South Carolina includes portions of three major natural regions, or physiographic provinces, of the eastern United States: the Atlantic portion of the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, and the Blue Ridge provinces.

The Coastal Plain in South Carolina is usually divided into the Inner and Outer plains. The Inner Coastal Plain, inland from the coast, is a region of rolling topography. The Outer Coastal Plain, along the coast, is flat and broken by many rivers and streams. The Outer Coastal Plain is often referred to as the low country, and the Piedmont and the Blue Ridge provinces are known together as the upcountry. The Fall Line separates the Coastal Plain from the Piedmont. On or near this line, rapids occur in all the major rivers as they pass from the harder metamorphic rock of the upland region to the more easily eroded clays and shales of the Coastal Plain.

The Atlantic Coastal Plain occupies about two-thirds of the state. Included within the region are the Sea Islands, a chain of small and often marshy islands that lie along the coast. Near the coast, the land is flat and often swampy, and the soils are generally sandy and infertile. Except for an important truck-crop growing region south of Charleston, little farming is practiced, and forests of longleaf pines cover large areas. Farther inland, the land has better natural drainage and rises gently to 150 m (500 ft) in the rolling Red Hills and Sandhills (or Sand Hills). The soils of the Inner Plain before rising into the Sandhills are more fertile than along the coast, and much cotton and soybeans are grown.

The Piedmont is an upland area that rises gradually northwestward from 120 m (400 ft) above sea level near the Fall Line to 370 m (1,200 ft) along the northwestern edge. The Lower Piedmont formerly was an important cotton-growing area, but most crop production has ceased and the region is now typified by forests and pasture. The Upper Piedmont contains a belt of many manufacturing establishments.

The Blue Ridge province, in northwestern South Carolina, occupies less than 2 percent of the state’s total area. It is a mountainous and mainly forested region. Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in the state, rises 1,085 m (3,560 ft) above sea level in this region.

All the major rivers in South Carolina flow generally southeastward across the state to the Atlantic Ocean. The three principal rivers are the Santee, Great Pee Dee, and Savannah rivers. The Santee River, 230 km (143 mi) long, is the longest river entirely within the state. It is formed by the junction of two headstreams, the Wateree River (known in its upper reaches as the Catawba River) and the Congaree River, which, in turn, is formed by the junction of the Broad and Saluda rivers. The Great Pee Dee River, which rises as the Yadkin River in North Carolina, flows through eastern South Carolina to the ocean. Its principal tributaries include the Lynches and Little Pee Dee rivers. The Savannah River, which is formed by the junction of the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers in northwestern South Carolina, together with two of its tributaries, the Tugaloo and Chattooga rivers, forms most of the South Carolina-Georgia state line.

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