History of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is a city in the county of Charleston County, South Carolina|Charleston with some incorporated areas also located within the boundaries of Berkeley County and Dorchester County in the U.S. state of South Carolina; the city serves as the county seat and largest city of Charleston County. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location in 1680. Up until 1800, Charleston was the fifth largest city in North America, behind Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Massachusetts|Boston, and Quebec City, Quebec|Quebec City. It adopted its present name in 1783. Also known as The Holy City (due to the prominence of churches on the low-rise cityscape, particularly the numerous steeples which dot the city's skyline), Charleston brims with the culturally unique, such as the joggling board.
As of 2007, the estimated population of the city proper is nearly 120,000, making it the second most populous city in South Carolina behind the state capital Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia. Current trends put Charleston as the fastest growing central city in South Carolina. The United States metropolitan area|metropolitan area population of Charleston and North Charleston, South Carolina|North Charleston was estimated to be 603,178 in 2007 (including the entire populations of Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties). This ranks Charleston-North Charleston as the second largest metropolitan statistical area in the state behind Columbia. Nearly 80% of the Charleston metro population lives inside the city and its surrounding urbanized area (2000 pop.: 423,410).
The city of Charleston is located roughly at the mid-point of South Carolina's coastline, at the junction of the Ashley River (South Carolina)|Ashley and Cooper River (South Carolina)|Cooper Rivers. Charleston's name is derived from Charles Towne, named after King Charles II of England.
America's most-published etiquette expert, Marjabelle Young Stewart, has recognized the city since 1995 as the "best-mannered" city in the U.S,[http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/01/17/best.manners.ap/ "Charleston best-mannered city"], CNN.com, January 17, 2004. Accessed May 9, 2007. a claim lent credibility by the fact that it has the only Livability Court in the country.
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