The Mississippi
River remains what it always was, wrote author John Gunther, the
Nile of the Western Hemisphere.
People have always been drawn to the river.
St. Louis . . . Memphis . . . New Orleans . . . the cities of today
still draw life from the ancient Mississippi. For centuries, the river
has been a giver of life.
Because of the Mississippi, the soil of the delta is deep and rich,
and as a consequence so is the region's history.
The first people to behold the Mississippi must
have had some inkling of this power. The river brought a cornucopia
of aquatic life and animals as well as contact with communities from
afar. A language was devised for the exchange of goods and services.
Tales of the legendary city of Cahokia, in what is now Illinois, no
doubt were passed up and down the great body of water. Probably renowned
to anyone at the time, Cahokia was a sprawling metropolis, an enormous
complex of earthen mounds and villages, crowded with people and noisy
with industry.
Cahokia was not a singular wonder. Today, Emerald, Parkin,Poverty Point,
Toltec and other mound complexes survive as silent monuments in rural
settings where, for generations, the land bore the distinctive mark
of a thriving people.
From the great moundbuilding cultures through the
early westward expansion, the Civil War, and to the Industrial
Revolution and beyond, the Mississippi has shaped the settlement and
societies of the region. Today the river continues to give life. The
bottomland forests that once lined its banks were cleared to yield thousands
of tons of cotton, rice, corn, and soybeans annually. Many cultures
have flourished in the abundance, leaving their own distinct impressions
on the landscape as well as on music and literature.
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