Mississippi Fun Facts
Information About Mississippi, Mississippi Geography, and Mississippi Schools

The capital of Mississippi is Jackson. Jackson is also the largest populated city in Mississippi. Mississippi's abbreviation is MS. Mississippi's unofficial nickname is "The Magnolia State." Mississippi is called the " Magnolia State" because its state flower is the Magnolia. Mississippi's residents are referred to as Mississippians.

Mississippi state song is "Go Mis-sis-sip-pi."

Mississippi is named for the Mississippi River, roughly translated from Native American folklore meaning "Father of Waters." The translation comes from the Chippewa words "mici zibi" meaning "great river" or "gathering in of all the waters" and the Algonquin word "Messipi."

Mississippi was ranked 31st in population within the United States.

Mississippi's major industry is farming (cotton, corn, soybeans, and rice). Mississippi is also known for other industries such as oil, textiles, electronic equipment and transportation equipment.

There were 503,967 K12 students in the Mississippi public schools in 1996. Out of those students 43,401 were first grade students. There were also 29,293 K12 public school teachers in the Mississippi public schools system. There were a total of 1,007 Mississippi public schools in 1996. (Source: IES National Center for Education Statistics)