The metropolis and the backcountry: The making of a colonial landscape on the South Carolina frontier

The colonial settlement of South Carolina in the 18th century resulted in t he emergence of two largely separate economies, the organization of which g ave rise to distinctive frontier landscapes. The commercial rice economy of the Lowcountry was characterized by dispersed plantation production facili tated by riverine transportation. The urban functions of this largely rural landscape were centered on entrepot of Charleston, a city whose size and m aterial wealth reflected the region's commercial success. The Backcountry i nitially lacked access to the entrepot's urban and export markets and its r egional isolation fostered insular economic institutions dispersed among sm aller nucleated settlements linked by overland routes. Commercial infrastru cture of specialized production in the Backcountry and incorporated its res ources in the larger export economy. The settlement system that emerged in the interior reflected these changes, but did not emulate the Lowcountry. R ather, it bore the imprint of the frontier landscaped, components of which merely acquired new roles as regional nodes in South Carolina's expanding e conomy, the focus of which remained the older entrepot that emerged as the South's major port in the post-frontier period.