The State of South Carolina (nicknamed `The Palmetto State’) is in the South region of the USA and is flanked by North Carolina to the north and Georgia to the south-west. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the south-east. Along the coastline of the state are marshes and numerous islands. The low-lying Atlantic Coastal Plain extends inland for about 160 km (100 miles), with the land rising very gradually towards the undulating Piedmont Plateau in the north-west. In the north-west corner are the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian system, with Sassafras Mountain, at 1,085 m (3,560 ft), and the state's highest point. South Carolina's principal rivers are the Pee Dee, flowing from the north-east into Winyah Bay; the Santee, running through the centre of the state; and the Savannah, forming the boundary with Georgia. The state's climate is humid and subtropical.

Although South Carolina is the 11th smallest state, its land is incredibly diverse. The state’s height slopes downhill from west to east, opening with a minuscule section of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west. Similarly, rivers flow from west to east until they get to the Atlantic Ocean. South Carolina is encircled to the north by North Carolina; to the south and west by Georgia, situated across the Savannah River; and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. South Carolina is self-possessed of thirty-six geographic areas, whose boundaries approximately parallel the northeast/southwest Atlantic coastline.