What's in a name? Early Mississippi Maps
This map of Mississippi Territory in 1816 was created just one year before statehood by cartographer and publisher, Fielding Lucas Jr., who was manager of the Conrad, Lucas, and Co. publishing house out of Philadelphia.
From the collection of the Dunn-Seiler Museum.
Mississippi Territory
The state of Mississippi's western border is defined by the meandering shape of the Mississippi River, which earned its name from the Native American Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people of the upper midwest and Canada, where the headwaters of the massive river originate. The Anishinaabe word "Misi-zibi" means "Great River".
Before Mississippi became a state, the territory included present day Alabama and Mississippi, and encompassed the ancestral lands of the Chickasaw Nation to the north, the Choctaw Nation to the south, and the Natchez people to the west. According to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, there were at least twenty-one distinct, native tribes in Mississippi between 1500 and 1800, most of which had small populations. This map shows the borders of Mississippi Territory in 1816, with the lands of the most poplulous native tribes clearly labeled.
Map of Mississippi showing its boundaries and borders in 1822, only five years after statehood (December 10, 1817). Some recognizable counties are starting to form in the southern part of the state, and the nations of the Chickasaw and Choctaw have been greatly reduced and pushed to the north.
From the collection of the Dunn-Seiler Museum.