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State nickname: Volunteer State
Other U.S. States
Capital Nashville
Largest city Nashville
Governor Phil Bredesen (D)
Official languages English
Area 109,247 km² (36th)
- Land 106,846 km²
- Water 2,400 km² (2.2%)
Population (2000)
- Population 5,689,283 (16th)
- Density 53.29 /km² (19th)
Admission into Union
- Date June 1, 1796
- Order 16th
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4 (eastern counties)
Central: UTC-6/-5 (central and western)
Latitude 35°N to 36°41'N
Longitude 81°37'W to 90°28'W
Width 195 km
Length 710 km
Elevation
- Highest point 2,025 m
- Mean 275 m
- Lowest point 54 m
Abbreviations
- USPS TN
- ISO 3166-2 US-TN
Web site www.tennessee.gov
Tennessee is a Southern state of the United States.
Contents [hide]
1 Origin and history of the name Tennessee
2 History
3 Law and Government
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Demographics
6.1 Religion
7 Important cities and towns
7.1 Major cities
7.2 Secondary cities
8 Education
8.1 Colleges and universities
8.2 Professional sports teams
8.2.1 National Basketball Association
8.2.2 National Hockey League
8.2.3 [Southern Professional Hockey League]]
8.2.4 National Football League
8.2.5 Minor League baseball teams
8.2.6 Minor League basketball teams
8.2.7 Minor League soccer teams
8.2.8 Fantasy Teams
8.3 Famous Tennesseans
8.4 Miscellaneous information
8.5 References
8.6 External links
[edit]
Origin and history of the name Tennessee
The earliest variant of the name that became Tennessee was recorded by Captain Juan Pardo, the Spanish explorer, when he and his men passed through a Native American village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while travelling inland from South Carolina. European settlers later encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi (or "Tanase") in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. The town was located on a river of the same name (now known as the Little Tennessee River). It is not known whether this was the same town as the one encountered by Pardo.
The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain. Some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river", or "river of the great bend".[1][2]
The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the Governor of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. In 1788, North Carolina named the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee "Tennessee County". When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the Southwest Territory, it adopted "Tennessee" as the name of the state.
[edit]
History
The area now known as Tennessee was first settled by Paleo-Indians nearly 11,000 years ago. The names of the cultural groups that inhabited the area between first settlement and the time of European contact are unknown, but several distinct cultural phases have been named by archaeologists, including Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian whose chiefdoms were the cultural predecessors of the Muscogee people who inhabited the Tennessee River Valley prior to Cherokee migration into the river's headwaters.
When Spanish explorers first visited the area, led by Hernando de Soto in 1539–43, it was inhabited by tribes of Muscogee and Yuchi people. For unknown reasons, possibly due to expanding European settlement in the north, the Cherokee, an Iroquoian tribe, moved south from the area now called Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the native populations were forcibly displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, including the Chickasaw and Choctaw. From 1838 to 1839, nearly 17,000 Cherokees were forced to march from Eastern Tennessee to Indian Territory west of Arkansas. This came to be known as the Trail of Tears, as an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way.1
Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state, and was created by taking the north and south borders of North Carolina and extending them with only one small deviation to the Mississippi River, Tennessee's western boundary. Tennessee was the last Confederate state to secede from the Union when it did so on June 8, 1861. After the American Civil War, Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery (February 22, 1865), ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on July 18, 1866, and was the first state readmitted to the Union (July 24 of the same year).
Tennessee was the only state that seceded from the Union that did not have a military governor after the American Civil War, mostly due to the influence of President Andrew Johnson, a native of the state, who was Lincoln's vice president and succeeded him as president, due to the assassination.
In 1897, the state celebrated its centennial of statehood (albeit one year late) with a great exposition.
The need to create work for the unemployed during the Depression, the desire for rural electrification, and the desire to control the annual spring floods on the Tennessee River drove the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, in 1933.
During World War II, Oak Ridge was selected as a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, one of the principal sites for the Manhattan Project's production and isolation of weapons-grade fissile material.
Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996 after a yearlong statewide celebration entitled "Tennessee 200" by opening a new state park (Bicentennial Mall) at the foot of Capitol Hill in Nashville.
[edit]
Law and Government
Welcome sign in Memphis, TennesseeTennessee's governor holds office for a four year term and may serve any number of terms, but not more than two in a row. The speaker of the state Senate has the title of lieutenant governor.
The General Assembly (the state's legislature) consists of the 33-member Senate and the 99-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four year terms, and House members serve two year terms.
The highest court in Tennessee is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices. The Court of Appeals has 12 judges. The Court of Criminal Appeals has nine judges.
Tennessee's current state constitution was adopted in 1870. The state had two earlier constitutions. The first was adopted in 1796, the year Tennessee joined the union, and the second was adopted in 1834.
See also: List of Tennessee Governors, U.S. Congressional Delegations from Tennessee
[edit]
Geography
Map of TennesseeTennessee lies adjacent to 8 other states, matched only by Missouri which also borders 8 states. Tennessee is bordered on the north by Kentucky and Virginia, on the east by North Carolina, on the south by Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, and on the west by Arkansas and Missouri. The state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is the peak of Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (2,025 meters), which lies on Tennessee's eastern border. The geographical center of the state is located several miles east of Murfreesboro on Old Lascassas Pike; the site is marked by a roadside monument.
The state of Tennessee is traditionally divided by its people into three, culturally distinct grand divisions—East, Middle, and West Tennessee. The Tennessee River is generally considered the dividing line between Middle and West Tennessee. The Cumberland Plateau is generally considered the dividing line between East and Middle Tennessee.
Tennessee features six principal geographic regions. Roughly from west to east, these are:
Gulf Coastal Plain - including the Mississippi embayment
Nashville Basin
Highland Rim - this is continuous with the region in Kentucky termed the Pennyroyal Plateau
Cumberland Plateau - also called the Appalachian Plateau
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
Blue Ridge Mountains - including the Great Smoky Mountains
See also: List of Tennessee counties, List of Tennessee state parks
[edit]
Economy
According to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2003 Tennessee's Gross State Product was $199,786,000,000, 1.8% of the total Gross Domestic Product.
In 2003, the per capita personal income was $28,641, 36th in the nation, and only 91% of the national per capita personal income of $31,472. Total earnings were $167,414,793,000. (BEARFACTS)
Major industries/products...
State sales tax is 7% (6% on nonprepared food), while the counties charge an additional 2.25% for a total of 9.25% across Tennessee. Some cities charge additional 0.50% sales tax, leading to a total of 9.75%: some of the highest sales taxes in the United States. The overall state tax rate is relatively low, however, as Tennessee does not tax wage and salary income (although it does tax unearned income).
Tennessee is a right to work state.
[edit]
Demographics
Historical populations
Census
year Population
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1790 35,691
1800 105,602
1810 261,727
1820 422,823
1830 681,904
1840 829,210
1850 1,002,717
1860 1,109,801
1870 1,258,520
1880 1,542,359
1890 1,767,518
1900 2,020,616
1910 2,184,789
1920 2,337,885
1930 2,616,556
1940 2,915,841
1950 3,291,718
1960 3,567,089
1970 3,923,687
1980 4,591,120
1990 4,877,185
2000 5,689,283
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2003, Tennessee's population was 5,841,748 people.
The racial makeup of the state is:
79.2% White
16.4% Black
2.2% Hispanic
0.3% Native American
1.0% Asian
1.1% Mixed race
The five largest ancestry groups in Tennessee are: American (17.5%), African American (16.4%), Irish (9.3%), English (9.1%), German (8.3%).
African-Americans once made up 28 percent of the state's population and are 16 percent today. The state's African-American population is concentrated mainly in West Tennessee and the city of Nashville.
6.6% of Tennessee's population were reported as under 5, 24.6% under 18, and 12.4% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.3% of the population.
[edit]
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Tennessee are:
Christian – 90%
Protestant – 83%
Baptist – 42%
Methodist – 11%
Church of Christ – 6%
Presbyterian – 3%
Other Protestant/general Protestant – 21%
Roman Catholic – 6%
Other Christian – 1%
Other Religions – 1%
Non-Religious – 9%
[edit]
Important cities and towns
Nashville
Memphis
KnoxvilleThe current capital is Nashville, though Knoxville, Kingston, and Murfreesboro have all served as state capitals. Memphis has the largest population of any city in the state, but Nashville has a larger metropolitan area. Chattanooga and Knoxville, both in the eastern part of the state near the Great Smoky Mountains, each have approximately a third of Memphis or Nashville's population. The three cities of Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City make up a fifth significant population center, often called the "Tri-Cities", in the far northeast of the state. As of 2000, the population is 5,689,283.
See also: List of cities and towns in Tennessee
[edit]
Major cities
Chattanooga
Major railroad hub, financial center
Major Civil War battleground
Major tourist atrractions:
Ruby Falls
Tennessee Aquarium
Rock City (located in nearby Lookout Mountain, Georgia)
Incline Railway
Knoxville
Original state capital
Home of:
Main campus of University of Tennessee
Tennessee Valley Authority headquarters
1982 World's Fair
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Memphis
Blues music center
"Birthplace of rock and roll"
Assassination of Martin Luther King
One of the centers of 60s and 70s soul music (Stax, Hi)
Home of:
Elvis Presley
Memphis Grizzlies, National Basketball Association franchise
University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University)
Worldwide shipping giant FedEx
Nashville
State capital
World center of country music industry
Home of:
Southern Baptist Convention headquarters
Vanderbilt University
Tennessee State University
many other small private colleges and universities
Tennessee Titans, National Football League franchise
Nashville Predators, National Hockey League franchise
[edit]
Secondary cities
Clarksville
Main campus of Austin Peay State University
Near Fort Campbell, home of 101st Airborne Division of U.S. Army
Cleveland
Church of God (Cleveland) headquarters
Johnson City
Home of East Tennessee State University
Historic railway center for three states originally known as Johnson's Depot and later as "Little Chicago"
Kingsport
Corporate headquarters of Eastman Chemical Company
Chartered in 1917 as "the Model City"
Lebanon
Home to Cracker Barrel restaurant chain and site of first location
Home of Nashville Superspeedway
Murfreesboro
Home of Middle Tennessee State University
Geographic center of Tennessee
Home of famous American Civil War Battle of Stones River (also known as the Battle of Murfreesboro)
Oak Ridge
Major scientific/research center
Manhattan Project
[edit]
Education
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Christian Brothers University, Memphis.
Rhodes College, Memphis.
Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
St. Jude Children's Research Center, Memphis[edit]
Colleges and universities
Aquinas College
Austin Peay State University
Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences
Belmont University
Bethel College
Bryan College
Carson-Newman College
Christian Brothers University
Columbia State Community College
Crichton College
Cumberland University
East Tennessee State University
Fisk University
Freed-Hardeman University
Johnson Bible College
King College
Knoxville College
Lambuth University
Lane College
Lee University
LeMoyne-Owen College
Lincoln Memorial University
Lipscomb University
Martin Methodist College
Maryville College
Meharry Medical College
Memphis College of Art
Middle Tennessee State University
Milligan College
Nashville State Community College
O'More College of Design
Rhodes College
Sewanee, The University of the South
Southern Adventist University
Tennessee State University
Tennessee Technological University
Tennessee Temple University
Tennessee Wesleyan College
Trevecca Nazarene University
Tusculum College
Union University
University of Memphis
University of Tennessee System
University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
University of Tennessee at Martin
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
University of Tennessee Space Institute
Vanderbilt University
[edit]
Professional sports teams
The Memphis Grizzlies in action.[edit]
National Basketball Association
Memphis Grizzlies
[edit]
National Hockey League
Nashville Predators
[edit]
[Southern Professional Hockey League]]
Knoxville Ice Bears
[edit]
National Football League
Tennessee Titans
[edit]
Minor League baseball teams
Memphis Redbirds
Nashville Sounds
Chattanooga Lookouts
West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (Jackson)
Tennessee Smokies (Sevierville)
Elizabethton Twins
Greeneville Astros
Kingsport Mets
Johnson City Cardinals
[edit]
Minor League basketball teams
Nashville Rhythm
Cleveland Majic
Chattanooga Steamers
[edit]
Minor League soccer teams
Memphis Express
Nashville Metros
[edit]
Fantasy Teams
Real Memphis F.C.
Chattanooga Thrashers
[edit]
Famous Tennesseans
See the List of famous Tennesseans and the List of Governors of Tennessee.
[edit]
Miscellaneous information
See: Tennessee State Flag
See: Seal of Tennessee
See: Music of Tennessee
State song: The State of Tennessee actually has seven State Songs[3].
The Tennessee Valley Authority is based in Knoxville.
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee become the thirty-sixth and clinching state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing women the right to vote.
The USS Tennessee was named in honor of this state.
[edit]
References
1 Satz, Ronald. Tennessee's Indian Peoples. Knoville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1979. ISBN 0870492853
[edit]
External links
Tennessee Encyclopedia Online
State Government Website
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
U.S. Census Bureau
Tennessee Obituary Links Page
GenealogyBuff.com - Tennessee Library of Files
Tennessee Blue BookAll things Tennessee
Timeline of Modern Tennessee Politics
State of Tennessee
Governors
Capital: Nashville
Regions: East Tennessee | Middle Tennessee | West Tennessee | Blue Ridge Mountains | Ridge-and-valley Appalachians | Cumberland Plateau | Highland Rim | Nashville Basin
Major Metros: Chattanooga | Clarksville | Johnson City | Knoxville | Memphis | Murfreesboro | Nashville
Smaller Cities: Athens | Bristol | Brownsville | Cleveland | Columbia | Cookeville | Crossville | Dickson | Dyersburg | Greeneville | Harriman | Jackson | Kingsport | La Follette | Lawrenceburg | Lebanon | McMinnville | Morristown | Mount Juliet | Newport | Oak Ridge | Paris | Sevierville | Shelbyville | Tullahoma | Union City | Winchester
Counties: Anderson | Bedford | Benton | Bledsoe | Blount | Bradley | Campbell | Cannon | Carroll | Carter | Cheatham | Chester | Clairborne | Clay | Cocke | Coffee | Crockett | Cumberland | Davidson | Decatur | DeKalb | Dickson | Dyer | Fayette | Fentress | Franklin | Gibson | Giles | Grainger | Greene | Grundy | Hamblen | Hamilton | Hancock | Hardeman | Hardin | Hawkins | Haywood | Henderson | Henry | Hickman | Houston | Humphreys | Jackson | Jefferson | Johnson | Knox | Lake | Lauderdale | Lawrence | Lewis | Lincoln | Loudon | Macon | Madison | Marion | Marshall | Maury | McMinn | McNairy | Meigs | Monroe | Montgomery | Moore | Morgan | Obion | Overton | Perry | Pickett | Polk | Putnam | Rhea | Roane | Robertson | Rutherford | Scott | Sequatchie | Sevier | Shelby | Smith | Stewart | Sullivan | Sumner | Tipton | Trousdale | Unicoi | Union | Van Buren | Warren | Washington | Wayne | Weakley | White | Williamson | Wilson
Political divisions of the United States
States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming
Federal district District of Columbia
Insular areas American Samoa | Baker Island | Guam | Howland Island | Jarvis Island | Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island | Northern Mariana Islands | Palmyra Atoll | Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands | Wake Island
