Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hernando de Soto's Spanish expedition traversed what is now Columbia in May 1540. This event produced the earliest written historical records of the area which was part of the regional Cofitachequi chiefdom of the Mississippian culture.
The site was selected as the new state capital in 1786 due to its central location in the state. The colonial government established a ferry there in 1754 to connect the fort with growing European settlements on the higher ground on the east bank.
The Union Army under Gen. Sherman captured the city on the 17th of February 1865. Much of the city was destroyed by fire between the 17th and 18th though modern historians conclude that no single cause led to the burning and Sherman did not order it.
Fort Jackson is the U.S. Army's largest training post and contains approximately two-thirds of Columbia's land area including uninhabited training grounds. McEntire Joint National Guard Base is also located there under command of the South Carolina Air National Guard.
The University of South Carolina admitted its first black students in 1963. This occurred around the same time that many vestiges of segregation began to disappear from the city as blacks attained membership on various municipal boards and commissions.