Q 01/05

When Mississippi became a state in 1817, the eastern half of its territory became which future state?

A) Alabama

B) Georgia

C) Florida

D) Tennessee

Answer · why

A) Alabama

Alabama was split off under pressure from Southern politicians who wanted two slave states rather than one: dividing the territory meant four new sena...

Q 02/05

Mississippi's capital is named after which future U.S. president, honoured there years before he took office?

A) Andrew Jackson

B) Zachary Taylor

C) William Henry Harrison

D) James K. Polk

Answer · why

A) Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was still famous as the victor of the Battle of New Orleans when the new capital took his name in 1821. The site had been a trading pos...

Q 03/05

The name Mississippi comes from Ojibwe words, misi-ziibi, that describe the river as what?

A) Muddy river

B) Winding river

C) Great river

D) Sacred river

Answer · why

C) Great river

Great river is the usual rendering: mshi, 'big', and ziibi, 'river'. Missionaries first met the river far upstream, which is why a waterway ending at ...

Q 04/05

Mississippi has long led the nation in farming which pond-raised fish?

A) Tilapia

B) Catfish

C) Rainbow trout

D) Striped bass

Answer · why

B) Catfish

Catfish ponds cover so much of the Delta that a governor named Belzoni the Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World in 1976. The state grows more than...

Q 05/05

In 1860, which other state besides Mississippi had an enslaved majority?

A) South Carolina

B) North Carolina

C) Louisiana

D) Georgia

Answer · why

A) South Carolina

South Carolina, at 57%, and Mississippi, at 55%, stood alone in the 1860 census. Cotton had made Mississippi the nation's top producer, on the labour ...