The Yazoo River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

s of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. It has continued to be devoted to large-scale agriculture.

History

The Yazoo River was named by French explorer La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the

Yazoo tribe The Yazoo were a tribe of the Native American Tunica people historically located along the lower course of the Yazoo River in an area now known as the Mississippi Delta. They were closely related to other Tunica-language-speaking peoples, esp ...

living near the river's mouth at its confluence with the Mississippi. The exact meaning of the term is unclear. One long held belief is that it means "river of death". The river is 188 miles (303 km) long and is formed by the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the Tallahatchie and the Yalobusha rivers, where present-day Greenwood developed. The river parallels the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

in the latter's

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

for some distance before joining it north of

Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat, and the population at the 2010 census was 23,856. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vic ...

. Natural

levee A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...

s which flank the Mississippi prevent the Yazoo from joining it before Vicksburg. A "

yazoo stream A Yazoo stream (also called a Yazoo tributary) is a geologic and hydrologic term for any tributary stream that runs parallel to, and within the floodplain of a larger river for considerable distance, before eventually joining it. This is especial ...

" is a

hydrologic Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

term that was coined to describe any river or major stream with similar characteristics. Potamologists believe the Yazoo River had its origins as the lower Ohio River. The French (and later European Americans) historically called the surrounding area of Mississippi and Alabama the

Yazoo lands The Yazoo lands were the central and western regions of the U.S. state of Georgia, when its western border stretched back to the Mississippi. The Yazoo lands were named for the Yazoo nation, that lived on the lower course of the Yazoo, in wha ...

, after the river. This became the basis for naming the

Yazoo Land Scandal The Yazoo land scandal, Yazoo fraud, Yazoo land fraud, or Yazoo land controversy was a massive real-estate fraud perpetrated, in the mid-1790s, by Georgia governor George Mathews and the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia politicians sold large ...

of the late 18th and early 19th century. The river was of major importance during the

. The Confederates used the first electrically detonated underwater

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

in the river in 1862 near Vicksburg to sink the Union ironclad USS ''Cairo''. The last section of the ''Cairo'' was raised on December 12, 1964. It has been restored and is now on permanent display to the public at the

Vicksburg National Military Park Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi (flanking the Mississippi River), also commemorates the greater ...

. There are 29 sunken ships from the Civil War beneath the waters of the river. The steamer ''Dew Drop'' was reportedly sunk near Roebuck Lake as an obstruction to the United States Navy, but Union sources claim the vessel was captured and burned. Variant names of the Yazoo River include Zasu River, Yazous River, Yahshoo River, ''Rivière des Yasoux'', and ''Fiume del Yasous''. In 1876, the Mississippi River changed its course, shifting west several miles and leaving

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

without a river front. In 1902, the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

diverted the Yazoo River into the old river bed, forming the Yazoo Diversion Canal. The modern-day port of Vicksburg is still located on this canal. Commercial navigation of the Yazoo River has declined considerably since the 1990s and is mainly concentrated on the section from Vicksburg to

Yazoo City Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's ...

. At

Long Lake, MS Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

, the river measures 18,486 cubic feet per second.

Gallery

File:Mississippi Yazoo Delta.jpg, Outline of the

region, through which the Yazoo River runs File:Vicksburg December 2018 07 (Yazoo River).jpg, Yazoo River in

File:Yazoo River control structure.jpg, One of many control structures constructed to control flooding and the flow of water in the Yazoo River basin

References

External links

;Geology
Yazoo Basin - Engineering Geology Mapping Program
PDF files of publications about and maps of the geology of the Yazoo River region. ;Ecoregions

{{authority control Rivers of Mississippi Tributaries of the Mississippi River Bodies of water of Humphreys County, Mississippi Bodies of water of Yazoo County, Mississippi Bodies of water of Leflore County, Mississippi Bodies of water of Warren County, Mississippi Mississippi Valley Division

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links