CHARLESTON

city, seat (1830) of Coles county, east-central Illinois, U.S. It lies near the Embarrass River in an agricultural region. First settled by Benjamin Parker (1826), it was named for Charles Morton, its first postmaster. Charleston was the scene of the fourth Lincoln-Douglas debate in September 1858. Charleston is primarily residential with some light manufactures (chiefly shoes). It is the seat of Eastern Illinois University (founded in 1895 as a state normal school). Lake Charleston and Fox Ridge State Park are situated a few miles southeast. Inc. village, 1835; city, 1865. Pop. (1991 est.) 20,598. 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 1214, 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. (1990) city, 88,256; CharlestonNorth Charleston MSA, 506,877; (1998 est.) city, 87,044; (1996 est.) CharlestonNorth Charleston MSA, 495,143. city, capital of West Virginia, U.S., seat of Kanawha county, and the largest city in the state. It is situated in the Allegheny Mountains, at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers (there bridged to South Charleston), in the south-central part of the state. The settlement developed on land purchased by Colonel George Clendenin in 1787; the patent for the land was signed by then governor Thomas Jefferson. Clendenin built Fort Lee there in 1788, and the town was chartered in 1794; first named Charles Town, for Clendenin's father, it was renamed Charleston in 1819. Because it lay on the migration route to the Ohio River valley, the settlement soon became a transshipment point and attracted such frontier figures as Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, and Ann Bailey. The town utilized local brine wells as early as 1795 and was an important centre of salt production in 1824, when the first steamboat arrived. During the American Civil War, Union general Joseph A.J. Lightburn was forced back to Charleston from Fayetteville to the southeast on September 11, 1862. Two days later Confederate general William Loring defeated Lightburn there and occupied Charleston for almost two months. Confederate forces took salt supplies and other goods from the Kanawha River valley, destroying most of the saltworks as they departed. Charleston was nominated as the state capital in 1870, but it took seven years and a popular vote before the capital moved there permanently. Charleston lies in an area rich in bituminous coal, petroleum, and natural gas as well as salt, and at one time these resources supplied a large chemical manufacturing industry in the Kanawha River valley. Nylon, Lucite, and other base chemicals used to produce consumer plastics were developed in the area. Chemicals are still important, though the economy is now more diversified, with an emphasis on manufacturing and on other services (government and health care). The State Capitol, designed by architect Cass Gilbert and completed in 1932, features a gold-leafed dome that is larger than that of the United States Capitol. The Capitol complex contains the governor's mansion, the cultural centre, the state museum, and a memorial to Booker T. Washington, who grew up in nearby Malden. The University of Charleston (formerly Morris Harvey College) is a private, coeducational university founded in 1888; West Virginia State College (1891), a historically African American college, is in nearby Institute. Yeager Airport, just to the northeast, is named for test pilot Charles E. Yeager, who was born in the area. A planned Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia will include an art museum, a performing arts centre, a science centre, and a planetarium. Inc. 1794; city, 1870. Pop. (1990) city, 57,287; Charleston MSA, 250,454; (1998 est.) city, 55,056; (1996 est.) Charleston MSA, 254,575. social jazz dance highly popular in the 1920s and frequently revived. Characterized by its toes-in, heels-out twisting steps, it was performed as a solo, with a partner, or in a group. Mentioned as early as 1903, it was originally a black folk dance known throughout the American South and especially associated with Charleston, S.C. Analysis of its movements shows it to have strong parallels in certain dances of Trinidad, Nigeria, and Ghana. In its early form the dance was highly abandoned and was performed to complex rhythms beaten out by foot stamps and handclaps. About 1920 professional dancers adopted the dance, and, after its appearance in the black musical Runnin' Wild (1923), it became a national craze. As a fashionable ballroom dance it lost some of the exuberance of the earlier version. Charleston music is in quick 4/4 time with syncopated rhythms. In the basic step the knees are bent, then straightened, as the feet pivot in and out. Weight is shifted from one leg to another, the free leg being kicked out from the body at an oblique angle. The basic step is often interspersed with strenuous movements, such as forward and backward kicks while traveling forward. county, southern South Carolina, U.S. It comprises a low-lying coastal region with numerous swamps and marshy areas. A portion of the Sea Islands, strung along the Atlantic coast, form the southeastern border; rivers and the Intracoastal Waterway separate the islands from the mainland. The northern end of this long, narrow county includes Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge on the Sea Islands and, inland, part of Francis Marion National Forest. In the unique environment of Kiawah Island, which includes salt marshes, woods, and sandy beaches, lives a wide variety of wildlife, including alligators, 140 species of birds, and the endangered Atlantic loggerhead sea turtle. Charles Towne Landing and Hampton Plantation state parks lie within Charleston county. Cusabo Indians inhabited the region when European colonists arrived in the 1670s. In June 1776 colonial patriots led by William Moultrie defended a fort on Sullivan's Island and thereby saved Charleston from British attack. Charleston county was established in 1785 and named for Charles II of England. Fort Sumter National Monument, in Charleston Harbor, marks the site of the opening battle of the American Civil War. The area became the centre of Confederate blockade running, and Confederate forces introduced submarine warfare there in 186364. The city of Charleston is the county seat and is home to the College of Charleston (founded 1770) and The Citadel (a military college founded in 1842). Some of the county's African American residents continue to speak the Gullah dialect, which contains African as well as English linguistic elements. Tomatoes and livestock are the leading farm products. Tourism and, most of all, the commerce of Charleston, an important Atlantic port, are also primary factors in the economy. North Charleston and Mount Pleasant are other principal cities. Area 917 square miles (2,376 square km). Pop. (1990) 295,041; (1998 est.) 316,482.