Mississippi State Seal

Mississippi  is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city with 175,437 people in 2012 up 1.1% from the 2010 U.S. Census with 173,514.The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the Magnolia grandiflora tree. The state's flower is the Magnolia and the state bird is the Mockingbird.