams of clear water such as the Chatooga or the Tugaloo, there are still plantations such as the restored 18th century Walnut Grove: the industrial production of peaches has changed the scenario and Spartanburg’s pace of life.
South Carolina is a center of great attraction for tourists and sportsmen of all kinds: polo, horse riding, and horse competitions attract all horse lovers to Aiken and Camden, in the Midlands countryside. The coast, which extends to infinity with its hidden bays and long trendy beaches, is the most suitable environment for lovers of water sports but also for golfers.
Cultural tourist places– The most important cultural institutions are: the Charleston Museum, the Gibbes Art Gallery, the Columbia Museum of Art and Science, the Greenville County Museum of Art, the Florence Museum of Air and Missiles and the Rice Museum. Other places of historical and cultural interest are the parks that commemorate the battlefields, the War of Independence and the Civil War, including those of Cowpens and Kings Mountain. Also worth a visit are the historic centers of the cities of Charleston and Beaufort, and the city of Camden which preserves restored buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Columbia (South Carolina)
According to countryaah.com, Columbiais the capital of the state of South Carolina. Columbia, the largest city in the state, is the distribution center of an agricultural region that produces peaches, bean sprouts and sugar beets. Industries produce nuclear power plant equipment, steel products, textiles, clothing and graphics. The state government provides numerous jobs.
Although General William T. Sherman destroyed much of Columbia during the Civil War, the State House managed to remain intact. Today six bronze stars mark the spots where Union cannon fire hit the building, located right downtown, on quiet Gervais Street. On the banks of the river, the South Carolina State Museum is housed in a beautifully restored former textile factory from 1894. The adjacent South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Museum houses an extensive collection illustrating South Carolina’s military history during the wars of the United States. South of the city, Congaree Swamp National Park offers a close look at the biodiversity of an ecosystem of swamps and cypresses.
According to topschoolsoflaw.com, other sites of tourist interest are the State Legislative Building (1907), the Chapelle Administration Building (1922), designed by architect John Anderson Lankford, and the Columbia Museum of Art. Columbia’s Mann-Simons Cottage was built approximately in the year 1850 by Celia Mann, a freed slave, who later established one of South Carolina’s first black churches after the Civil War. It currently houses a museum of African American culture.
The city of Columbia is home to the University of South Carolina (1801), the Benedict school (1870) and Allen University (1870). Located in the center of the state, it became the new capital in 1786 by decision of the Legislative Assembly of South Carolina, in an attempt to reduce the tensions that existed between the inhabitants who lived on the coast, and those who populated the interior. The former capital was located on the coast, in Charleston. The assembly named the new capital Columbia in honor of Christopher Columbus.
