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The city of Memphis was not founded until 1819. The city was named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River in North Africa. It rapidly developed as a major trading center for cotton cultivated at the region's large plantations and dependent on the work of enslaved African Americans.
Oct 8, 2017 · Despite its uneven record, Memphis grew at a faster rate than any other American city in the mid-1850s. From a population of fewer than 1,800 in 1840, the city swelled to 22,000 inhabitants in 1858. In addition to Anglo-American migrants, Irish and German immigrants contributed to the population rise.
Oct 10, 2022 · The South Memphis Landing, also called Beale Street or Hart’s Landing, stretched south between Union Avenue and Beale Street beginning around 1838. To the north, the Cobblestone Landing stretched up to Jefferson Avenue beginning circa 1850. You could board Captain G.A. Brinkley’s Memphis and Arkansas steam packet ferry boat “at the foot ...
Colton’s 1856 City Map of Philadelphia. Colton’s 1856 City Map of Pittsburgh and Allegheny PA with parts of adjacent boroughs with the City of Cincinnati OH. Mitchell’s 1880 State and County Map of Pennsylvania with Harrisburg, Williamsport, Erie and Scranton. Mitchell’s 1880 City Map of Philadelphia and Camden.
- Overview
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- The contemporary city
Memphis, city, seat (1819) of Shelby county, extreme southwestern Tennessee, U.S. It lies on the Chickasaw bluffs above the Mississippi River where the borders of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee meet. Memphis is Tennessee’s most populous city and is at the centre of the state’s second largest metropolitan area. Aside from West Memphis, Arkansa...
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visited the area in 1541. French (1739) and Spanish (1795) forts briefly existed on the site, and in 1797 the United States built Fort Adams there. Memphis was founded in 1819 on land previously inhabited by Chickasaw Indians. Andrew Jackson, later U.S. president, was one of its founders. Memphis was named for the ancient Egyptian city (meaning “Place of Good Abode”).
Memphis grew rapidly with the expansion of cotton growing in the South and because of its transportation facilities by railroad and river. It was incorporated in 1826. A Confederate military centre early in the American Civil War, it was captured by a Union gunboat force on June 6, 1862, and remained occupied until the end of the war. One of the country’s worst race riots took place there in May 1866.
Memphis’s central location has helped make it one of the largest distribution centres in the United States. Its international airport is the world’s second busiest cargo airport (after Hong Kong’s), and the city is among the nation’s largest inland river ports. Extensive rail and highway facilities and the headquarters of major freight corporations contribute to the importance of the industry. Memphis is a major world cotton market and a world leader in hardwood trading and processing and soybean processing. The city serves an agricultural area noted for livestock, cotton, soybeans, corn (maize), feed grains, and forest products and has agricultural research and food processing industries. It is an important wholesale centre. Manufactures include electronics, medical products and equipment, and paper products. Services (including health care, banking and finance, government, and education), tourism and convention business, and high-technology industries also contribute to the economy. Educational institutions in Memphis include Rhodes College (1848; Presbyterian), LeMoyne-Owen College (1871), Christian Brothers University (1871; Roman Catholic), University of Memphis (1912), Southwest Tennessee Community College (established in 2000 by the merger of the State Technical Institute at Memphis and Shelby State Community College), Memphis College of Art (1936), and the health science centre of the University of Tennessee.
Memphis is one of the birthplaces of blues music and is associated particularly with composer W.C. Handy, who immortalized the city’s Beale Street in one of his songs. Handy’s home is preserved as a museum, and modern Beale Street is a popular entertainment district, with nightclubs, restaurants, shops, live music, and other attractions. B.B. King also occupies a central place in the history of the blues in Memphis. A blues festival is held annually in August, and other events throughout the year celebrate the city’s musical heritage. Memphis has also been called the birthplace of rock and roll. Elvis Presley was one of many musicians who launched careers from Memphis’s Sun Studio. After Presley’s death in 1977, his city mansion and burial site, Graceland, became a shrine (opened to the public for tours in 1982). Memphis made a huge contribution to the development of soul music as well, with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and Al Green being just a few of the significant soul artists who recorded in Memphis or called it home.
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Memphis has a symphony orchestra, ballet troupe, and opera company, as well as several theatre organizations. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (1916) is the state’s oldest; the Memphis Pink Palace Museum includes a planetarium and cultural and historical exhibits. Historic sites include the Hunt-Phelan Home (1828) and the Burkle Estate/Slavehaven (1849), a station on the Underground Railroad. The Center for Southern Folklore is devoted to the people and culture of the South. Sun Studio offers tours, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is located on the site of the Stax recording studio and operates an adjacent music school. Also located in the city is the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, which was developed in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. A park on Mud Island, in the Mississippi, includes a five-block-long scale model of the river. The 32-story stainless-steel Pyramid Arena hosts sports events, concerts, and shows. FedExForum (opened 2004) houses the Grizzlies, the city’s professional basketball team. The Memphis in May International Festival is an annual month-long event devoted to a different country each year. Africa in April is an annual festival celebrating African American culture.
A U.S. Navy facility is located in Millington to the north. Chucalissa, a prehistoric Native American village and archaeological museum, is in T.O. Fuller State Park in southwestern Memphis, and Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park is north of the city.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Historical Maps of Memphis. Journey back in time with 12 historical maps of Memphis, dating from 1956 to present day. Explore and discover the history of Memphis through detailed topographic maps, featuring cities, landmarks, and geographical changes. Dive deeper into each map with our interactive high-resolution viewer and extensive library data.
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European settlers didn't arrive until the beginning of the 16th century, after Spanish and French explorers had scouted the area. The city was founded in 1819 and became a transportation center for the large quantities of cotton produced nearby. During the Civil War, Union forces conquered the city in the Battle of Memphis in 1862 and ...
