The first attempt to establish a colony on these lands took place in 1699 by Pierre Le Moyne, who led 200 French immigrants to what is now Biloxi. In 1763, after the British victory in the French and Indian War, France ceded its possessions to the east of the Mississippi to Britain, except New Orleans. In 1781, during the American War of Independence, Spain took Florida; Two years later, by the Treaty of Paris that put an end to the war, Britain officially ceded the area to Spain. By the Treaty of 1795 signed between the United States and Spain, the part of the current state of Mississippi that extends north of the 31st parallel was ceded to the United States. In 1798 the Mississippi Territory was formed. In 1817 it was admitted as a state of the Union.

The first serious conflict in the state on the issue of slavery took place in 1851. Ten years later, on January 9, 1861, Mississippi separated from the Union. It was the place of residence of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. In early 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

In August 2005, Mississippi suffered the terrible consequences of the passage of Hurricane Katrina, which caused one of the greatest natural disasters in the history of the United States. The virulence of winds and storms caused, in addition to numerous fatalities, the partial or total destruction of coastal cities such as Biloxi or Gulfport. © Written by Emmanuel BUCHOT and Encarta.