Mississippi is located in the Southeastern United States and is named after the Mississippi River, which together with the Missouri forms the largest river system in North America. Throughout history, the Mississippi has been an important natural border and transportation route. Native American tribes living in the region at the time of European contact included the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Natchez, Yazoo and Biloxi. After Spanish explorers had already reached the Mississippi in 1540, the French founded the first European settlement in 1699. As a result of the Seven Years' War, Great Britain gained control in 1763. However, during the Revolutionary War, the British ceded most of the Mississippi to the United States, while the southern third became part of Spanish West Florida in 1783. In 1812, the Spanish possession was annexed by the U.S. and in 1817, Mississippi was admitted to the Union as the 20^th state.

Mississippi produced more cotton than any other state and was economically heavily dependent on slave labor before the Civil War. As one of the seven original Confederate states, Mississippi left the Union in 1861. Statehood was restored in 1870, and the 20^th century saw a number of pivotal events in the civil rights movement in Mississippi, such as the Ole Miss riot in 1962, the assassination of Medgar Evers in 1963, and the Freedom Summer murders in 1964.

The southern magnolia is both the state tree and the state flower, and Mississippi's official nickname is "The Magnolia State". Since the plant blooms for a very long time and even several times a year under good conditions, it symbolizes hope and rebirth. The Latin state motto, "Virtute et armis", means "By valor and arms".

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