The Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is one of the world's great rivers. It is thelongest river in the United States, more than twenty-three hundred miles inlength, as it forms the borders of ten states, almost bisecting thecontinent (Currie,2003, 8). The river has a long history as well, and ithas touched the lives of many people. The Mississippi is said to begin atLake Itasca in Minnesota. In 1832, explorer Henry Schoolcraft named thislake, not after any local Indian name, but from the Latin words for "truehead" which are veritas caput shortened to "Itasca" (Currie, 2003, 4).However, long before its source was named it was a navigational river. The Indians who first lived on the banks of the river were known asthe Mississippians. From 800 to 1500, these peoples used the river fortrade. They hollowed out logs to make canoes. Their society thrivedbetween 100 and 1300, and then for reasons unknown went into decline. TheChickasaw and Yaddo peoples came next. They lived around the LowerMississippi and also used dugout canoes to navigate the swampy terrain.T(ey were tightly connected to the river, since it was the very best way totravel. Northern tribes were slightly less bound to the river since
The history of the river extends back thousands of years, of course,and for most of that time the river ran free, gathering the water of manyrivers and carrying sand and soil to the Gulf. They were tired and saw the great river as mainly an obstacle to becrossed. For all the efforts of modern science since, the river has notbeen tamed. Europeans began to changethis by building levees, though the river time and time again has brokenthrough these barriers. Meanwhile his associate, Louis Hennepin, traveled the UpperMississippi, and though he was captured by Dakota Indians, he made it asfar as present day Minneapolis (Currie, 2003, 36). The French explorersopened the way for fur trappers and traders to do business on this riverand for the military to use the river as a strategic advantage in thebuilding of forts. From the first, then the Mississippi River has been both a boon totransportation and a threat to nearby settlements of any size andproximity. The nextrecorded European encounter with the river was on May 21, 1541 whenHernando de Soto, another Spaniard, came across the river around the areaof Memphis, Tennessee with his army during their explorations for gold. However, he did name it Rio del Espiritu Santo (River of the HolyGhost), so he must have found it to be impressive (Faber, 2002, 51). They were intent on bringingChristianity to the Indians. The French explorers came next. In 1519, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, a Spanish navigator, became thefirst European to sail on the Mississippi River. The sort of damage the river can do was made evident in 1927 when theMississippi. They were more likely to make lightbirch bark covered canoes for use of the river (Currie, 2003, 30-33).
Common topics in this essay:
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Gulf Europeans,
Spanish English,
Lower Mississippi,
Itasca Currie,
Minneapolis Currie,
Henry Schoolcraft,
Christianity Indians,
Memphis Tennessee,
Holy Ghost,
mississippi river,
currie 2003,
french explorers,
gulf mexico,
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Acceptance Essays
