Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston | |
---|---|
Nickname : The Holy City, The Palmetto City, Chucktown | |
|
|
flag |
|
Location of Charleston in South Carolina | |
Basic data | |
Foundation : | 1670 |
State : | United States |
State : | South carolina |
Counties : |
Charleston County Berkeley County |
Coordinates : | 32 ° 47 ′ N , 79 ° 56 ′ W |
Time zone : | Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 ) |
Inhabitants : - Metropolitan Area : |
134,385 (as of 2016) 761,155 (as of 2016) |
Population density : | 372.1 inhabitants per km 2 |
Area : | 376.5 km 2 (approx. 145 mi 2 ) of which 361.2 km 2 (approx. 139 mi 2 ) is land |
Height : | 4 m |
Postcodes : | 29401-29425 |
Area code : | +1 843 |
FIPS : | 45-13330 |
GNIS ID : | 1221516 |
Website : | www.charleston-sc.gov |
Mayor : | John Tecklenburg |
House front in Charleston (2006) |
Charleston (originally Charles Town ) is a port city in the US state of South Carolina with a population of 120,209 (according to the last census in 2010, 2016 estimate: around 134,000). For a long time it was the metropolis of the southern states , the hub of the slave trade in the British colonies and the capital of South Carolina until 1788 . It is the administrative seat of Charleston County and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston .
geography
Charleston was built on a peninsula at the confluence of the Ashley River and Cooper River . Both rivers form a wide confluence there that merges into the Atlantic in the southeast. This bay offered the ideal, protected location for a natural harbor, the Charleston Harbor .
Population development
year | Residents¹ |
---|---|
1980 | 69,779 |
1990 | 80.414 |
2000 | 100,459 |
2010 | 120.209 |
2016 | 134,385 |
¹ 1980–2010: census results; 2016: US Census Bureau estimate
history
The city was founded in 1670 and named after the English King Charles II. Charles Town . In 1690 it was the fifth largest city in North America with 1200 inhabitants and the hub of the slave trade of the British colonies via the Middle Passage . After the War of Independence , the city got its current name in 1783.
In 1776, Fort Moultrie, upstream from Charleston, on Sullivan's Island had resisted the British during the American Revolutionary War. 85 years later, the fighting of the American Civil War began with the shelling of Fort Sumter, located in Port Charleston, by Confederates on April 12, 1861 . On 17 February 1864, the hand-powered submarine sank CSSHL Hunley the warship USS Housatonic the northern states (five dead); it is considered the first submarine in the world to be destroyed by another ship. The order of the Hunley was to break the blockade of the port of Charleston by the northern states.
The city was largely destroyed in the Charleston earthquake of 1886 , but was rebuilt by its residents in the four years that followed. Today, like Natchez (Mississippi) , it is considered a North American architectural jewel, as many buildings in the Greek Revival style of the antebellum architecture of the 19th century have been preserved.
The Charleston dance, which became popular in the 1920s, is named after the city.
According to Forbes' 2009 List of Most Dangerous Cities in the United States, Charleston is one of the top ten most dangerous cities in the United States. The basis for this assessment was the statistic, according to which Charleston had a rate of 824 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2008. In an attack on June 17, 2015 in Charleston, an armed white man in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shot dead nine African Americans and injured nine others.
Historical objects
- The Circular Congregational Church and Parish House at number 150 on Meeting Street . The church, built in 1890, was recorded on November 7, 1973 by the National Register of Historic Places as a historic building with the number 73001683, and inscribed in the National Historic Landmark .
- Charleston is home to the historic College of Charleston (also known as the C of C ). The school building was listed on November 11, 1971 by the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic Monument with the number 71000748. It was also inscribed on the National Historic Landmark .
- On Meeting Street at number 51 is the historic Nathaniel Russell House (NRHP 71000750).
Educational institutions
Charleston is home to the College of Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina , among others . The Citadel military college is also located there. Charleston Southern University is located in nearby North Charleston .
Attractions
- Charleston Museum
- Denmark Vesey House
- Old Slave Mart Museum
- Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum
- White Point Gardens (The Battery)
- Waterfront park
- Fort Sumter National Monument
- Fort Moultrie
- South Carolina Aquarium
- American Military Museum
Town twinning
Charleston is the Italian city of Spoleto in Umbria through a twinning connected. There is also a city friendship with Speightstown , Barbados (Charleston was built on the model of Bridgetown ).
Personalities
sons and daughters of the town
Personalities related to the city
1681-1900
- Mark Catesby (1683–1749), English natural historian
- John Rutledge (1739–1800), lawyer and politician; worked as a lawyer in Charleston
- Richard Hutson (1748–1795), politician; first mayor of the city of Charleston from 1783 to 1784
- Arnoldus Vanderhorst (1748–1815), politician and from 1785 and 1791 mayor of Charleston
- Denmark Vesey (1767–1822), Afro-American slave and freedom fighter; worked as a house slave in Charleston
- John England (1786–1842), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1820–1842)
- Robert Young Hayne (1791–1839), politician and mayor of Charleston from 1835 to 1837
- Ignatius Aloysius Reynolds (1798–1855), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1843–1855)
- Christopher Gustavus Memminger (1803–1888), Confederate officer and politician; Lawyer in Charleston
- Patrick Neeson Lynch (1817-1882), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1857-1882)
- Robert Smalls (1839-1915), politician; he worked in the port of Charleston
- William Thomas Russell (1863-1927), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1916-1927)
- Emmet Michael Walsh (1892-1968), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1927-1949)
- John Joyce Russell (1897–1993), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1950–1958)
1901-2000
- Geechie Fields (* 1904; † unknown), jazz musician; grew up in 1915 in the Jenkins orphanage in Charleston
- Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. (1911–2001), journalist and writer; lived and worked in Charleston
- Paul John Hallinan (1911–1968), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1958–1962)
- Francis Frederick Reh (1911–1994), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1962–1964)
- Alicia Rhett (1915-2014), actress; lived and died in Charleston
- Ernest Leo Unterkoefler (1917–1993), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1964–1990)
- David Bernard Thompson (1923–2013), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1990–1999)
- James Jamerson (1936-1983), bassist
- Robert Joseph Baker (* 1944), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (1999–2007)
- Robert Guglielmone (* 1945), Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston (since 2009)
- Stephen Colbert (born 1964), comedian
Climate table
Charleston, South Carolina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate diagram | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Charleston, South Carolina
|
Web links
- Charleston, SC Vacation Guide (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Forbes List: Most Dangerous Cities in the United States
- ↑ National Historic Landmarks Program (Parish House of the Circular Congregational Church) ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ National Historic Landmarks Program (College of Charleston) ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ NRIS