Yazoo River
Yazoo River | ||
Data | ||
Water code | US : 695222 | |
location | Mississippi (USA) | |
River system | Mississippi River | |
Drain over | Mississippi River → Gulf of Mexico | |
confluence | from Tallahatchie and Yalobusha 33 ° 32 ′ 38 " N , 90 ° 10 ′ 4" W |
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muzzle | near Vicksburg in the Mississippi River Coordinates: 32 ° 20 ′ 8 " N , 90 ° 53 ′ 50" W 32 ° 20 ′ 8 " N , 90 ° 53 ′ 50" W.
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length | 302 km | |
Old, no longer in service swing bridge over the Yazoo River at Redwood, near the confluence with the Mississippi at Vicksburg |
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Yazoo River Delta |
The Yazoo is a left tributary of the Mississippi in the US state of Mississippi . At 302 kilometers in length, it is one of the longest eastern tributaries of the Mississippi.
The river was named in 1682 by the French explorer La Salle after a nearby Indian tribe. The exact meaning of the name is unclear. According to a longstanding belief, it means "river of death".
The river is created by the confluence of Tallahatchie and Yalobusha near the town of Greenwood . From there it runs parallel to the Mississippi for a large part of its route before the two bodies of water converge above Vicksburg . The area between the Yazoo and the Mississippi is criss-crossed by numerous tributaries and river arms, thus forming an inland delta that was named after the state of the Mississippi Delta and forms an independent natural and cultural landscape.
In the years before the American Civil War, the Yazoo played an important role in the economy of the southern states . A focus of cotton cultivation lay near its banks, and numerous paddle steamers drove from the Yazoo to New Orleans , Memphis and St. Louis .
During the Civil War , the river had an important military role. The Battle of Vicksburg also took place on and on the Yazoo. A sea mine in the river was ignited electrically for the first time in 1862 and the gunboat USS Cairo of the Northern Navy was sunk. Even today, a total of 29 shipwrecks from this war lie at the bottom of the river.
literature
- Yazoo River in the Encyclopædia Britannica
- Arthur C. Benke, Colbert E. Cushing: Rivers of North America . Academic Press 2011, ISBN 9780080454184 , pp. 259–264 ( excerpt (Google) )