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HISTORY
MISSISSIPPI, THE MAGNOLIA STATE
For centuries the region now known as Mississippi
was the secluded domain of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez
Indian nations, and dozens of smaller tribes. The first European
settlement was established by the French in 1699. The flags of
France, Spain, and Great Britain flew over the Mississippi
Territory before it became the twentieth State in 1817.
By the 1830s, high cotton prices ignited an economic
explosion in the South, and Mississippi became one of the
Nation's wealthiest States. Cotton was King, and plantation
owners constructed mansions to certify their incredible wealth in
an affluent era that ended with the War Between the States in
1861.
Reminders of the Old South are found throughout
Mississippi, from the mansions of Natchez to the cannons of
Vicksburg, from the original State Capitol -- where secession was
declared -- to Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis, the
only President of the Confederacy.
The land -- once prowled by Indians and
explorers, cultivated by planters, and shaped by heroes -- now
bustles with technological and cultural progress. The world's
first heart and lung transplants were performed at the University
of Mississippi Medical Center. The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration's John C. Stennis Space Center tests the
powerful engines that propel astronauts into space. The U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg
is the world's largest hydraulic research laboratory. Jackson is
the only American city to host the International Ballet
Competition that rotates annually among Jackson, Helsinki,
Moscow, and Varna, Bulgaria.
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