The Flag of Tennessee
Tennessee ( TEN -iss-EE , TEN -iss-ee ), officially the State of Tennessee , is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia , Alabama , and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of East , Middle , and West Tennessee . Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Other major cities include Memphis , Knoxville , Chattanooga , and Clarksville . Tennessee's population as of the 2020 United States census is approximately 6.9 million.
Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association , a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachian Mountains . Its name derives from Tanasi (ᏔᎾᏏ ), a Cherokee town in the eastern part of the state that existed before the first European American settlement. Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later the Southwest Territory , before its admission to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. It earned the nickname "The Volunteer State" early in its history due to a strong tradition of military service. A slave state until the American Civil War , Tennessee was politically divided, with most of its western and middle parts supporting the Confederacy , and most of the eastern region harboring pro -Union sentiment. As a result, Tennessee was the last state to officially secede from the Union and join the Confederacy , and the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union after the war had ended during the lengthy Reconstruction era .
During the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from a predominantly agrarian society to a more diversified economy. This was aided in part by massive federal investment in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the city of Oak Ridge , which was established during World War II to house the Manhattan Project 's uranium enrichment facilities for the construction of the world's first atomic bombs . After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became a key center of scientific research. In 2016, the element tennessine was named for the state, largely in recognition of the roles played by Oak Ridge, Vanderbilt University , and the University of Tennessee in its discovery. Tennessee has also played a major role in the development of many forms of popular music , including country , blues , rock and roll , soul , and gospel . (Full article... )
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Copper train in the basin (1939)
The Copper Basin , also known as the Ducktown Basin , is a geological region located primarily in Polk County, Tennessee , that contains deposits of copper ore and covers approximately 60,000 acres (24,000 hectares). Located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, small portions of the basin extend into Fannin County, Georgia , and Cherokee County, North Carolina . The basin is surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest , and the cities of Ducktown and Copperhill, Tennessee , and McCaysville, Georgia are located in the basin.
Copper was first discovered in the basin in 1843, and by the 1850s large mining operations, spearheaded by German-born businessman
Julius Eckhardt Raht , were taking place. The mines were seized by the
Confederacy during the
American Civil War and were the source of about 90% of the copper used by the
Confederate Army . After the Civil War, smelting operations, which were used to separate
sulfur from the copper ore, resulted in
acid rain in the area. Combined with the logging of nearby forests to fuel the smelters, this resulted in a massive
environmental disaster that left the surrounding landscape barren for more than a century. Several mines, the largest of which was the Burra Burra Mine, operated in the basin. (
Full article... )
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Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll , he began his recording career at the Sun Studio , in Memphis , beginning in 1954. Among his best-known songs are "Blue Suede Shoes ", "Honey Don't ", "Matchbox " and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby ".
According to fellow musician
Charlie Daniels , "Carl Perkins' songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins' sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed." Perkins's songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as
Elvis Presley ,
the Beatles ,
Jimi Hendrix ,
Johnny Cash ,
Ricky Nelson , and
Eric Clapton , which further established his prominent place in the history of popular music.
Paul McCartney said "If there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles." (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
History of Tennessee List of Tennessee state symbols Nashville, Tennessee List of governors of Tennessee Governor of Tennessee East Tennessee Middle Tennessee West Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Tennessee River Memphis, Tennessee Chattanooga, Tennessee Clarksville, Tennessee Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Cleveland, Tennessee Dolly Parton Tennessee State Guard University of Memphis Toqua (Tennessee) Great Smoky Mountains Great Smoky Mountains Interstate 40 in Tennessee Old Crow Medicine Show Swaggerty Blockhouse Unicoi Mountains Old City, Knoxville Nashville Americans Valerie June Battle of Fort Donelson Battle of Fort Henry Collierville, Tennessee Vanderbilt University Tennessee whiskey Jack Daniel's Grand Ole Opry Battle of Nashville Nashville Superspeedway Johnny Cash Tennessee Waltz Morristown, Tennessee Fainting goat Bessie Smith Cookeville, Tennessee Murfreesboro, Tennessee Bob Corker Edgar Evins State Park Graceland Bledsoe Creek State Park Dollywood Tennessee Valley Authority Black Patch Tobacco Wars Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The following are images from various Tennessee-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 3 Fall Creek Falls , the tallest waterfall in the eastern United States, is located on the Cumberland Plateau (from
Tennessee )
Image 4 Memphis International Airport , the hub of
FedEx Corporation , is the busiest cargo airport in the world (from
Tennessee )
Image 5 The Hermitage , plantation home of President
Andrew Jackson in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 7 Mount Le Conte in the
Great Smoky Mountains is the tallest mountain in eastern North America, measured from base to summit (from
Tennessee )
Image 8 Köppen climate types of Tennessee, using 1991–2020
climate normals . (from
Tennessee )
Image 9 The
1982 World's Fair in Knoxville (from
Tennessee )
Image 10 The Southwest Territory in 1790 (from
Tennessee )
Image 11 Map of counties in Tennessee by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White 50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
Black or African American 50–60%
(from
Tennessee )
Image 13 Calutron operators at the
Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge during the
Manhattan Project (from
Tennessee )
Image 14 The
Grand Ole Opry , which was recorded in
Nashville 's
Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the longest-running
radio broadcast in US history. (from
Tennessee )
Image 16 Surveyor
Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796) (from
Tennessee )
Image 18 The Hermitage , plantation home of President
Andrew Jackson , now a museum in
Davidson County (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 19 Reconstruction of
Fort Loudoun , the first British settlement in Tennessee (from
Tennessee )
Image 20 Chart showing poverty in Tennessee, by age and gender (red = female) (from
Tennessee )
Image 21 The Southwest Territory in 1790 (from
Tennessee )
Image 22 The
Battle of Franklin , November 30, 1864 (from
Tennessee )
Image 23 Memphis became known as the "Cotton Capital of the World" in the years following the Civil War (from
Tennessee )
Image 24 A
Nissan Leaf , one of six models manufactured at the
Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant , the largest automotive assembly plant in North America (from
Tennessee )
Image 25 in 1946 the U.S. Post Office issued a
commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of Tennessee statehood. (from
Tennessee )
Image 26 Offices of
The Tennessean in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 27 Howard Baker served as
Senate Minority and Majority Leader from 1977 to 1985, and was known as "The Great Conciliator" (from
Tennessee )
Image 28 Cedar glades are an ecosystem that is found in regions of Middle Tennessee where limestone bedrock is close to the surface (from
Tennessee )
Image 29 Workers at the
Norris Dam construction camp site in 1933 (from
Tennessee )
Image 30 Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the top research institutions in the nation (from
Tennessee )
Image 31 The
resort city of
Gatlinburg borders the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park , which is the most visited national park in the United States. (from
Tennessee )
Image 32 Calutron operators at the
Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge during the
Manhattan Project (from
Tennessee )
Image 33 Reconstruction of
Fort Loudoun , the first British settlement in Tennessee (from
Tennessee )
Image 34 The
Grand Ole Opry , which was recorded in
Nashville 's
Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the longest-running
radio broadcast in US history. (from
Tennessee )
Image 35 Offices of
The Tennessean in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 36 Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the top research institutions in the nation (from
Tennessee )
Image 37 Map of counties in Tennessee by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White 50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
Black or African American 50–60%
(from
Tennessee )
Image 39 Fall Creek Falls , the tallest waterfall in the eastern United States, is located on the Cumberland Plateau (from
Tennessee )
Image 41 Established in 1942,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy system (from
Tennessee )
Image 42 in 1946 the U.S. Post Office issued a
commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of Tennessee statehood. (from
Tennessee )
Image 44 The
1982 World's Fair in Knoxville (from
Tennessee )
Image 45 Cedar glades are an ecosystem that is found in regions of Middle Tennessee where limestone bedrock is close to the surface (from
Tennessee )
Image 46 1861 Bank of Tennessee 1 dollar banknote (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 47 Workers at the
Norris Dam construction camp site in 1933 (from
Tennessee )
Image 48 Memphis International Airport , the hub of
FedEx Corporation , is the busiest cargo airport in the world (from
Tennessee )
Image 49 Mount Le Conte in the
Great Smoky Mountains is the tallest mountain in eastern North America, measured from base to summit (from
Tennessee )
Image 50 Al Gore served as a
United States Senator from Tennessee (1985–1993) and as
Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) (from
Tennessee )
Image 51 A View of Memphis, Tennessee , 1871 (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 52 Interstate 40 traverses Tennessee from east to west, and serves the state's three largest cities. (from
Tennessee )
Image 53 The
Ocoee River was home to the
1996 Summer Olympics whitewater slalom events, the only Olympic sporting event ever held in the state. (from
Tennessee )
Image 54 Chart showing poverty in Tennessee, by age and gender (red = female) (from
Tennessee )
Image 56 The
Battle of Franklin , November 30, 1864 (from
Tennessee )
Image 57 Interstate 40 traverses Tennessee from east to west, and serves the state's three largest cities. (from
Tennessee )
Image 58 A geomap showing the counties of Tennessee colored by the relative range of that county's median income. (from
Tennessee )
Image 59 A
Nissan Leaf , one of six models manufactured at the
Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant , the largest automotive assembly plant in North America (from
Tennessee )
Image 60 The Tennessee at Chattanooga , 1872, by
Harry Fenn (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 61 Köppen climate types of Tennessee, using 1991–2020
climate normals . (from
Tennessee )
Image 62 Howard Baker served as
Senate Minority and Majority Leader from 1977 to 1985, and was known as "The Great Conciliator" (from
Tennessee )
Image 65 Established in 1942,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy system (from
Tennessee )
Image 66 Nashville's replica of the
Parthenon (built 1897) (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 68 John Bell (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 71 The
Ryman Auditorium , home of the "Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 72 The
Ocoee River was home to the
1996 Summer Olympics whitewater slalom events, the only Olympic sporting event ever held in the state. (from
Tennessee )
Image 73 Memphis became known as the "Cotton Capital of the World" in the years following the Civil War (from
Tennessee )
Image 74 The Hermitage , plantation home of President
Andrew Jackson in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 75 Al Gore served as a
United States Senator from Tennessee (1985–1993) and as
Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) (from
Tennessee )
Image 76 Conquistador Hernando de Soto , first European to visit Tennessee (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 77 A geomap showing the counties of Tennessee colored by the relative range of that county's median income. (from
Tennessee )
Image 78 The
resort city of
Gatlinburg borders the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park , which is the most visited national park in the United States. (from
Tennessee )
Image 79 Surveyor
Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796) (from
Tennessee )
... that Drag Isn't Dangerous is a charitable telethon set to be hosted by numerous drag queens to oppose the Tennessee drag-ban bill ?
... that Mister Rogers said that Mr. Chuck, the host of a children's show on the public TV station in Memphis, Tennessee , was "truly remarkable" and "achieving things I still struggle to achieve"?
... that portions of Tennessee State Route 158 have been called "Front Street", "Front Avenue", "Lakefront Drive", "Neyland Drive", and "James White Parkway"?
... that the Ocoee salamander from Tennessee is named after the Cherokee word for Passiflora incarnata (passionflower)?
... that WTVK in Knoxville, Tennessee , won a years-long battle to move from UHF to a VHF channel, only to be sent by new management to "that big TV station in the sky"?
... that Tennessee State Route 396 was constructed to provide access to the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant of Saturn Corporation ?
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