South Carolina

North and South Carolina were originally the single proprietary colony of Carolina under a charter granted by Charles II in 1663. The first permanent settlement was established on the Ashley River in 1670. Divided in 1691, South Carolina became a royal colony in 1719. Settlement in the region, dominated initially by migration from crowded Barbados, proceeded slowly until the expansion of rice cultivation fueled population growth through demand for massive numbers of enslaved Africans. By 1708, South Carolina had become the only British mainland province in which slaves outnumbered the free population-a distinction it retained throughout the eighteenth century.