
Why did European-American settlers come to Mississippi?
Some European-American settlers would bring many enslaved Africans with them to serve as laborers to develop cotton plantations along major riverfronts. On December 10, 1817, Mississippi became a state of the United States.
Where can I find the history of Mississippi?
Mississippi portal. The history of the state of Mississippi extends to thousands of years of indigenous peoples. Evidence of their cultures has been found largely through archeological excavations, as well as existing remains of earthwork mounds built thousands of years ago.
What was the first state capital in Mississippi?
Natchez, long established as a major river port, was the first state capital. As more population came into the state and future growth was anticipated, in 1822 the capital was moved to the more central location of Jackson.
When was the first fort built in Mississippi?
They created the first Fort Maurepas under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville on the site of modern Ocean Springs (or Old Biloxi) in 1699. In 1716, the French founded Natchez as Fort Rosalie on the Mississippi River; it became the dominant town and trading post of the area.

What was the first settlement in Mississippi?
1699 - Frenchman Pierre d'Iberville builds Fort Maurepas, the first permanent settlement in Mississippi.
What Europeans settled in Mississippi?
The first major European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was Spanish, led by Hernando de Soto, which passed through in the early 1540s. The French claimed the territory that included Mississippi as part of their colony of New France and started settlement along the Gulf Coast.
What was the first permanent European settlement on the Mississippi river?
Henri de Tonti helped establish the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi River Valley in 1686. It was called the Poste aux Arkansas, or Arkansas Post (Arkansas County).
Who lived in Mississippi before European settlers?
Three major groups of indigenous peoples constituted the earliest inhabitants of present-day Mississippi. The largest of these groups, the Choctaw, numbered approximately 20,000 and were located primarily in the southern and central part of the state.
Who were the first settlers in Mississippi?
Early inhabitants of the area that became Mississippi included the Choctaw, Natchez and Chickasaw. Spanish explorers arrived in the region in 1540 but it was the French who established the first permanent settlement in present-day Mississippi in 1699.
Who owned slaves in Mississippi?
He was born and studied medicine in Pennsylvania, but moved to Natchez District, Mississippi Territory in 1808 and became the wealthiest cotton planter and the second-largest slave owner in the United States with over 2,200 slaves....Stephen DuncanSpouse(s)Margaret Ellis Catherine Bingaman (m. 1819)8 more rows
What were the earliest French settlements in Mississippi?
This fort, named Maurepas in honor of the French Minister of Marine and Colonies, was the first European settlement in Mississippi and the first capital of the French colony of Louisiana. Fort Maurepas featured four bastions made of squared logs and twelve guns.
What European group explored and settled along the Mississippi river?
Spanish explorers sailed along Louisiana's coast as early as 1520 and encountered the Mississippi River for the first time on land in 1542.
What made the French settlement project in Mississippi so difficult?
because the French needed to have a fort near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Laws regulating the treatment and conduct of slaves protecting them as property. What was a big church holiday celebrated in the colony? Who was Antoine Crozat?
What is the oldest plantation in Mississippi?
Destrehan PlantationJust 20 miles outside of New Orleans, Destrehan Plantation dates to 1787 and is the oldest documented plantation in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Once stretching over 6,000 acres to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, Destrehan was actually a small community that supported several households.
Does slavery still exist in Mississippi?
Mississippi Officially Ratifies Amendment to Ban Slavery, 148 Years Late. Nearly 150 years after the Thirteenth Amendment's adoption, Mississippi finally caught on and officially ratified a ban on slavery.
Where did slaves from Mississippi come from?
The vast majority of these enslaved men and women came from Maryland and Virginia, where decades of tobacco cultivation and sluggish markets were eroding the economic foundations of slavery, and from older seaboard slave states like North Carolina and Georgia.
Was Mississippi a French colony?
Theme and Time Period. From 1699 to 1763, the future state of Mississippi was a part of the French colony of Louisiana.
What is the oldest European city in the United States?
St. AugustineSt. Augustine, founded in September 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain, is the longest continually inhabited European-founded city in the United States – more commonly called the "Nation's Oldest City."
What were the earliest French settlements in Mississippi?
Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, arrived on the Gulf Coast in 1699 and explored the coastline from Dauphin Island to Ship Island and Biloxi Bay and back toward the Chandeleur Islands before accidentally discovering the mouth of the Mississippi while attempting to outrun a vicious storm.
Who explored the Mississippi river for France?
Professor Laura Chmielewski spoke about the 1673 French expedition led by Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and fur trapper Louis Jolliet, who became the first Europeans to explore the Mississippi River.
Who was the first European to settle in Mississippi?
The first major European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was Spanish, led by Hernando de Soto, which passed through in the early 1540s. The French claimed the territory that included Mississippi as part of their colony of New France and started settlement along the Gulf Coast. They created the first Fort Maurepas under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville on the site of modern Ocean Springs (or Old Biloxi) in 1699.
Who was the territorial governor of Mississippi in 1798?
Winthrop Sargent, territorial governor in 1798, proved unable to impose a code of laws. Not until the emergence of cotton as a profitable staple crop in the nineteenth century, after the invention of the cotton gin, were the riverfront areas of Mississippi developed as cotton plantations.
Where did the Plaquemine culture originate?
The successive mound building Troyville, Coles Creek, and Plaquemine cultures occupied western Mississippi bordering the Mississippi River during the Late Woodland period. During the Terminal Coles Creek period (1150 to 1250 CE) contact increased with Mississippian cultures centered upriver near St. Louis, Missouri. This led to the adaption of new pottery techniques, as well as new ceremonial objects and possibly new forms of social structuring. As more Mississippian culture influences were absorbed the Plaquemine area as a distinct culture began to shrink after 1350 CE. Eventually the last enclave of purely Plaquemine culture was the Natchez Bluffs area, while the Yazoo Basin and adjacent areas of Louisiana became a hybrid Plaquemine-Mississippian culture. Historic groups in the area during first European contact bear out this division. In the Natchez Bluffs, the Taensa and Natchez had held out against Mississippian influence and continued to use the same sites as their ancestors and carry on the Plaquemine culture. Groups who appear to have absorbed more Mississippian influence were identified at the time of European contact as those tribes speaking the Tunican, Chitimachan, and Muskogean languages.
What was the economy of the 1830s?
American planters developed an economy based on the export of cotton produced by slave labor along the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers.
What was the Mississippi Delta's impact on the Civil War?
During the Civil War, its river cities particularly were sites of extended battles and widespread destruction. The bottomlands of the Mississippi Delta were still 90% undeveloped after the Civil War. Thousands of migrants, both black and white, entered this area for a chance at land ownership.
Where did free people of color migrate to?
Free people of color often migrated to New Orleans, where there was more opportunity for work and a bigger community of their class. As part of New France, Mississippi was also ruled by the Spanish after France's defeat in the Seven Years' War (1756–63). Later it was briefly part of West Florida under the British.
Which area of Mississippi was the most anti-Confederate?
The most vehemently anti-Confederate areas in Mississippi were Jones County in the southeastern corner of the state, and Itawamba County and Tishomingo County in the northeastern corner. Among the most influential Mississippi Unionists were Newton Knight, who helped form the "Free State of Jones", and Presbyterian minister John Aughey, whose sermons and book The Iron Furnace or Slavery and Secession (1863) became hallmarks of the anti-secessionist cause in the state. Mississippi would furnish around 545 white troops for the Union Army.
