Columbia, South Carolina

Where Columbia is

Columbia is the seat of Richland County, with a portion in Lexington County, at 34.00°N, 81.03°W, near the geographic center of South Carolina. The Broad and Saluda rivers meet at the northwest edge of downtown to form the Congaree, which flows southeast to join the Wateree and become the Santee. The city stands on the fall line between the Piedmont and the coastal plain, about 290 ft above sea level. Interstates 20, 26 and 77 meet here. Fort Jackson, the Army's largest basic training post, occupies the east side of the city. Columbia is on Eastern Time.

How it became the capital

Charleston was the colonial and early state capital, but upcountry farmers resented traveling to the coast. In 1786 the legislature agreed to build a new capital at the center of the state and chose a plantation at the confluence of the rivers. The town was laid out on a grid with streets 100 to 150 ft wide, and the legislature first met there in 1790. Columbia was one of the first planned cities in the country. Much of it burned when Sherman's army occupied the city in February 1865.

Population

Columbia had 136,632 residents in 2020, second in South Carolina to Charleston at 150,227; the two cities have traded first place, and Columbia was larger from the 1950s until the 2010s. The Columbia metropolitan area, covering six counties, has about 830,000 people out of the state's 5,118,425, and it is the largest metro in the state.

The capitol

The South Carolina State House was begun in 1855 to a design by John R. Niernsee, but the Civil War stopped work, and it was not completed until 1907. It is a granite building with a copper dome. Bronze stars on the west and south walls mark the places where Union artillery shells struck it in 1865. The Confederate flag flew on the dome from 1961 until 2000, and from a monument on the grounds until 2015.

Distances to other cities

Augusta, Georgia, is about 75 miles southwest on the Savannah River.

Related maps

• South Carolina map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
• South Carolina county map · blank South Carolina map · printable South Carolina map.
• All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
• South region · South Atlantic division · Eastern Time Zone.