Charleston,_South_Carolina

context: Charleston is the oldest and second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, or, as is locally expressed, "where the Cooper and Ashley Rivers come together to form the Atlantic Ocean."
qas: answers: text: Charleston
question: What is the oldest city in South Carolina?

answers: text: Charleston County
question: What county is Charleston, South Carolina located in?

answers: text: Charleston Harbor
question: Charleston is located on what harbor?

answers: text: Atlantic Ocean
question: Charleston Harbor is an inlet of what ocean?

answers: text: Ashley Rivers
question: What river mergers with the Cooper River to form Charleston Harbor?

answers: text: Charleston County
question: What county is Charleston located in?

answers: text: Atlantic Ocean
question: Charleston Harbor is formed on what ocean?

answers: text: Cooper Rivers
question: What river merges with the Ashley River to from the Charleston Harbor?

context: Founded in 1670 as Charles Town in honor of King Charles II of England, Charleston adopted its present name in 1783. It moved to its present location on Oyster Point in 1680 from a location on the west bank of the Ashley River known as Albemarle Point. By 1690, Charles Town was the fifth-largest city in North America, and it remained among the 10 largest cities in the United States through the 1840 census. With a 2010 census population of 120,083  (and a 2014 estimate of 130,113), current trends put Charleston as the fastest-growing municipality in South Carolina. The population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties, was counted by the 2014 estimate at 727,689 – the third-largest in the state – and the 78th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.
qas: answers: text: 1670
question: What year was Charleston founded?

answers: text: Charles Town
question: What was Charleston's original name?

answers: text: King Charles II of England
question: Charles Town was named after which king?

answers: text: Albemarle Point
question: Where was the city originally located?

answers: text: 120,083
question: What was Charleston's population in 2010?

answers: text: 1670
question: What year was Charleston originally founded?

answers: text: King Charles II of England
question: Who was Charles Town named after?

answers: text: Charles Town
question: What was the originally name of Charleston?

answers: text: 120,083
question: How many people lived in Charleston in 2010?

answers: text: Albemarle Point
question: Where was Charleston's first location?

context: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 127.5 square miles (330.2 km2), of which 109.0 square miles (282.2 km2) is land and 18.5 square miles (47.9 km2) is covered by water. The old city is located on a peninsula at the point where, as Charlestonians say, "The Ashley and the Cooper Rivers come together to form the Atlantic Ocean." The entire peninsula is very low, some is landfill material, and as such, frequently floods during heavy rains, storm surges, and unusually high tides. The city limits have expanded across the Ashley River from the peninsula, encompassing the majority of West Ashley as well as James Island and some of Johns Island. The city limits also have expanded across the Cooper River, encompassing Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. North Charleston blocks any expansion up the peninsula, and Mount Pleasant occupies the land directly east of the Cooper River.
qas: answers: text: 127.5 square miles (330.2 km2)
question: How large is Charleston, South Carolina?

answers: text: North Charleston
question: Which city blocks Charleston for expanding up the peninsula? 

answers: text: 18.5 square miles (47.9 km2)
question: How much of Charleston is covered by water?

answers: text: 109.0 square miles (282.2 km2)
question: How of Charleston's total area is dry land?

answers: text: Mount Pleasant
question: What town occupies the land directly east of the Cooper River?

context: Charleston has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), with mild winters, hot, humid summers, and significant rainfall all year long. Summer is the wettest season; almost half of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September in the form of thundershowers. Fall remains relatively warm through November. Winter is short and mild, and is characterized by occasional rain. Measurable snow (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) only occurs several times per decade at the most, with the last such event occurring December 26, 2010. However, 6.0 in (15 cm) fell at the airport on December 23, 1989, the largest single-day fall on record, contributing to a single-storm and seasonal record of 8.0 in (20 cm) snowfall.
qas: answers: text: Summer
question: What season is the wettest in Charleston?

answers: text: thundershowers
question: In what form does half of Charleston's annual rainfall occur?

answers: text: Winter
question: What season is characterized as short in Charleston?

answers: text: 8.0 in (20 cm)
question: What is Charleston's seasonal record of snowfall?

answers: text: Winter
question: What season is considered short in Charleston?

answers: text: Summer
question: What is the wettest season in Charleston?

answers: text: thundershowers
question: Half of Charleston's annual rainfall occurs in what form?

answers: text: 6.0 in (15 cm
question: How much snow did Charleston's Airport recieve on December, 23 1989?

context: The highest temperature recorded within city limits was 104 °F (40 °C), on June 2, 1985, and June 24, 1944, and the lowest was 7 °F (−14 °C) on February 14, 1899, although at the airport, where official records are kept, the historical range is 105 °F (41 °C) on August 1, 1999 down to 6 °F (−14 °C) on January 21, 1985. Hurricanes are a major threat to the area during the summer and early fall, with several severe hurricanes hitting the area – most notably Hurricane Hugo on September 21, 1989 (a category 4 storm). Dewpoint in the summer ranges from 67.8 to 71.4 °F (20 to 22 °C).
qas: answers: text: 104 °F
question: What is hottest temperature recorded with Charleston's city limits?

answers: text: Hurricane Hugo
question: What hurricane hit Charleston in 1989?

answers: text: 7 °F (−14 °C)
question: What was the lowest temperature ever recorded Charleston's city limit?

answers: text: Hurricanes
question: What type of storm is a major threat to Charleston in the summer and early fall?

answers: text: January 21, 1985
question: What day did Charleston's airport hit the coldest day on record?

context: The Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of three counties: Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester. As of the 2013 U.S. Census, the metropolitan statistical area had a total population of 712,239 people. North Charleston is the second-largest city in the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area and ranks as the third-largest city in the state; Mount Pleasant and Summerville are the next-largest cities. These cities combined with other incorporated and unincorporated areas along with the city of Charleston form the Charleston-North Charleston Urban Area with a population of 548,404 as of 2010. The metropolitan statistical area also includes a separate and much smaller urban area within Berkeley County, Moncks Corner (with a 2000 population of 9,123).
qas: answers: text: 548,404
question: How many people lived in the Charleston=North Charleston Urban Area in 2010?

answers: text: North Charleston
question: What is the third largest city in South Carolina?

answers: text: 9,123
question: How many people lived in Moncks Corner in 2000?

answers: text: Dorchester
question: Charleston and Berkeley is combined with what other county to form a metropolitan statistical area?

answers: text: Berkeley County
question: In which county is Moncks Corner located?

context: The traditional parish system persisted until the Reconstruction Era, when counties were imposed.[citation needed] Nevertheless, traditional parishes still exist in various capacities, mainly as public service districts. When the city of Charleston was formed, it was defined by the limits of the Parish of St. Philip and St. Michael, now also includes parts of St. James' Parish, St. George's Parish, St. Andrew's Parish, and St. John's Parish, although the last two are mostly still incorporated rural parishes.
qas: answers: text: Reconstruction Era
question: What era brought counties to South Carolina?

answers: text: traditional parish system
question: Counties replaced what system in South Carolina?

answers: text: public service districts
question: What is the main use of the parish system nowadays?

answers: text: Parish of St. Philip
question: The city of Charleston is defined by the limits of the Parish of St. Michael and what other parish?

answers: text: St. Andrew's Parish
question: What other parish besides St. John's Parish is  mostly an incorporated rural parish? 

context: After Charles II of England (1630–1685) was restored to the English throne in 1660 following Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, he granted the chartered Province of Carolina to eight of his loyal friends, known as the Lords Proprietors, on March 24, 1663. It took seven years before the group arranged for settlement expeditions. The first of these founded Charles Town, in 1670. Governance, settlement, and development were to follow a visionary plan known as the Grand Model prepared for the Lords Proprietors by John Locke.
qas: answers: text: 1670
question: What year was Charles Town founded?

answers: text: seven years
question: How long did it take to establish settlement expeditions for the Province of Carolina?

answers: text: the Grand Model
question: What was the plan to settle and develop the Province of Carolina?

answers: text: John Locke
question: Who prepared the plan known as "the Grand Model"?

answers: text: 1660
question: When was Charles II of England restored to the throne?

context: The community was established by several shiploads of settlers from Bermuda (which lies due east of South Carolina, although at 1,030 km or 640 mi, it is closest to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina), under the leadership of governor William Sayle, on the west bank of the Ashley River, a few miles northwest of the present-day city center. It was soon predicted by the Earl of Shaftesbury, one of the Lords Proprietors, to become a "great port towne", a destiny the city quickly fulfilled. In 1680, the settlement was moved east of the Ashley River to the peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. Not only was this location more defensible, but it also offered access to a fine natural harbor.
qas: answers: text: Bermuda
question: Where did Charleston's original settlers come from?

answers: text: Cape Hatteras
question: Bermuda is located near which North Carolina town?

answers: text: William Sayle
question: Who was the first governor of Charleston?

answers: text: Earl of Shaftesbury
question: Who predicted Charleston would become a 'great port towne'?

answers: text: Ashley River
question: The settlement was relocated east to what river?

context: The first settlers primarily came from England, its Caribbean colony of Barbados, and its Atlantic colony of Bermuda. Among these were free people of color, born in the West Indies of alliances and marriages between Africans and Englanders, when color lines were looser among the working class in the early colonial years, and some wealthy whites took black consorts or concubines. Charles Town attracted a mixture of ethnic and religious groups. French, Scottish, Irish, and Germans migrated to the developing seacoast town, representing numerous Protestant denominations. Because of the battles between English "royalty" and the Roman Catholic Church, practicing Catholics were not allowed to settle in South Carolina until after the American Revolution. Jews were allowed, and Sephardic Jews migrated to the city in such numbers that by the beginning of the 19th century, the city was home to the largest and wealthiest Jewish community in North America—a status it held until about 1830.
qas: answers: text: Catholics
question: What religious group was not allowed to settle in South Carolina?

answers: text: 1830
question: About what year did Charleston cease to have the wealthiest Jewish community in America?

answers: text: England
question: What European country did many of the first Charleston settlers come from?

answers: text: American Revolution
question: After what war did the state ban on Catholics end?

answers: text: Barbados
question: Along with Bermuda, what other English colony did many settlers come from?

context: The early settlement was often subject to attack from sea and land, including periodic assaults from Spain and France (both of whom contested England's claims to the region), and pirates. These were combined with raids by Native Americans, who tried to protect themselves from so-called European "settlers," who in turn wanted to expand the settlement. The heart of the city was fortified according to a 1704 plan by Governor Johnson. Except those fronting Cooper River, the walls were largely removed during the 1720s.
qas: answers: text: Spain
question: Which country along with France contested England's claim to the Charleston region?

answers: text: Native Americans
question: Which group raided the settlement as a means to protect themselves from settlers?

answers: text: 1720s
question: The majority of the fort walls were removed in what decade?

answers: text: Governor Johnson
question: Whose 1704 plan was used to fortified the city?

answers: text: pirates
question: Beside European nations and Native Americans, who else attacked the Charleston settlement?

context: Africans were brought to Charles Town on the Middle Passage, first as "servants", then as slaves. Ethnic groups transported here included especially Wolof, Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo, Malinke, and other people of the Windward Coast. An estimated 40% of the total 400,000 Africans transported and sold as slaves into North America are estimated to have landed at Sullivan's Island, just off the port of Charles Town; it is described as a "hellish Ellis Island of sorts .... Today nothing commemorates that ugly fact but a simple bench, established by the author Toni Morrison using private funds."
qas: answers: text: Toni Morrison
question: What author paid for the simple bench at Sullivan's Island?

answers: text: 40%
question: What percentage of those sold as slaves in North America landed at Sullivan's Island?

answers: text: Middle Passage
question: What stage of the slave trade provided slaves to Charles Town?

answers: text: Africans
question: What peoples were brought to Charles Town to be slaves?

answers: text: Windward Coast
question: Which African coast did many slaves that were sold in Charles Town come from?

context: Colonial Lowcountry landowners experimented with cash crops ranging from tea to silkworms. African slaves brought knowledge of rice cultivation, which plantation owners cultivated and developed as a successful commodity crop by 1700. With the coerced help of African slaves from the Caribbean, Eliza Lucas, daughter of plantation owner George Lucas, learned how to raise and use indigo in the Lowcountry in 1747. Supported with subsidies from Britain, indigo was a leading export by 1750. Those and naval stores were exported in an extremely profitable shipping industry.
qas: answers: text: rice
question: African slaves had great knowledge of the cultivation of what product?

answers: text: 1750
question: By what year was indigo was a leading export for the Lowcountry?

answers: text: Britain
question: Which nation subsidized indigo crops from the Lowcountry?

answers: text: 1700
question: By what year was rice a successful commodity crop for the Lowcountry?

answers: text: naval stores
question: What products were exported along with indigo from the Lowcountry?

context: By the mid-18th century, Charles Town had become a bustling trade center, the hub of the Atlantic trade for the southern colonies. Charles Towne was also the wealthiest and largest city south of Philadelphia, in part because of the lucrative slave trade. By 1770, it was the fourth-largest port in the colonies, after Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, with a population of 11,000—slightly more than half of them slaves. By 1708, the majority of the colony's population was slaves, and the future state would continue to be a majority of African descent until after the Great Migration of the early 20th century.
qas: answers: text: slave trade
question: What lucrative trade contributed greatly to Charles Town's growth?

answers: text: 1770
question: When did Charles Town become the fourth largest colonial port?

answers: text: slaves
question: Who made up the majority of Charles Town population in 1708?

answers: text: the Great Migration
question: People of African descent were the majority in Charleston until what mass movement?

answers: text: the early 20th century
question: When did the Great Migration occur?

context: Charles Town was a hub of the deerskin trade, the basis of its early economy. Trade alliances with the Cherokee and Creek nations insured a steady supply of deer hides. Between 1699 and 1715, colonists exported an average of 54,000 deer skins annually to Europe through Charles Town. Between 1739 and 1761, the height of the deerskin trade era, an estimated 500,000 to 1,250,000 deer were slaughtered. During the same period, Charles Town records show an export of 5,239,350 pounds of deer skins. Deer skins were used in the production of men's fashionable and practical buckskin pantaloons, gloves, and book bindings.
qas: answers: text: Creek nations
question: What other Native American nation supplied Charles Town with deer hides other than the Cherokee nation?

answers: text: 500,000 to 1,250,000
question: What is the  estimation of deer slaughtered in Charles Town from 1739 to 1761?

answers: text: 5,239,350
question: Records indicate how many pounds of deer skins were exported from Charles Town during the height of its deerskin trade?

answers: text: the deerskin trade
question: What trade was the basis of Charles Town's original economy?

answers: text: 54,000
question: What was the average amount of deer skins  that Charles Town exported to Europe between 1699 to 1715? 

context: As Charles Town grew, so did the community's cultural and social opportunities, especially for the elite merchants and planters. The first theatre building in America was built in 1736 on the site of today's Dock Street Theatre. Benevolent societies were formed by different ethnic groups, from French Huguenots to free people of color to Germans to Jews. The Charles Towne Library Society was established in 1748 by well-born young men who wanted to share the financial cost to keep up with the scientific and philosophical issues of the day. This group also helped establish the College of Charles Towne in 1770, the oldest college in South Carolina. Until its transition to state ownership in 1970, this was the oldest municipally supported college in the United States.
qas: answers: text: College of Charles Towne
question: What is the oldest college in South Carolina?

answers: text: 1970
question: Charleston supported the College of Charles Towne until what year?

answers: text: 1748
question: What year was the Charles Towne Library Society established?

answers: text: 1770
question: When was the College of Charles Towe founded?

answers: text: Dock Street Theatre
question: What is located where the first theatre building in Charles Town once stood?

context: On June 28, 1776, General Sir Henry Clinton along with 2,000 men and a naval squadron tried to seize Charles Towne, hoping for a simultaneous Loyalist uprising in South Carolina. When the fleet fired cannonballs, they failed to penetrate Fort Sullivan's unfinished, yet thick, palmetto-log walls. No local Loyalists attacked the town from the mainland side, as the British had hoped they would do. Col. Moultrie's men returned fire and inflicted heavy damage on several of the British ships. The British were forced to withdraw their forces, and the Americans renamed the defensive installation as Fort Moultrie in honor of its commander.
qas: answers: text: General Sir Henry Clinton
question: Which general tried to seize Charles Town during the American Revolution?

answers: text: Col. Moultrie
question: Who was the commander of the American forces defending South Carolina?

answers: text: June 28, 1776
question: When did General Clinton attack South Carolina?

answers: text: a simultaneous Loyalist uprising
question: What was the British hoping to inspire by their attack on Charles Town?

answers: text: Fort Moultrie
question: Fort Sullivan was renamed  what after the battle?

context: Clinton returned in 1780 with 14,000 soldiers. American General Benjamin Lincoln was trapped and surrendered his entire 5,400-man force after a long fight, and the Siege of Charles Towne was the greatest American defeat of the war. Several Americans who escaped the carnage joined other militias, including those of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox"; and Andrew Pickens. The British retained control of the city until December 1782. After the British left, the city's name was officially changed to Charleston in 1783.
qas: answers: text: Siege of Charles Towne
question: What was the greatest American defeat of the American Revolution?

answers: text: 14,000
question: How many soldiers did General Clinton return with?

answers: text: 1780
question: In what year did General Clinton return to Charles Towne?

answers: text: General Benjamin Lincoln
question: Who was the leader of the American forces defending Charles Towne?

answers: text: 5,400
question: How many soldiers did General Lincoln lead?

context: Although the city lost the status of state capital to Columbia in 1786, Charleston became even more prosperous in the plantation-dominated economy of the post-Revolutionary years. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized the processing of this crop, making short-staple cotton profitable. It was more easily grown in the upland areas, and cotton quickly became South Carolina's major export commodity. The Piedmont region was developed into cotton plantations, to which the sea islands and Lowcountry were already devoted. Slaves were also the primary labor force within the city, working as domestics, artisans, market workers, and laborers.
qas: answers: text: Columbia
question: What city became the state capital of South Carolina?

answers: text: 1786
question: Charleston was the state capital of South Carolina until what year?

answers: text: 1793
question: In what year was the cotton gin invented?

answers: text: cotton
question: What became South Carolina's major export commodity after 1793?

answers: text: Slaves
question: Who made up most of the primary labor force of cotton plantations? 

context: The city also had a large class of free people of color. By 1860, 3,785 free people of color were in Charleston, nearly 18% of the city's black population, and 8% of the total population. Free people of color were far more likely to be of mixed racial background than slaves. Many were educated, practiced skilled crafts, and some even owned substantial property, including slaves. In 1790, they established the Brown Fellowship Society for mutual aid, initially as a burial society. It continued until 1945.
qas: answers: text: 3,785
question: How many free people of color lived in Charleston in 1860?

answers: text: 8%
question: What percentage of Charleston's population were free people of color?

answers: text: 18%
question: What percentage of Charleston's black population were free people of color?

answers: text: 1790
question: In what year was the Brown Fellowship Society created?

answers: text: 1945
question: In what year did the Brown Fellowship Society end?

context: By 1820, Charleston's population had grown to 23,000, maintaining its black (and mostly slave) majority. When a massive slave revolt planned by Denmark Vesey, a free black, was revealed in May 1822, whites reacted with intense fear, as they were well aware of the violent retribution of slaves against whites during the Haitian Revolution. Soon after, Vesey was tried and executed, hanged in early July with five slaves. Another 28 slaves were later hanged. Later, the state legislature passed laws requiring individual legislative approval for manumission (the freeing of a slave) and regulating activities of free blacks and slaves.
qas: answers: text: slave revolt
question: What was planned by Denmark Vesey?

answers: text: May 1822
question: When was Vesey's plan for a slave revolt revealed?

answers: text: hanged
question: How was Vesey executed in 1822?

answers: text: five slaves
question: How many slaves were executed with Vesey? 

answers: text: Haitian Revolution
question: What revolution made whites fearful of retribution of slaves?

context: In Charleston, the African American population increased as freedmen moved from rural areas to the major city: from 17,000 in 1860 to over 27,000 in 1880. Historian Eric Foner noted that blacks were glad to be relieved of the many regulations of slavery and to operate outside of white surveillance. Among other changes, most blacks quickly left the Southern Baptist Church, setting up their own black Baptist congregations or joining new African Methodist Episcopal Church and AME Zion churches, both independent black denominations first established in the North. Freedmen "acquired dogs, guns, and liquor (all barred to them under slavery), and refused to yield the sidewalks to whites".
qas: answers: text: Southern Baptist Church
question: Black left which religious denomination is great numbers after slavery?

answers: text: 17,000
question: How many African Americans lived in Charleston in 1860?

answers: text: liquor
question: What  barred product ,along with dogs and guns ,  did the Freemen want after slavery ended?

answers: text: 27,000
question: How many African American lived in Charleston in 1880?

answers: text: the North
question: AME Zion Churches were first established in what part of America?

context: Industries slowly brought the city and its inhabitants back to a renewed vitality and jobs attracted new residents. As the city's commerce improved, residents worked to restore or create community institutions. In 1865, the Avery Normal Institute was established by the American Missionary Association as the first free secondary school for Charleston's African American population. General William T. Sherman lent his support to the conversion of the United States Arsenal into the Porter Military Academy, an educational facility for former soldiers and boys left orphaned or destitute by the war. Porter Military Academy later joined with Gaud School and is now a university-preparatory school, Porter-Gaud School.
qas: answers: text: the American Missionary Association
question: What association founded the Avery Normal Institute?

answers: text: free secondary school
question: What type of school was the Avery Normal Institute?

answers: text: Charleston's African American population
question: Who attended the Avery Normal Institute?

answers: text: William T. Sherman
question: What general supported the conversion of a US Arsenal into Porter Military Academy?

answers: text: war
question: Soldiers and boys helped by Porter Military Academy were affected by what?

context: In 1875, blacks made up 57% of the city's population, and 73% of Charleston County. With leadership by members of the antebellum free black community, historian Melinda Meeks Hennessy described the community as "unique" in being able to defend themselves without provoking "massive white retaliation", as occurred in numerous other areas during Reconstruction. In the 1876 election cycle, two major riots between black Republicans and white Democrats occurred in the city, in September and the day after the election in November, as well as a violent incident in Cainhoy at an October joint discussion meeting.
qas: answers: text: 57%
question: What percentage of Charleston's population was black in 1875?

answers: text: 73%
question: What percentage of Charleston County's was black in 1875?

answers: text: white Democrats
question: In 1876, Charleston's Black Republicans fought against whom?

answers: text: the day after the election in November
question: The second riot of 1876 happened when?

answers: text: two
question: How many major riots between blacks and whites occurred in Charleston in 1876?

context: Violent incidents occurred throughout the Piedmont of the state as white insurgents struggled to maintain white supremacy in the face of social changes after the war and granting of citizenship to freedmen by federal constitutional amendments. After former Confederates were allowed to vote again, election campaigns from 1872 on were marked by violent intimidation of blacks and Republicans by white Democratic paramilitary groups, known as the Red Shirts. Violent incidents took place in Charleston on King Street in September 6 and in nearby Cainhoy on October 15, both in association with political meetings before the 1876 election. The Cainhoy incident was the only one statewide in which more whites were killed than blacks. The Red Shirts were instrumental in suppressing the black Republican vote in some areas in 1876 and narrowly electing Wade Hampton as governor, and taking back control of the state legislature. Another riot occurred in Charleston the day after the election, when a prominent Republican leader was mistakenly reported killed.
qas: answers: text: the Red Shirts
question: What were white Democratic paramilitary groups in Charleston known as?

answers: text: federal constitutional amendments.
question: What granted Freeman were American citizenship?

answers: text: October 15
question: The Cainhoy Incident occurred on what day?

answers: text: September 6
question: The violent 1876 incident that took place on King's street happened on what day?

answers: text: Wade Hampton
question: Who won the 1876 election as a result of voter intimidation?

context: On August 31, 1886, Charleston was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. The shock was estimated to have a moment magnitude of 7.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). It was felt as far away as Boston to the north, Chicago and Milwaukee to the northwest, as far west as New Orleans, as far south as Cuba, and as far east as Bermuda. It damaged 2,000 buildings in Charleston and caused $6 million worth of damage ($133 million in 2006 dollars), at a time when all the city's buildings were valued around $24 million ($531 million in 2006 dollars).
qas: answers: text: an earthquake
question: What nearly destroyed Charleston in 1886?

answers: text: August 31, 1886
question: What date was the Charleston earthquake of 1886?

answers: text: 2,000 buildings
question: How many buildings were damaged by the 1886 earthquake in Charleston?

answers: text: $6 million
question: What was the cost of the damage of the 1886 earthquake to the city of Charleston?

answers: text: $24 million
question: What was the total value of all of Charleston's city buildings before the earthquake?

context: Investment in the city continued. The William Enston Home, a planned community for the city's aged and infirm, was built in 1889. An elaborate public building, the United States Post Office and Courthouse, was completed by the federal government in 1896 in the heart of the city. The Democrat-dominated state legislature passed a new constitution in 1895 that disfranchised blacks, effectively excluding them entirely from the political process, a second-class status that was maintained for more than six decades in a state that was majority black until about 1930.
qas: answers: text: Democrat
question: Which party dominated South Carolina's state legislature?

answers: text: 1896
question: What year was a new constitution passed that discriminated against blacks were passed?

answers: text: 1889.
question: The William Enston Home was built in what year?

answers: text: 1930
question: Blacks were the majority in South Carolina until what year?

answers: text: 1896
question: A large post office and courthouse was built in what year?

context: On June 17, 2015, 21-year-old Dylann Roof entered the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a Bible study and killed nine people. Senior pastor Clementa Pinckney, who also served as a state senator, was among those killed during the attack. The deceased also included congregation members Susie Jackson, 87; Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Ethel Lance, 70; Myra Thompson, 59; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; and Tywanza Sanders, 26. The attack garnered national attention, and sparked a debate on historical racism, Confederate symbolism in Southern states, and gun violence. On July 10, 2015, the Confederate battle flag was removed from the South Carolina State House. A memorial service on the campus of the College of Charleston was attended by President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and Speaker of the House John Boehner.
qas: answers: text: June 17, 2015
question: On what day were nine people killed in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church?

answers: text: Dylann Roof
question: What was the name of 21 year old that killed nine church members in Charleston, South Carolina?

answers: text: state senator
question: Clementa Pinckney served what public office for the state of South Carolina?

answers: text: College of Charleston
question: A memorial service for the nine victims was held on which college's campus?

answers: text: July 10, 2015
question: On what day was the Confederate flag removed from South Carolina State House?

context: Charleston is known for its unique culture, which blends traditional Southern U.S., English, French, and West African elements. The downtown peninsula has gained a reputation for its art, music, local cuisine, and fashion. Spoleto Festival USA, held annually in late spring, has become one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (the Festival of Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy.
qas: answers: text: spring
question: What season is Spoleto Festival USA held?

answers: text: Festival dei Due Mondi
question: Spoleto Festival USA is a counterpart to what Italian festival?

answers: text: 1977
question: What year was Spoleto Festival USA founded?

answers: text: composer
question: What  the profession of Gian Carlo Menotti?

answers: text: Pulitzer Prize
question: What major award did Gian Carlo Menotti win?

context: Charleston's oldest community theater group, the Footlight Players, has provided theatrical productions since 1931. A variety of performing arts venues includes the historic Dock Street Theatre. The annual Charleston Fashion Week held each spring in Marion Square brings in designers, journalists, and clients from across the nation. Charleston is known for its local seafood, which plays a key role in the city's renowned cuisine, comprising staple dishes such as gumbo, she-crab soup, fried oysters, Lowcountry boil, deviled crab cakes, red rice, and shrimp and grits. Rice is the staple in many dishes, reflecting the rice culture of the Low Country. The cuisine in Charleston is also strongly influenced by British and French elements.
qas: answers: text: the Footlight Players
question: What is Charleston's oldest community theater group?

answers: text: Marion Square
question: Where is the  annual Charleston Fashion week held?

answers: text: 1931
question: The Footlight Players  started creating theatrical productions in what year?

answers: text: seafood
question: Charleston is known for what type of food?

answers: text: British and French
question: Charleston cuisine is influenced by what two cultures?

context: The traditional Charleston accent has long been noted in the state and throughout the South. It is typically heard in wealthy white families who trace their families back generations in the city. It has ingliding or monophthongal long mid-vowels, raises ay and aw in certain environments, and is nonrhotic. Sylvester Primer of the College of Charleston wrote about aspects of the local dialect in his late 19th-century works: "Charleston Provincialisms" (1887)  and "The Huguenot Element in Charleston's Provincialisms", published in a German journal. He believed the accent was based on the English as it was spoken by the earliest settlers, therefore derived from Elizabethan England and preserved with modifications by Charleston speakers. The rapidly disappearing "Charleston accent" is still noted in the local pronunciation of the city's name. Some elderly (and usually upper-class) Charleston natives ignore the 'r' and elongate the first vowel, pronouncing the name as "Chah-l-ston". Some observers attribute these unique features of Charleston's speech to its early settlement by French Huguenots and Sephardic Jews (who were primarily English speakers from London), both of whom played influential roles in Charleston's early development and history.[citation needed]
qas: answers: text: 1887
question: "Charleston's Provincialisms" was published in what year?

answers: text: French Huguenots and Sephardic Jews
question: To which two early cultures are the unique characteristics of Charleston's accent attributed to?

answers: text: College of Charleston
question: To which college did Sylvester Primer belong?

answers: text: Sylvester Primer
question: Who was the author of the work entitled, "The Huguenot Element in Charleston's Provincialisms"?

answers: text: German journal
question: What type of journal were Primer's work on Charleston's accent published?

context: Charleston annually hosts Spoleto Festival USA founded by Gian Carlo Menotti, a 17-day art festival featuring over 100 performances by individual artists in a variety of disciplines. The Spoleto Festival is internationally recognized as America's premier performing arts festival. The annual Piccolo Spoleto festival takes place at the same time and features local performers and artists, with hundreds of performances throughout the city. Other festivals and events include Historic Charleston Foundation's Festival of Houses and Gardens and Charleston Antiques Show, the Taste of Charleston, The Lowcountry Oyster Festival, the Cooper River Bridge Run, The Charleston Marathon, Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE), Charleston Food and Wine Festival, Charleston Fashion Week, the MOJA Arts Festival, and the Holiday Festival of Lights (at James Island County Park), and the Charleston International Film Festival.
qas: answers: text: 17
question: How many days does the Spoleto Festival USA run each year?

answers: text: art festival
question: What kind of festival is Spoleto Festival USA?

answers: text: James Island County Park
question: The Holiday Festival of Lights are held where?

answers: text: over 100 performances
question: About how many performances are there in the Spoleto Festival USA?

answers: text: Gian Carlo Menotti
question: Who founded the Spoleto Festival USA?

context: As it has on every aspect of Charleston culture, the Gullah community has had a tremendous influence on music in Charleston, especially when it comes to the early development of jazz music. In turn, the music of Charleston has had an influence on that of the rest of the country. The geechee dances that accompanied the music of the dock workers in Charleston followed a rhythm that inspired Eubie Blake's "Charleston Rag" and later James P. Johnson's "The Charleston", as well as the dance craze that defined a nation in the 1920s. "Ballin' the Jack", which was a popular dance in the years before "The Charleston", was written by native Charlestonian Chris Smith.
qas: answers: text: Chris Smith
question: Who wrote the "Charleston"?

answers: text: 1920s
question: What decade was the Charleston dance popular nationally?

answers: text: Eubie Blake
question: Who created the song "Charleston Rag"?

answers: text: the Gullah community
question: Which Charleston community had a large influence on jazz music?

answers: text: dock workers
question: Geechee dances are associated with the music of what type of worker?

context: The Jenkins Orphanage was established in 1891 by the Rev. Daniel J. Jenkins in Charleston. The orphanage accepted donations of musical instruments and Rev. Jenkins hired local Charleston musicians and Avery Institute Graduates to tutor the boys in music. As a result, Charleston musicians became proficient on a variety of instruments and were able to read music expertly. These traits set Jenkins musicians apart and helped land some of them positions in big bands with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. William "Cat" Anderson, Jabbo Smith, and Freddie Green are but a few of the alumni from the Jenkins Orphanage band who became professional musicians in some of the best bands of the day. Orphanages around the country began to develop brass bands in the wake of the Jenkins Orphanage Band's success. At the Colored Waif's Home Brass Band in New Orleans, for example, a young trumpeter named Louis Armstrong first began to draw attention.
qas: answers: text: 1891
question: What year was the Jenkins Orphanage created?

answers: text: donations of musical instruments
question: What type of donations did the Jerkins Orphanage accept?

answers: text: Daniel J. Jenkins
question: What Charleston Reverend established the Jenkins Orphanage?

answers: text: Avery Institute Graduates
question: Whose graduates tutored many boys from the Jenkins Orphanage?

answers: text: New Orleans
question: What city was Louis Armstrong from?

context: As many as five bands were on tour during the 1920s. The Jenkins Orphanage Band played in the inaugural parades of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft and toured the USA and Europe. The band also played on Broadway for the play "Porgy" by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, a stage version of their novel of the same title. The story was based in Charleston and featured the Gullah community. The Heywards insisted on hiring the real Jenkins Orphanage Band to portray themselves on stage. Only a few years later, DuBose Heyward collaborated with George and Ira Gershwin to turn his novel into the now famous opera, Porgy and Bess (so named so as to distinguish it from the play). George Gershwin and Heyward spent the summer of 1934 at Folly Beach outside of Charleston writing this "folk opera", as Gershwin called it. Porgy and Bess is considered the Great American Opera[citation needed] and is widely performed.
qas: answers: text: Theodore Roosevelt
question: What other president did the Jenkins Orphanage play for other than Taft?

answers: text: Porgy
question: What play did the Jenkins Orphanage band play for on Broadway ?

answers: text: Porgy and Bess
question: What was the name of the "folk opera" based on 'Porgy'?

answers: text: Folly Beach outside of Charleston
question: Where did Gershwin and Heyward write their folk opera?

answers: text: summer of 1934
question: When did Gershwin and Heyward write their folk opera?

context: The City of Charleston Fire Department consists over 300 full-time firefighters. These firefighters operate out of 19 companies located throughout the city: 16 engine companies, two tower companies, and one ladder company. Training, Fire Marshall, Operations, and Administration are the divisions of the department. The department operates on a 24/48 schedule and had a Class 1 ISO rating until late 2008, when ISO officially lowered it to Class 3. Russell (Rusty) Thomas served as Fire Chief until June 2008, and was succeeded by Chief Thomas Carr in November 2008.
qas: answers: text: 19
question: How many companies are there in the City of Charleston Fire Department?

answers: text: 300
question: How many full time firefighters do Charleston have?

answers: text: Russell (Rusty) Thomas
question: Who was the Fire Chief until June 2008?

answers: text: Chief Thomas Carr
question: Who became the Fire Chief in November 2008?

answers: text: two
question: How many tower companies does the fire department have?

context: The City of Charleston Police Department, with a total of 452 sworn officers, 137 civilians, and 27 reserve police officers, is South Carolina's largest police department. Their procedures on cracking down on drug use and gang violence in the city are used as models to other cities to do the same.[citation needed] According to the final 2005 FBI Crime Reports, Charleston crime level is worse than the national average in almost every major category. Greg Mullen, the former Deputy Chief of the Virginia Beach, Virginia Police Department, serves as the current Chief of the Charleston Police Department. The former Charleston police chief was Reuben Greenberg, who resigned August 12, 2005. Greenberg was credited with creating a polite police force that kept police brutality well in check, even as it developed a visible presence in community policing and a significant reduction in crime rates.
qas: answers: text: The City of Charleston Police Department
question: What is the largest police department of South Carolina?

answers: text: 27
question: How many reserve police officers do the Charleston Police Department have?

answers: text: 137
question: How many civilians serve on the Charleston Police Department?

answers: text: Greg Mullen
question: Who is the current Chief of the Charleston Police Department?

answers: text: 2005
question: What year did Reuben Greenberg retire as Chief of Charleston Police Department?

context: Charleston is the primary medical center for the eastern portion of the state. The city has several major hospitals located in the downtown area: Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center (MUSC), Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, and Roper Hospital. MUSC is the state's first school of medicine, the largest medical university in the state, and the sixth-oldest continually operating school of medicine in the United States. The downtown medical district is experiencing rapid growth of biotechnology and medical research industries coupled with substantial expansions of all the major hospitals. Additionally, more expansions are planned or underway at another major hospital located in the West Ashley portion of the city: Bon Secours-St Francis Xavier Hospital. The Trident Regional Medical Center located in the City of North Charleston and East Cooper Regional Medical Center located in Mount Pleasant also serve the needs of residents of the city of Charleston.
qas: answers: text: Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center
question: What is the state's first school of medicine?

answers: text: Mount Pleasant
question: Where is East Cooper Regional Medical Center?

answers: text: City of North Charleston
question: Where is the Trident Regional Medical Center is located?

answers: text: West Ashley portion
question: Bon Secours-St Francis Xavier Hospital is located at what portion of the city?

answers: text: The downtown medical district
question: What medical district is experiencing growth in biotechnology and medical research field?

context: The City of Charleston is served by the Charleston International Airport. It is located in the City of North Charleston and is about 12 miles (20 km) northwest of downtown Charleston. It is the busiest passenger airport in South Carolina (IATA: CHS, ICAO: KCHS). The airport shares runways with the adjacent Charleston Air Force Base. Charleston Executive Airport is a smaller airport located in the John's Island section of the city of Charleston and is used by noncommercial aircraft. Both airports are owned and operated by the Charleston County Aviation Authority.
qas: answers: text: Charleston International Airport
question: What airport provides service to the City to Charleston?

answers: text: North Charleston
question: The Charleston International Airport is located in what city?

answers: text: 12 miles (20 km)
question: How far is the airport from downtown Charleston?

answers: text: the John's Island section of the city of Charleston
question: Charleston Executive Airport is located where?

answers: text: Charleston Air Force Base
question: What military base is located near the airport?

context: Interstate 26 begins in downtown Charleston, with exits to the Septima Clark Expressway, the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge and Meeting Street. Heading northwest, it connects the city to North Charleston, the Charleston International Airport, Interstate 95, and Columbia. The Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge and Septima Clark Expressway are part of U.S. Highway 17, which travels east-west through the cities of Charleston and Mount Pleasant. The Mark Clark Expressway, or Interstate 526, is the bypass around the city and begins and ends at U.S. Highway 17. U.S. Highway 52 is Meeting Street and its spur is East Bay Street, which becomes Morrison Drive after leaving the east side. This highway merges with King Street in the city's Neck area (industrial district). U.S. Highway 78 is King Street in the downtown area, eventually merging with Meeting Street.
qas: answers: text: the city's Neck area
question: What area in Charleston is considered the 'industrial area'?

answers: text: U.S. Highway 78
question: What highways is King Street in downtown Charleston?

answers: text: Meeting Street
question: U.S. Highway 78 merges with what street?

answers: text: U.S. Highway 17
question: Interstate 526 begins and ends at what Highway?

answers: text: downtown Charleston
question: Interstate 26 begins on what part of Charleston?

context: The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge across the Cooper River opened on July 16, 2005, and was the second-longest cable-stayed bridge in the Americas at the time of its construction.[citation needed] The bridge links Mount Pleasant with downtown Charleston, and has eight lanes plus a 12-foot lane shared by pedestrians and bicycles. It replaced the Grace Memorial Bridge (built in 1929) and the Silas N. Pearman Bridge (built in 1966). They were considered two of the more dangerous bridges in America and were demolished after the Ravenel Bridge opened.
qas: answers: text: 2005
question: What year did the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge open?

answers: text: Mount Pleasant
question: What is linked to downtown Charleston by the bridge?

answers: text: 1929
question: What year was the Grace Memorial Bridge built?

answers: text: 1966
question: What year was the Silas N. Pearman Bridge built?

answers: text: Cooper River
question: The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge crosses what river?

context: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston Office of Education also operates out of the city and oversees several K-8 parochial schools, such as Blessed Sacrament School, Christ Our King School, Charleston Catholic School, Nativity School, and Divine Redeemer School, all of which are "feeder" schools into Bishop England High School, a diocesan high school within the city. Bishop England, Porter-Gaud School, and Ashley Hall are the city's oldest and most prominent private schools, and are a significant part of Charleston history, dating back some 150 years.
qas: answers: text: 150 years
question: Some of the oldest private schools in Charleston date back how long?

answers: text: K-8 parochial schools
question: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston oversees what kind of schools?

answers: text: 150 years
question: How old are some of Charleston's private school?

answers: text: Bishop England High School
question: Which school is Charleston's diocesan high school?

answers: text: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston Office of Education
question: Which organization oversees several K-8 Parochial Schools?

answers: text: Ashley Hall
question: Bishop England High school , Porter-Gaud School and a what other school is among Charleston's most prominent private schools?

context: Public institutions of higher education in Charleston include the College of Charleston (the nation's 13th-oldest university), The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and the Medical University of South Carolina. The city is also home to private universities, including the Charleston School of Law . Charleston is also home to the Roper Hospital School of Practical Nursing, and the city has a downtown satellite campus for the region's technical school, Trident Technical College. Charleston is also the location for the only college in the country that offers bachelor's degrees in the building arts, The American College of the Building Arts. The Art Institute of Charleston, located downtown on North Market Street, opened in 2007.
qas: answers: text: College of Charleston
question: What is the nation's 13th-oldest university?

answers: text: downtown on North Market Street
question: Where is the Art Institute of Charleston located?

answers: text: 2007
question: What year did the Art institute of Charleston open?

answers: text: The American College of the Building Arts
question: What Charleston College offers a degree in Building Arts?

answers: text: Trident Technical College
question: What Technical college have a campus at downtown Charleston?

context: Charleston has one official sister city, Spoleto, Umbria, Italy. The relationship between the two cities began when Pulitzer Prize-winning Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti selected Charleston as the city to host the American version of Spoleto's annual Festival of Two Worlds. "Looking for a city that would provide the charm of Spoleto, as well as its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces, they selected Charleston, South Carolina, as the ideal location. The historic city provided a perfect fit: intimate enough that the Festival would captivate the entire city, yet cosmopolitan enough to provide an enthusiastic audience and robust infrastructure."
qas: answers: text: Spoleto
question: What is the name of Charleston's sister city?

answers: text: Italy
question: In what country is Spoleto located?

answers: text: Gian Carlo Menotti
question: Who selected Charleston to host an American version of a festival?

answers: text: Festival of Two Worlds
question: What is the name of festival held in Spoleto?

answers: text: composer
question: What is the profession of Gian Carlo Menotti?

context: During this period, the Weapons Station was the Atlantic Fleet's loadout base for all nuclear ballistic missile submarines. Two SSBN "Boomer" squadrons and a submarine tender were homeported at the Weapons Station, while one SSN attack squadron, Submarine Squadron 4, and a submarine tender were homeported at the Naval Base. At the 1996 closure of the station's Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic (POMFLANT), over 2,500 nuclear warheads and their UGM-27 Polaris, UGM-73 Poseidon, and UGM-96 Trident I delivery missiles (SLBM) were stored and maintained, guarded by a U.S. Marine Corps security force company.
qas: answers: text: 1996
question: What year was the Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic station closed?

answers: text: 2,500 nuclear warheads
question: How many nuclear warheads were stored at the Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic station?

answers: text: Two
question: How many SSBN "Boomer" squadrons were homeported at the Weapons Station?

answers: text: Naval Base
question: Submarine Squadron 4 is homeported at what type of military base?

answers: text: a U.S. Marine Corps security force company.
question: What type of security force guards the 2500 nuclear warheads?

context: In 1832, South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, a procedure by which a state could, in effect, repeal a federal law; it was directed against the most recent tariff acts. Soon, federal soldiers were dispensed to Charleston's forts, and five United States Coast Guard cutters were detached to Charleston Harbor "to take possession of any vessel arriving from a foreign port, and defend her against any attempt to dispossess the Customs Officers of her custody until all the requirements of law have been complied with." This federal action became known as the Charleston incident. The state's politicians worked on a compromise law in Washington to gradually reduce the tariffs.
qas: answers: text: 1832
question: What year did South Carolina pass a law allowing them to repeal Federal Law?

answers: text: federal soldiers
question: After South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, who was sent to Charleston's forts?

answers: text: five United States Coast Guard cutters
question: After South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, who was sent to Charleston Harbor?

answers: text: the Charleston incident
question: The federal action of sending soldiers to Charleston in 1832 is known as what?

answers: text: in Washington to gradually reduce the tariffs
question: A compromise law from the state politicans achieved what?

context: By 1840, the Market Hall and Sheds, where fresh meat and produce were brought daily, became a hub of commercial activity. The slave trade also depended on the port of Charleston, where ships could be unloaded and the slaves bought and sold. The legal importation of African slaves had ended in 1808, although smuggling was significant. However, the domestic trade was booming. More than one million slaves were transported from the Upper South to the Deep South in the antebellum years, as cotton plantations were widely developed through what became known as the Black Belt. Many slaves were transported in the coastwise slave trade, with slave ships stopping at ports such as Charleston.
qas: answers: text: The slave trade
question: What industry depended on the port of Charleston?

answers: text: the Market Hall and Sheds
question: Where was  fresh food sold daily in Charleston in 1840?

answers: text: 1808
question: What year did the legal importation of slaves end?

answers: text: Black Belt
question: The region where cotton plantations were developed was known as what?

answers: text: in the antebellum years
question: In what era did one million slaves get trade throughout the South?

context: After the defeat of the Confederacy, federal forces remained in Charleston during the city's reconstruction. The war had shattered the prosperity of the antebellum city. Freed slaves were faced with poverty and discrimination, but a large community of free people of color had been well-established in the city before the war and became the leaders of the postwar Republican Party and its legislators. Men who had been free people of color before the war comprised 26% of those elected to state and federal office in South Carolina from 1868 to 1876.
qas: answers: text: 26%
question: What percentage of those elected from 1868 to 1876 were Freemen?

answers: text: postwar Republican Party
question: Freeman became the leaders of what party in Charleston?

answers: text: poverty
question: What else did freed slaves face in postwar Charleston besides discrimination?

answers: text: city's reconstruction
question: For what did the Federal forces remain in Charleston?

answers: text: Confederacy
question: Which side was defeated in the war before Reconstruction?