SUMTER

city, seat (1798) of Sumter county, east-central South Carolina, U.S. Settled in 1785, it was named Sumterville (shortened in 1856) in honour of the American Revolutionary War general Thomas Sumter. In an agricultural area and once a typical cotton plantation village, Sumter is now primarily an industrial centre, but cotton and tobacco are still important cash crops. Industrial activities include food processing, fabric printing, furniture making, and the manufacture of batteries, automobile brakes, hand tools, medical apparatuses, electrical equipment, chemicals, and clothing. Sumter is the site of Morris College (1908; Baptist), Central Carolina Technical College (1962), and a campus of the University of South Carolina (1966). The Swan Lake Iris Gardens in the city are known for their old cypress trees, azaleas, and camellias, as well as irises and swans. Shaw Air Force Base is nearby. Inc. town, 1845; city, 1887. Pop. (1990) 40,977; (1998 est.) 40,518. county, central South Carolina, U.S. It is bordered to the west by the Wateree River, which flows into the Congaree River; the narrow far eastern border is the Lynches River. The county is also drained by the Black and Pocotaligo rivers. Shaw Air Force Base, Manchester State Forest, Poinsett State Park, and Woods Bay State Park (in a Carolina bay, or isolated swampy area) are all located there. Sumter county is an agricultural region situated both on low Fall Line hills and on a flat, often swampy area of the inner Coastal Plain. The Wateree Indians, a small Siouan-speaking tribe, inhabited the region in the 17th century. By the time of the U.S. War of Independence, European settlers had replaced its forests with farms; the county continues to be a leading source of cotton, tobacco, grains, legumes, and livestock. General Thomas Sumter, for whom the county was named, founded the town of Stateburg and in 1786 promoted it for the future state capital. Sumter county was established in 1785 (though it did not take its present boundaries until 1902) with the town of Sumter as the seat. Agriculture and manufacturing (food, textiles, furniture, and fabricated metal products) are the mainstays of the economy. Area 666 square miles (1,724 square km). Pop. (1990) 101,276; (1998 est.) 107,127.