Pre-Colonial South Carolina (Before 1670)

At least twenty-six landgraves and thirteen cassiques were created by the Lords Proprietors, with rights to land totaling 1,364,000 acres.

LeJau worked for the more humane treatment of slaves. He denounced the law that permitted the physical mutilation of runaway slaves and carried on a veritable crusade again brutality, immorality, and profaneness.

Most of the eight original proprietors had remained staunch supporters of the Stuart monarchy after the execution of King Charles I in 1649, and others changed sides to become key figures in the restoration of his son in 1660.

Despite his limited success in reining in the Indian trade, Ludwell failed to build a base of support within the colony with either the proprietary or antiproprietary faction.

Most of what is known about Manigault comes from a letter she wrote from South Carolina to her brother in Europe.

As a recognized war hero and longtime leader in the antiproprietary party, Moore was chosen as provisional governor until England could assume control of the colony.

Unfortunately, these expectations—and Governor Morton—ran afoul of the Goose Creek Men, who regarded the prospect of substantial numbers of new European arrivals as a threat to their control of the South Carolina political scene and the Indian trade. To counter the actions of the proprietors, the Goose Creek Men objected to the 1682 Fundamental Constitutions on the grounds that both the proprietors and the colonists had ratified the original 1669 version at the time of the colony’s founding

In 1720 Nicholson became the first royally appointed governor of South Carolina.

Pardo never reached the mines of Mexico, but his two expeditions—the last major Spanish military explorations of the interior of the Southeast—provide a valuable window to the peoples of these lands in the mid–sixteenth century.

In 1686 the Lords Proprietors ordered an investigation of charges that Quary had aided pirates while serving as governor.

Ribault established the short-lived colonial outpost of Charlesfort, the earliest French settlement in the present-day United States, in Port Royal Sound.

Founded in September 1526 by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, San Miguel de Gualdape was the first Spanish town in the territory of the present-day United States.

Santa Elena was the capital of La Florida for much of its first ten years, during which time the growing settlement conducted political and religious outreach to the native population of a broad region.

Sayle served as governor of English colonies in both Bermuda and South Carolina.

Sheriffs are well-known and prominent public officials and law enforcement officers. Constables tend to be somewhat obscure in the public’s awareness. But whether sheriffs or constables, these officers have been steadfastly providing law enforcement services since the colonial period.

Governor. Born in England around 1648, Smith immigrated with his family to Carolina in 1683, likely as a member of…

Jurist, scholar. Trott was born in London on January 19, 1663. His father, Samuel Trott, was a London merchant, but…

Governor. Nothing is known of the birth and parentage of Joseph West, who commanded the fleet that brought the first…

Physician, Indian agent. Woodward was among the earliest English settlers of South Carolina. Little is known about his formative years,…

When Yeamans belatedly came to South Carolina in the summer of that year, he claimed the office of governor. Interim governor Joseph West and the Grand Council initially rejected his claim, but they accepted Yeamans as governor when a proprietary commission arrived in April 1672.