Mississippi: general description and a brief history

Mississippi - the state, which was the twentieth in the US. In this indicator, as the population, it is located at 31 positions in the country. The largest local city and at the same time the capital is Jackson. The official name of the region in translation into Russian means "magnolia staff".

Short story

About one thousand years ago, a large number of Indian tribes lived on this territory . Many of them were at a fairly high level of development. The first Europeans who appeared here in 1540 were the members of the Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto. Since 1682, for more than 80 years, the state was under the control of the Bourbon dynasty. In 1763, they were replaced by the British, who did not last long. Sixteen years later, the current state of Mississippi and a few more adjacent regions were captured by the Spaniards. On December 10, 1817, he became a member of the United States.

Geographical position

The total area of the Mississippi is almost 126 thousand square kilometers. The state is located in the southern part of the state on a weakly hilly plain. In the east it borders Alabama, in the north - with Tennessee, in the northwest - with Arkansas, in the southwest - with Louisiana. The southern part is washed by the Gulf of Mexico. Particularly distinguished territory, bordering the largest local river Mississippi and its left tributary, which is called Yazoo. The feature of this area is very fertile soils, in which chernozems predominate. About half of the territory is covered with forests.

Weather

The state of Mississippi is characterized by a humid and hot summer. The only exception can be called unless the north-eastern areas, where the air is fresher. Winter in the whole territory is quite warm. The thermometer column in January is at elevations from 6 to 10 degrees above zero. As for the precipitation, their number gradually increases in the direction from north to south. On average, they drop about 1300 millimeters per year. An interesting feature is considered quite frequent tornadoes, from which the southern regions suffer regularly. Each year, from the Gulf of Mexico, on average, there are 27 such hurricanes of varying capacity and duration.

Population

Based on the latest population census conducted in 2010 by the US government, the state of Mississippi is populated by almost 3 million inhabitants. According to historical information, as of the thirties of the last century, more than half of the people living on its territory were African-Americans. However, about 360 thousand of them for a few decades emigrated to the west and north of the state in search of a better life. Be that as it may, 37% of the local residents are now representatives of the Negroid race. In this indicator, Mississippi leads the country. In some cities and areas of the state (in the center and in the southwest), the Negro population generally dominates. Less than 1% of the population is of Asian origin.

Economy

The state of Mississippi is one of the most agricultural regions of the state. The most grown crops here are soybean, cotton and rice. Not bad established fish farming and poultry. The rapid development of industry in the region began in the thirties of the twentieth century. This was facilitated by the rather large reserves of oil and natural gas found at that time. At the same time, the government launched several more manufacturing industries, for example, a number of enterprises operating in the woodworking, food and chemical industries were built. High profit in the treasury brings fishing, established in the Gulf of Mexico, gambling, as well as the space center and several military bases located in the bay of St. Louis. Despite all this, Mississippi is characterized by one of the lowest per capita income levels in the entire state.