The name Mississippi comes from a Native
American word meaning "great waters" or "father of waters."
Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, came
upon the Mississippi River in 1540 and Spain claimed the region until 1798.
Mississippi was admitted to the United States on May 10, 1817.
Mississippi is known as the Magnolia State
because of the abundance of magnolia trees in the state. Magnolias are both
the state flower and state tree of this state.
The Mississippi quarter was introduced in
2002. During that year, 579,600,000 Mississippi quarters were produced. Click
here
to find out how much that is in dollars!
E Pluribus Unum means "One Out of Many"
and is printed on every coin currently produced by the U.S. Mint. The phrase
stands for the unity of the United States.
Magnolias were named after a French botanist
named Pierre Magnol. They are very popular flowers in the Southern United
States and were introduced from Asia. To find out more about magnolias,
got to The Essence
of Magnolias website.
Painting of Magnolia by Mark Catesby
Famous
Mississippians:
- Elvis Presley, the famous rock n roll singer, was born
in Mississippi in 1935.
- Hiram Revels was the first African American to sit in the
U.S. Senate.
Mississippi has no professional sports teams!
Cotton is the most important crop in Mississippi.
Agriculture is one of Mississippi's major industries. Corn, peanuts, pecans
and rice are also important to this state's economy. Almost 60% of Missippi
is covered by forests.
Mississippi - "The Magnolia State"
Resources:
To find out more about Mississippi, you can visit these sites: