Mississippi

I

Introduction

Mississippi, state in the Southeastern United States, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. Early explored by the Spanish and colonized by the French, Mississippi’s warm climate and rich soil proved ideally suited to cotton, which became the main crop even before 1800 and remained the mainstay of its economy until the 20th century.

Anglo-Saxon settlers from the older seaboard states flocked to Mississippi’s virgin lands, bringing black slaves to work their fields, and until 1940 blacks outnumbered whites. Even today Mississippi has a larger percentage of blacks than any other state. Relations between the races have tended to shape Mississippi’s history and to foster a conservative political philosophy and an insistence on state’s rights among its white majority. In recent years, however, blacks have begun to enter political and economic realms formerly virtually closed to them. At the same time, “king” cotton has made room for a more diversified agriculture, and Mississippi has undergone an industrial boom. Although Mississippians still cherish the columned mansions and hallowed traditions of their past, they can now boast a diversified industrial and agricultural economy.

Mississippi entered the Union on December 10, 1817, as the 20th state. Jackson, Mississippi’s capital and largest city, was founded at about the same time. The state takes its name from the Mississippi River, the great waterway that forms the state’s western boundary. The river’s name was derived from an Algonquin term for “big river.” Mississippi is commonly nicknamed the Magnolia State because of the great number of magnolia trees that grow within its borders. The blossom of the magnolia is the state flower.

II

Physical Geography

Mississippi ranks 32nd among the states in size, with a total area of 125,433 sq km (48,430 sq mi), including 2,033 sq km (785 sq mi) of inland water and 1,528 sq km (590 sq mi) of coastal waters over which it has jurisdiction. It has a maximum length, from north to south, of about 530 km (about 330 mi) and a maximum width of about 290 km (about 180 mi). Its mean elevation is about 90 m (about 300 ft).

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A

Natural Regions

Mississippi lies wholly within the Gulf Coastal Plain, which is one of the principal natural regions, or physiographic provinces, of the southern United States (see Coastal Plain). The state can be divided into two sections, which, in order to distinguish clearly between them, are treated as separate natural regions in this article. Covering the western part of the state along the Mississippi River are the broad flat lowlands of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. Covering the remainder of the state are the low hills of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. Both natural regions extend beyond the border of Mississippi into neighboring states and are but a small part of the Gulf Coastal Plain.

The portion of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain located in Mississippi is known as the Yazoo Basin. Locally referred to as the Delta, this region covers the western margins of Mississippi. The plain varies in width from about 105 km (about 65 mi) near Greenville to less than 1.5 km (less than 1 mi) south of Natchez. It includes the flat low-lying bottomlands along the Mississippi, Tallahatchie, Yazoo, and Big Sunflower rivers. Elevations are below 60 m (200 ft), the highest lands occurring on the natural levees along the major rivers. Away from the levees the land is often swampy, and floods were frequent until recent years, when reservoirs and channel improvements reduced the problem. The plain has productive soils that are good for cotton, soybeans, and rice.

The East Gulf Coastal Plain rises from sea level along the marshy Gulf Coast to a high point of 246 m (806 ft) at Woodall Mountain, in the Tennessee River Hills. Forming the western edge of the plain are the Bluff Hills, a belt of low hills from 8 to 24 km (5 to 15 mi) wide that extends the entire length of the state. Composed of fertile yellow soils known as loess, the Bluff Hills, or Loess Hills, are generally too eroded for profitable farming.

East of the Bluff Hills and curving in a broad arc from Meridian to the area around Oxford is a broad belt of low hills commonly designated as the North-Central Hills. Just east of the North-Central Hills lies the Flatwoods, the Pontotoc Ridge, and the Black Prairie regions. The Black Prairie is an extension of Alabama’s Black Belt, which is a narrow rolling strip of prairie land. Beyond the Black Belt, in the extreme northeast, are the steep hills and deep narrow ravines of the Tennessee River Hills. South of the North-Central Hills lies another narrow strip of prairie, the Jackson Prairie, and the Pine Hills and Coastal Meadows regions.

B

Rivers and Lakes

All the rivers of Mississippi drain into the Gulf of Mexico, either directly or by way of the Mississippi River. The Mississippi follows a meandering course along the state’s western edge. The river was designated the state line in 1817, but subsequent shifts in its sluggish course transferred small sections of Louisiana and Arkansas to points east of the river, while some sections of Mississippi are now on the western bank. During the flood season the surface of the river in its lower course is elevated more than 3 m (10 ft) above the surface of the land. As a result, artificial levees and other flood-control structures are needed to contain the river.

The major tributaries of the Mississippi in the state include the Yazoo, Big Black, and Homochitto rivers. The Yazoo River flows generally southward across the Mississippi Alluvial Plain between the Mississippi River and the Bluff Hills. It is formed by the junction of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha rivers and joins the Mississippi at Vicksburg.

The major rivers draining directly to the gulf are the Pearl and Pascagoula. The Pearl is fed by the Yockanookany and the Strong rivers. In its lower reaches the Pearl forms 187 km (116 mi) of the state line between Louisiana and Mississippi, the boundary following the East Pearl River when the river divides below Picayune. The West Pearl River flows through Louisiana. The Pascagoula, fed by the Leaf and Chickasawhay rivers, enters the Gulf of Mexico about 30 km miles (about 20 mi) east of Biloxi. The northeastern section of the state is drained by tributaries of the Tennessee River and the headwaters of the Tombigbee River.

Mississippi has no large natural lakes. The chief lakes in the state are all artificially created reservoirs behind dams. The largest lakes include Arkabutla Lake, on the Coldwater River, a tributary of the Tallahatchie; Sardis Lake, on the Tallahatchie; Enid Lake, on the Yocona River, a tributary of the Tallahatchie; Grenada Lake, on the Yalobusha; and Ross Barnett Reservoir, on the Pearl River. In addition, there are numerous oxbow lakes and other standing water bodies on the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. Oxbow lakes are formed when a river cuts through the neck of one of its loops, or meanders, thus establishing a shorter course and leaving the former loop as a lake separate from the river.

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