Charleston, city, seat of Charleston county, southeastern South Carolina, U.S. It is a major port on the Atlantic coast, a historic centre of Southern culture, and the hub of a large urbanized area that includes Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Hanahan, and Goose Creek. The city is situated on a peninsula between the estuaries of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, facing a fine deepwater harbour.
The settlement, originally called Charles Towne (for Charles II), was established by English colonists in 1670 on the west bank of the Ashley, thus beginning the colonization of South Carolina. Moved to its present site in 1680, it became the commercial centre of trade in rice and indigo. In 1722 it was briefly incorporated as Charles City and Port, and in 1783 it was reincorporated as Charleston.
Charleston was the seat of the provincial congress in 1775 that created the state of South Carolina, and it was named the state capital the following year. In the American Revolution the city was held by the British from 1780 to 1782. It ceased to be the state capital in 1790, when the legislature moved to Columbia. Freed from British trade restrictions, Charleston prospered as the chief winter port of the United States until the War of 1812. It had a large trade in the Caribbean and exported cotton and rice.
As the South’s senior city, Charleston led the fight for states’ rights from the beginning of that movement up to the formation of the Confederacy. South Carolina’s ordinance of secession was passed in Charleston on December 20, 1860, and the capture of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, by Confederates (April 12–14, 1861) precipitated the American Civil War. The city was blockaded by Union land and sea forces from July 10, 1863, to February 18, 1865, the siege ending only when General William Tecumseh Sherman’s advance forced the city’s evacuation.
The completion of jetties through the harbour bar in 1896 provided Charleston with a deepwater entrance, and in 1901 a U.S. naval base was established on the Cooper River. The base was expanded in both World Wars I and II, and during the Cold War Charleston became heavily dependent on U.S. defense facilities, as it was the location of a naval shipyard, a naval station, and naval supply and distribution centres (all now closed). The port’s trade also expanded rapidly after World War II, and the nearby Santee Cooper hydroelectric project (1942) aided the city’s industrial development, which is now well diversified and includes paper and pulp mills, metalworking, and the manufacture of molded rubber products, auto parts, chemicals, electrical equipment, textiles, and clothing. Charleston remains the financial and commercial centre of coastal South Carolina. The city was devastated by a powerful hurricane in September 1989, and its economy received a serious, though short-lived, blow in 1993, when the decision was made to close the naval shipyard and several other naval bases.
The city is the seat of the College of Charleston (1770), the Medical University of South Carolina (1824), The Citadel (1842; a military college), Trident Technical College (1964), and Charleston Southern University (1964; formerly the Baptist College at Charleston). Charleston’s many old colonial homes and churches, picturesque streets and courtyards, and notable parks and gardens recall its days as the chief city of the royal province of Carolina, and the city and its surroundings attract large numbers of tourists. Historic buildings include Heyward-Washington House (1772), the Joseph Manigault House (1803), and the Dock Street Theatre (1736; rebuilt 1937). Cultural institutions include the Charleston Library Society (1748), the Carolina Art Association (1858), and the South Carolina Historical Society (1855). The College of Charleston was the nation’s first municipal college, and the Charleston Museum (founded 1773) is the oldest museum in the United States.
The Battery (White Point Gardens), conspicuous for monuments and military relics, stands at the city’s southern extremity, overlooking the rivers and the harbour. Fort Sumter National Monument, commemorating the first shot fired in the Civil War, is located about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) southeast of Charleston, in the bay. Nearby are Middleton Place, a former plantation with a formal garden established in the mid-18th century; Magnolia Plantation and Its Gardens, noted for azaleas and camellias; and Cypress Gardens. Pop. (2000) 96,650; Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metro Area, 549,033; (2010) 120,083; Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metro Area, 664,607.