The Catawba, also known as Issa, Essa or Iswä but most commonly Iswa, are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. Their current lands are in South Carolina, on the Catawba River, near the city of Rock Hill. Their territory once extended into North Carolina, as well, and they still have legal claim to some parcels of land in that state. They were once considered one of the most powerful Southeastern tribes in the Carolina Piedmont, as well as one of the most powerful tribes in the South as a whole, with other, smaller tribes merging into the Catawba as their post-contact numbers dwindled due to the effects of colonization on the region.

South Carolina is a state in the coastal Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia to the southwest across the Savannah River. Along with North Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast. South Carolina is the 40th-largest and 23rd-most populous U.S. state with a recorded population of 5,118,425 according to the 2020 census. In 2019, its GDP was $213.45 billion. South Carolina is composed of 46 counties. The capital is Columbia with a population of 136,632 in 2020; while its most populous city is Charleston with a 2020 population of 150,227. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area is the most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, with an estimated 2023 population of 1,590,636.