Charleston is an American city located in Charleston County, South Carolina. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location in 1690. Up until 1800, Charleston was the fifth largest city in North America, behind Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Quebec City. It adopted its present name in 1783. Also known as The Holy City, Charleston brims with the culturally unique, such as the joggling board.

As of 2003, the Census Bureau estimated the population of the city proper as 101,024, a 4% growth over the population as of the 2000 census. The metropolitan area of Charleston and North Charleston had a population of about 549,000, 76th largest in the country.

The city of Charleston is located roughly at the mid-point of South Carolina's coastline, at the junction of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. Charleston's name is derived from Charles Town, named after King Charles II of England.

Charleston is the location of Fort Moultrie, which was instrumental in delivering a critical defeat to the British in the American Revolutionary War, and Fort Sumter, the reputed site of the "first shot" of the American Civil War.

• City of Charleston website
• Historic Charleston by the National Park Service
• Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Charleston Metro Chamber Of Commerce
• Charleston's Finest
• Celebrate Charleston
• Charleston Gateway
• Charleston South Carolina Explorer
• Port of Charleston
• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Mapquest or Google
  • Topographic map from Topozone
  • Aerial photograph from Terraserver or Google

Content from the Wikipedia