- The Tennessee seal now in use has never been officially adopted, though the basic design has …
Lying on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains from North Carolina, Tennessee was part of the first Western frontier during American colonial times. By 1796 it had enough settlers to be admitted to the Union as the 16th state. The capital is Nashville. Tennessee is named from the Indian word Tanasi, the name of a Cherokee village on the Little Tennessee River. The nickname Volunteer State came from the large number of Tennessee residents who volunteered for service in the conflict between the United States and Britain known as War of 1812. GeographyTennessee is located in the south-central part of the United States. It is long from east to west but narrow from north to south. It covers an area of 42,146 square miles (109,158 square kilometers) and borders eight states. In the west the Mississippi River separates Tennessee from Missouri and Arkansas. Virginia and Kentucky lie to the north, and Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are to the south. In the east Tennessee shares a border with North Carolina. - Forests cover the peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee.
Eastern Tennessee lies within the Appalachian Mountain chain, which stretches from Canada in the north to Alabama in the south. The Blue Ridge Mountains along the Tennessee–North Carolina border include the range known as the Great Smokies. Within the Great Smokies is the state's highest point, Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (2,025 meters). West of the mountains is an area of low ridges. The central part of the state is a plateau region with generally flat but sometimes rolling land. Western Tennessee consists of plains, including a narrow strip of swamp and floodplain along the Mississippi River. Much of the state is drained by the Tennessee River. Tennessee has a moderate climate. Winters are cool but not cold, and summers are warm but not hot. Temperatures are cooler in the east because of the higher elevation. Plants and animalsTrees cover more than half of Tennessee's land. Hardwoods such as oak and hickory are plentiful. In the 20th century Tennessee took steps to restore populations of animals that had almost disappeared from the state. Among them are white-tailed deer, black bears, wild turkeys, river otters, and bald eagles. Raccoons, possums, rabbits, and squirrels are common. People and cultureNative Americans lived in what is now Tennessee when European explorers first visited the area in the 16th and 17th centuries. The most powerful tribe was the Cherokee. In the 1830s the Cherokee were forced to move to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) because settlers wanted their land. The hard journey of the Cherokee is remembered as the Trail of Tears. Most of Tennessee's early white settlers came from the Eastern states. These people were mainly English, Scots-Irish, and German. The state remains largely populated by people of European heritage. African Americans are by far the largest minority group. At the start of the 21st century they made up more than 16 percent of the state's population. CitiesTennessee has five cities with populations of more than 100,000. Memphis, on the Mississippi River, is the largest city. Nashville, the capital and second-largest city, is located in central Tennessee on the Cumberland River. Clarksville, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Nashville, was one of the state's fastest-growing cities in the 1990s. Knoxville and Chattanooga are the largest cities in the eastern part of the state. RecreationTennessee's major cities feature many things to do. Country music fans visit Nashville to see the Country Music Hall of Fame and the musical theme park known as Opryland USA. The city also is home to the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League and the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League. Fans of the rock-and-roll performer Elvis Presley flock to Memphis to see Graceland, his home and burial place. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of Tennessee's most popular scenic attractions. It is the largest national park in the eastern United States. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park marks the passage that let early settlers move west through the mountains on Tennessee's eastern border. David Crockett State Park honors the famous frontiersman, who was born in Tennessee (see Crockett, Davy). Tennessee also has dozens of other state parks and historical sites. EducationA school founded by the Reverend Samuel Doak near Jonesboro in 1780 was the first institution of higher learning in the Mississippi Valley. The largest state-supported school is the University of Tennessee, with its main campus at Knoxville. Notable private schools include Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, and the University of the South, at Sewanee. Fisk University, at Nashville, is one of the nation's leading African American schools. EconomyIndustryManufacturing and service industries are the bases of Tennessee's economy. The state's factories produce chemicals, motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, computers, processed foods, paper products, metals, and many other products. As in many other states, services were the fastest-growing part of Tennessee's economy in the late 20th century. Leading service industries include health care, real estate, and tourism. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and miningAgriculture plays a small role in Tennessee's economy. Farm income is split nearly evenly between livestock raising and crop growing. Cattle, poultry, and dairy products are among the state's most valuable agricultural products. The main crops include soybeans, cotton, corn, and tobacco. Tennessee's forests provide wood for the production of pulp and paper, lumber, furniture, hardwood flooring, and other products. Many fish are caught in the Mississippi, Tennessee, and other rivers, including bass, catfish, and trout. The state's mineral reserves include crushed stone, coal, sand, gravel, clay, and zinc. HistoryPeople have lived on the land that is now Tennessee for thousands of years. The region's first people were prehistoric Native American hunters. Later Native American groups developed a life based on farming. ExplorationThe first European explorer known to visit the region was the Spaniard Hernando de Soto in 1540. In the second half of the 17th century both the French and the English claimed the region. Settlers representing both countries built forts and trading posts and competed for trade with the Native Americans. At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Britain took control of the whole area. StatehoodA Virginian named William Bean started the first permanent white settlement in the region in 1769. Many other people from the American colonies followed. The territory soon became part of North Carolina. In 1784, after the American Revolution, North Carolina offered the Tennessee region to the federal government. Settlers in the area were angry that the offer was made without their approval. They set up their own state, Franklin, but it lasted only until 1788. The next year North Carolina gave up its claim to the territory. The federal government made Tennessee a state in 1796. Many Tennesseans took part in the War of 1812. Among the most notable was General Andrew Jackson. Jackson was elected president of the United States in 1828. Civil WarThe American Civil War (1861–65) divided Tennessee. The eastern part of the state sided with the North, but the western planters and slave owners supported the South. In 1861 Tennessee withdrew from the Union and joined the Confederacy, the new government set up by the Southern states that supported slavery. Soldiers from the state fought on both sides of the conflict. Tennessee was the scene of intense fighting during the war. The battle sites included Shiloh, Murfreesboro (Stone's River), Chattanooga, Knoxville, Franklin, and Nashville. In 1866 Tennessee became the first Confederate state allowed back into the Union. Damaged buildings, roads, and rail lines were gradually rebuilt. Economic growthThe United States government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933. This agency was formed to develop the resources of the Tennessee River valley. Low-cost hydroelectric (water) power was made available to many areas that did not have electricity. New dams controlled floodwaters and improved navigation on the river. The TVA helped the development of industry in Tennessee. The state's economy grew especially in the 1940s, when many manufacturing companies moved into the state. A large nuclear research facility was opened at Oak Ridge in 1943 during development of the atomic bomb. Modern stateTennessee was a center of the civil-rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. African Americans in the state began to call for an end to policies that were unfair to them. In 1968 civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., traveled to Memphis to support a strike by poorly paid sanitation workers. On April 4 he was shot and killed while standing on motel balcony. Despite this setback, the state did make important progress in race relations during this period. The population of Tennessee increased faster than that of the United States as a whole in the 1990s. Tennessee's economy grew as well, largely because the state was able to develop many different types of industry. Population (2000 census), 5,689,283. |