Humans have lived on what is now the Mississippi for at least 12,000 years. Native Americans have lived on earth for thousands of years. The tribes in Mississippi included the Biloxi, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Natchez who lived on the land. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda became the first European to map the area, but more than a hundred years later, the French explorer Sieur de la Salle began to lay claim to the land of France. Soon after, European settlers established the slave trade in the area. In 1798, Mississippi became a US territory, and in 1817 the state was admitted to the Union.
By 1838, thousands of Native Americans from the region had been forcibly expelled from their homelands and resettled on land west of the Mississippi River. (However, Mississippi Choctaw Indians still live in the state.) Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union (or seceded from it) in 1861. He later reunited in 1870, five years after the end of the Civil War. The state would remain an important battleground for civil rights as black Americans staged protests to achieve equality during the 1950s and 1960s. The Mississippi, meaning “big river”, comes from the Ojibway language, although the Ojibway people are not from the area. The state is named after the Mississippi River, and the Ojibway lived in northern Minnesota, where the river begins. It is named by the state of Magnolia in honor of magnolia trees growing here.
Geography of Mississippi
Mississippi is a southern state bordered by Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana to the south, and Louisiana and Arkansas to the west. See Mississippi cities. The Mississippi River forms its western boundary. The state can be divided into two geographical regions. The Delta, also called the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, begins at the Mississippi River and extends east to the state line. This floodplain has very fertile soil several feet deep. The Gulf Coastal Plain covers most of the Mississippi. In the north, this includes the Red Clay Hills (with red-orange soil) and the Holly Springs National Forest. The coastal area includes the Gulf Island National Seashore with 160 miles of marine forests, coves and sandy beaches.
Wildlife of Mississippi
White-tailed deer, nine-striped armadillo, and swamp rabbits are among the mammals of Mississippi. Birds such as bald eagles, wild turkeys and red-bellied woodpeckers fly overhead. According to itypetravel.com, southeastern five-walled skinks, Gulf crayfish snakes, and Mississippi mud turtles are some of the reptiles that live here. You may also spot amphibians such as Mississippi slime salamanders and cricket frogs in this state. Live oaks, pines, hickories, pecans, and magnolia are common in Mississippi. Chicory, black-eyed Susan, chamomile, blue lily, and Mississippi are among the state’s many wildflowers.
