COLUMBIA, the capital of the State of South Carolina, North America, stands on the east side of the Congaree river, immediately below the confluence of its main streams, the Broad and Saluda Rivers. The city is built upon an elevated plain 3 or 4 miles in extent, and gradually sloping in all directions. Its high situation contributes greatly to the health of the inhabitants, and affords an extensive view of the highly cultivated corn fields and cotton plantations of the surrounding district. It was founded in 1787, and is laid out on a rectangular plan, with streets 100 feet in width. The principal buildings are the state-house, 170 feet long by 60 feet wide, the county buildings, market-house, bank-
Columbus ing-houses, academies, and churches. The college, founded in 1804, had in 1850 eight professors, 195 students, a library of 17,000 volumes, and a fine observatory. There are also two theological institutions in the town. The city possesses considerable manufactures, which have sprung up for the most part within the past decade; and its trade and commercial importance has greatly advanced since the completion of the lines of railway which diverge from it in all directions; and when the system proposed for South Carolina shall have formed junctions with the lines of the surrounding states, the commercial prosperity of this city will be indefinitely enhanced. The dwelling-houses are chiefly of wood, but many of them are of brick. Vessels of light draught can come up to the town, which is also the converging point of several railways. Pop. (1850) 6060.