“WAKE SWAMP AND RIVER, COAST AND RILL” encourages South Carolina’s state song, aptly named “Carolina.” Up Country, Low Country, sea, shore and land—South Carolina’s diverse geography complements its deep history and proud people. Read on for how to research your ancestors who lived in the Palmetto State.
SOUTH CAROLINA: A HISTORY
Before contact with Europeans, several Native American tribes lived in modern South Carolina. Notable among them were the Catawba, Cherokee and Creek. The federal government today recognizes just one tribe in the state (the Catawba in Rock Hill), though the state recognizes several others: the Pee Dee Nation, the Pee Dee Indian Tribe, the Waccamaw, the Beaver Creek Indians, and more.
Spanish explorers ventured to the region in the 1520s, but colonization efforts by them (and, later, French Huguenots)
