1521 Spanish explorer Francisco Gordillo is the first to arrive in South Carolina.
1526 The Spanish establish a settlement, but it soon fails.
1562 The French build a fort on Paris Island, but soon leave.
1566 A Spanish settlement was established at Hilton Head.
1670 The first permanent European settlement is established by the British near Charleston.
1710 South Carolina gets its own governor.
1712 The two Carolinas become separate colonies.
1715 The Yamasee War is fought between the Native Americans and the colonial militia.
1729 South Carolina splits from North Carolina and becomes an official British colony.
1776 Colonel William Moultire defends Fort Sullivan against the British fleet.
1780 Charles Town was captured by the British.
1780 August British troops defeat American troops at Camden.
1780 October the British and Loyalists were defeated at the Battle of Kings Mountain.
1781 American troops defeat the British at the Battle of Cowpens.
1781 September American troops lose the battle of Eutaw Springs.
1783 Charles Town is renamed Charleston.
1788 South Carolina became the 8th state to ratify the constitution.
1790 The state capital moves to Columbia.
1829 South Carolina native Andrew Jackson becomes the seventh President of the United States.
1832 A South Carolina state convention voted to nullify the Tariff act. They were forced to back down by President Jackson.
1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
1861 Confederate troops fired on the Federal Fort- Ft Sumter in Charleston Harbor, thus beginning the Civil War.
1865 Troops under General Sherman burn Columbia.
1868 South Carolina is readmitted into the Union.
1869 When the South Carolina Legislature met over half the lower house was African American.
1951 The United States Atomic Energy Commission opens the Savannah River Plant to manufacture plutonium for use in Atomic weapons.
1989 Hurricane Hugo causes major damage to the state and to the city of Charleston.
1992 BMW opens an automobile plant in Greer.
2000 The Confederate flag is removed from the state capital.