The
Colony of
By
Kallie
Founding
Carolina
The
colony of South Carolina is rich in history.
Many changes happened over time. Native
Americans lived there first. In the
1500s , colonists started coming from
Europe. Spain and France each
started a colony in the area that is today South Carolina.
Settlers In Charles Town
In
1669, the Lord’s Proprietor sent one hundred people from England to settle in
South Carolina. After brutal storms
and two ship wrecks they arrived in South Carolina in May, 1670. They
began the first settlement called Charles Town later shortened to Charleston.
They built homes, shops, and a port for ships. It was like a little town
center. Over the years more people
came from England. The land was cheap and people from any religion could be
there. The main crops they planted
were corn and potatoes.
In
1712, the northern and southern
parts of Carolina became their own separate colonies because they were very
different. The Lord’s Proprietors
in England sent governors over to rule South Carolina.
The lords charged rent to make money.
These governors cheated people and kept raising rents.
They didn’t protect the colonists from uprisings with the Tuscarora and
Yamasee Indians or protect people from the pirates.
The colonists threw the governors out of office and rebelled against the
lords. They asked King George to
make South Carolina a royal colony so they could have protection from England.
It was done.
Farming wasn’t successful at first. Native Americans were being
captured by colonists. Colonists would sell the Native Americans as slaves to
other colonies. In the early
1700’s they discovered rice grew well in swampy areas.
Indigo could be planted behind the rice paddies. Rice and indigo made
farmers rich. To do the hard work on the large plantations the colonists had
slaves shipped from Africa. In the
1700s there were more black slaves than white colonists.
A slave could not be educated because the colonists thought they would rebel. A slave also could not keep their African heritage. The slaves made their own language called Gullah. It mixed English with African. This was a way for them to keep their African culture alive.
The most important towns (Charleston, Georgetown, and Beaufort) which
included most of South Carolina lived in the low country by the coasts.
Most people lived in the up country.
The frontier families lived in log cabins, made clothes out of buckskin,
and hunted and farmed for their food.
England
decided to raise money in the 1760’s by taxing the colonists.
The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed newspapers and legal papers.
The colonists got angry about the taxes and refused to pay them.
They wanted colonial representatives in the English government to vote
for laws. The colonists hung a
dummy of an English tax collector in a tree to scare the collectors.
The English then taxed tea. The
colonists in South Carolina were so upset that they decided to dump three
shiploads of tea into Charleston Harbor just like the settlers in Boston did
during the Boston Tea Party.
In 1776, the English sent eleven war ships to capture the town because
they wanted control of the harbor. The
English fired cannonballs at the fort, but the fort didn’t fall. After twelve
hours of war the English gave up. Charleston was saved!!
This is interesting history because South Carolina changed so much over
the years. I learned so much about
South Carolina. I really didn’t
know that the Stamp Act was so important and that newspapers and legal papers
could be taxed. I also learned that
South Carolina had slaves shipped from Africa.
Slavery was put to an end by law. South
Carolina seems to be a better place today.
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Last Updated: 03/15/06