Aiken

Aiken, county, western South Carolina, U.S. It lies in the state’s sandhill region between the North Fork Edisto River to the northeast and the Savannah River border with Georgia to the southwest. The county is also drained by the South Fork Edisto. Aiken and Redcliffe Plantation state parks are within its boundaries.

The area was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Savannah Indians in the late 18th century. During the U.S. War of Independence colonial patriots defeated Tories during a battle in Dean’s Swamp. The area’s growth began with the establishment of the first cotton mill in the southern United States, at Graniteville in 1845. In 1848 Hamburg (near present-day North Augusta), across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia, was a centre of the slave trade, which was banned in Georgia. Aiken county was established in 1871 and named for the politician and railroad executive William Aiken. Race riots in Hamburg and Ellenton in 1876 led to Aiken county’s becoming a centre for the political white supremacy movement during and after the Reconstruction era.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, once a leading producer of nuclear weapons materials and now operating in a much-diminished capacity as a weapons materials processor, occupies much of the southeastern portion of the county. To make room for the plant, homes and other buildings were moved to new locations, including the entire town of Ellenton, now called New Ellenton.

Livestock raising (notably racehorses) and the growing of soybeans, grains, and peaches are major factors in the economy, as are the mining of kaolin and other minerals. Chief manufactures include chemicals and paper, textile, and glass products. The city of Aiken is the county seat. Area 1,073 square miles (2,779 square km). Pop. (2000) 142,556; (2010) 160,099.