Click here for a more detailed map of Mississippi.

The state of Mississippi was named for the river that flows along its western boundary, and comes from several different Indian words.  The most common translation is "Father of Waters."                                 

Originally inhabited by Indians from several tribal nations (Choctaw, Chickasaw, Natchez etc.), Mississippi was not colonized until 1699 when Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d'Iberville landed in what is now Ocean Springs, on the gulf Coast.  Claimed by the French, the the Spanish and English, Mississippi was eventually bought by the United States, becoming its 20th state in 1817.  By the 1830's, cotton was king, and the state was on its way to becoming one of the nation's wealthiest.  On January 9, 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union, and, with the outbreak of the Civil War, battles were waged in every corner of the state.

Readmitted to the Union in 1870, the state began to rebuild.  Long recognized as an agricultural state, today's Mississippi is also the nation's largest manufacturer of upholstered furniture, supplies 70% of the world's supply of pond-raised catfish, and is home to NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, where engines for the Space Shuttle are tested.  Mississippi is home to the nation's largest Army corps of Engineers' Waterway Experiment Station (Vicksburg), and the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station (Port Gibson).  The state is recognized internationally for its outstanding contributions in the medical research areas of hypertension and organ transplantation.

By the way, you are listening to the fight song for MS State University.  Go Dawgs!!!!!