Many transportation routes converge at Charleston, and through its almost landlocked harbor extensive coastal and foreign trade is carried on. Until 1996, Charleston was headquarters for the 6th U.S. naval district and for the U.S. air force defense command. Among the city's varied manufactures are fertilizers, chemicals, steel, pulp and paper, textiles, and clothing. The waterfront, especially the Battery, and the Grace Memorial Bridge over the Cooper River, are famous Charleston landmarks. Charleston is the seat of the Citadel , the Medical Univ.
Noted resorts lie east and west of the city.
They moved in 1680 to Oyster Point, where their capital, Charles Town, had been laid out. The city became the most important seaport, and the center of wealth and culture, in the southern colonies. Non-English immigrants, among whom French Huguenots were prominent, added a cosmopolitan touch. The capital was moved to Columbia in 1790, but Charleston remained the region's social and economic center. Charleston is an important transportation and trading center for the highly industrialized Kanawha valley and a major producer of chemicals, glass, and metal.