Editing Camden, South Carolina (section)

=== Colonial years ===
Camden is the oldest inland city and the fourth oldest city in South Carolina. It is near the center of the [[Cofitachequi]] chiefdom that existed in the 1500s.<ref name="Hudson1998">{{cite book|author=Charles Hudson|title=Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWJnGjxjJk8C|access-date=February 16, 2012|date=September 1998|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-2062-5|pages=234–238}}</ref> In 1730, Camden became part of a township plan ordered by [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]]. Kershaw County's official website states, "Originally laid out in 1732 as the town of Fredericksburg in the [[Wateree River]] swamp (south of the present town) when King George II ordered eleven inland townships established along South Carolina's rivers, few of the area settlers chose to take lots surveyed in the town, choosing the higher ground to the north. The township soon disappeared." In 1758, Joseph Kershaw from [[Yorkshire]], England, came into the township, established a store, and renamed the town "Pine Tree Hill". Camden became the main inland trade center in the colony. Kershaw suggested that the town be renamed Camden, in honor of [[Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden|Lord Camden]], a champion of colonial rights in the British Parliament.<ref>{{cite book|author=Federal Writers' Project|author-link=Federal Writers' Project|title=Palmetto Place Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c056089075&view=1up&seq=5|year=1941|publisher=Sloane Printing Co.|page=31}}</ref> In the 1770s it was the site of an early American porcelain factory, established by [[John Bartlam]].