Columbia is the capital city of the U. With a population of , at the census , it is the second-most populous city in South Carolina. It is the center of the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area , which had an estimated population of , in , and is the 70th-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States. Columbia is often abbreviated as Cola, leading to its nickname as "Soda City". The city is located just northwest of the geographic center of South Carolina [ 8 ] and was the center of population of South Carolina in As the state capital, Columbia is the site of the South Carolina State House , the center of government for the state.
In , the South Carolina Secession Convention took place in Columbia; delegates voted for secession, making South Carolina the first state to leave the Union in the events leading up to the Civil War. Columbia is home to the University of South Carolina , the state's flagship public university and the largest in the state. The area has benefited from Congressional support for Southern military installations.
In May , a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto traversed what is now Columbia while moving northward on exploration of the interior of the Southeast.
The expedition produced the earliest written historical records of this area, which was part of the regional Cofitachequi chiefdom of the Mississippian culture. During the colonial era , European settlers encountered the Congaree in this area, who inhabited several villages along the Congaree River. The settlers established a frontier fort and fur trading post named after the Congaree, on the west bank of the Congaree River. It was at the fall line and the head of navigation in the Santee River system.
In the colonial government in South Carolina established a ferry to connect the fort with the growing European settlements on the higher ground on the east bank. Like many other significant early settlements in colonial America, Columbia is on the fall line of the Piedmont region.
