South Carolina chronology
1514-1521 Agents of Spanish official Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon explore the coast-
line, make landfall, and initiate contact with Native Americans in present-day South Carolina.
1526 De Ayllon himself establishes the first European colony, San Miguel de Guadalupe, in what is now the United States. It is abandoned after two months.
1540 Spaniard Hernando de Soto and 600 men explore parts of South Carolina, strengthening Spain’s claims to the region.
1566 Spain establishes Fort San Felipe and the settlement of Santa Elena in present-day South Carolina. Santa Elena becomes the capital of Spanish La Florida.
1566-1567 Spaniard Juan Pardo explores areas of South Carolina in search of a land route to Mexico.
1576 Spanish colonists abandon Santa Elena.
1577 Spain constructs Fort San Marcos near the site of the former Fort San Felipe, and settlers rebuild Santa Elena.
1587 Deciding to focus resources on protecting St. Augustine, Spanish authorities order colonists to destroy and abandon Santa Elena.
1670 Spain cedes virtually all mainland East Coast holdings north of presentday Florida to Britain in the Treaty of Madrid.
1825 Charleston resident Joel R. Poinsett becomes the first envoy from the United States to Mexico.
1846 South Carolina’s Palmetto Regiment fights in Mexico during the U.S. Mexican War.
1891 Ambrose Elliot and N.G. Gonzales found the State newspaper in Columbia.
1918 Almost two thousand Puerto Ricans are sent to help build Camp Jackson (now Fort Jackson).
1941 Puerto Rican soldiers are stationed at Fort Jackson.
1960s Cuban soldiers train at Fort Jackson.
1970s Colombians come to South Carolina to work in upstate textile mills.
1980s Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean workers pass through South Carolina as migrant agricultural workers.
1990s Increasing numbers of Mexican and Central American workers enter the state to take year-round jobs.
2000 Governor Jim Hodges signs into law a provision that South Carolina’s
Latino population be included among minorities served by the state’s Commission for Minority Affairs.
2006 Thousands of Latino migrants participate in rallies across South
Carolina, protesting punitive immigration legislation.
South Carolina Photo Gallery
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