137-601: The Bourbeuse River / ˈ b ər b ɪ s / (French for 'muddy') is a river located in east-central Missouri , in the Ozarks region, and is one of two major tributaries of the Meramec River , the other being the Big River . The Bourbeuse flows to the northeast from its source ( 37°58′42″N 91°43′03″W / 37.97833°N 91.71750°W / 37.97833; -91.71750 ( Bourbeuse River (source) ) ) near
274-474: A lost race that had inhabited America even before the Native Americans. This idea is now referred to as the "mound builder myth" and still has supporters in society today. The book grew in popularity because of Priest's views on Native Americans. "It tapped into the widely accepted view of those times that Native Americans were merely bloodthirsty savages, bent on the destruction of all but their own race. It
411-486: A massive EF-5 tornado killed 158 people and destroyed roughly one-third of the city of Joplin . The tornado caused an estimated $ 1–3 billion in damages, killed 159 people and injured more than a thousand. It was the first EF5 to hit the state since 1957 and the deadliest in the U.S. since 1947, making it the seventh deadliest tornado in American history and 27th deadliest in the world. St. Louis and its suburbs also have
548-458: A "sister culture" of the Mississippian horizon, or one of the "Mississippianised" cultures adjacent to the main area of the mound building cultures. This culture was also mostly extinct in the 17th century, but remnants may have survived into the first half of the 18th century. While this culture shows strong Mississippian influences, its bearers were most likely ethnolinguistically distinct from
685-603: A "wilderness" policy for the Forest Service. Their efforts bore fruit with the Wilderness Act of 1964 , which designated wilderness areas "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by men, where man himself is a visitor and does not remain." This included second growth public forests like the Mark Twain National Forest . The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Missouri
822-644: A 2018 report by the Missouri Attorney General 's office, for the past 18 years, "African Americans, Hispanics and other people of color are disproportionately affected by stops, searches and arrests." The same report found that the biggest discrepancy was in 2017, when "black motorists were 85% more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops". In 2018 the USDA announced its plans to relocate Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) to Kansas City. They have since decided on
959-520: A continuation of site usage. During the Terminal Coles Creek period (1150 to 1250 CE), contact increased with Mississippian cultures centered upriver near the future St. Louis, Missouri . This resulted in the adaption of new pottery techniques , as well as new ceremonial objects and possibly new social patterns during the Plaquemine period. As more Mississippian cultural influences were absorbed,
1096-587: A figure equaled only by its neighbor, Tennessee. Missouri is bounded by Iowa on the north; by Illinois , Kentucky , and Tennessee across the Mississippi River on the east; on the south by Arkansas ; and by Oklahoma , Kansas , and Nebraska (the last across the Missouri River) on the west. Whereas the northern and southern boundaries are straight lines, the Missouri Bootheel extends south between
1233-572: A first-hand description in his Historia de la Florida (published in 1605, Lisbon, as La Florida del Inca ) describing how the Indians had built mounds and how the Native American mound cultures practiced their traditional way of life. De la Vega's accounts also include vital details about the Native American tribes' systems of government present in the southeast, tribal territories, and the construction of mounds and temples. A few French expeditions in
1370-582: A formation of 11 mounds from 3 feet (0.91 m) to 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, connected by ridges to form an oval nearly 900 feet (270 m) across. In the Americas, the building of complex earthwork mounds started at an early date, well before the pyramids of Egypt were constructed. Watson Brake was being constructed nearly 2,000 years before the better-known Poverty Point , and the building continued for 500 years. Middle Archaic mound construction seems to have ceased about 2800 BCE. Scholars have not ascertained
1507-562: A glut of unskilled labor, driving wages down. Most Missouri farmers practiced subsistence farming before the American Civil War . The majority of those who held slaves had fewer than five each. Planters , defined by some historians as those holding 20 slaves or more, were concentrated in the counties known as " Little Dixie ", in the central part of the state along the Missouri River . The tensions over slavery chiefly had to do with
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#17328763834641644-416: A history of experiencing particularly severe tornadoes, the most recent one of note being an EF4 that damaged Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on April 22, 2011. One of the worst tornadoes in American history struck St. Louis on May 27, 1896, killing at least 255 people and causing $ 10 million in damage (equivalent to $ 3.9 billion in 2009 or $ 5.54 billion in today's dollars). Missouri
1781-438: A hunter-gatherer culture, rather than a more settled culture based on agricultural surpluses. The best-known flat-topped pyramidal structure is Monks Mound at Cahokia , near present-day Collinsville, Illinois . This community was the center of the Mississippian culture. This mound appears to have been the main ceremonial and residential mound for the religious and political leaders; it is more than 100 feet (30 m) tall and
1918-406: A hunter-gatherer society, the people of which occupied this area only on a seasonal basis. Successive generations organized to build the complex mounds over 500 years. Their food consisted mostly of fish and deer, as well as available plants. Poverty Point, built about 1500 BCE in what is now Louisiana, is a prominent example of Late Archaic mound-builder construction (around 2500 BCE – 1000 BCE). It
2055-455: A major meatpacking center, as large cattle drives from Texas brought herds of cattle to Dodge City and other Kansas towns. There, the cattle were loaded onto trains destined for Kansas City, where they were butchered and distributed to the eastern markets. The first half of the 20th century was the height of Kansas City's prominence, and its downtown became a showcase for stylish Art Deco skyscrapers as construction boomed. In 1930, there
2192-564: A representation of a man in flowing robes. When translated, once again by McCarty, the inscription was found to include the entire Ten Commandments , and the robed figure was identified as Moses . Naturally enough, it became known as the Decalogue Stone . Rather than being found beneath only a foot or two of soil, the Decalogue Stone was claimed to have been buried beneath a forty-foot-tall stone mound. Instead of modern Hebrew typography,
2329-473: A single moment. Never dried, never froze, never slept, never rested. The antiquarian author William Pidgeon in 1858 created fraudulent surveys of mound groups that did not exist. Beginning in the 1880s, the supposed origin of the earthworks with a race of giants was increasingly recognized as spurious. Pidgeon's fraudulent claims about the archaeological record were shown to be a hoax by Theodore Lewis in 1886. A major factor contributing to public acceptance of
2466-403: A single speech, to appeal to a greater number of listeners. In informal contexts respellings of the state's name, such as "Missour- ee " or "Missour- uh ", are occasionally used to distinguish pronunciations phonetically. There is no official state nickname. However, Missouri's unofficial nickname is the "Show Me State", which appears on its license plates . This phrase has several origins. One
2603-581: A specific location in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. With the addition of the KC Streetcar project and construction of the Sprint Center Arena, the downtown area in KC has attracted investment in new offices, hotels, and residential complexes. Both Kansas City and St. Louis are undergoing a rebirth in their downtown areas with the addition of the new Power & Light (KC) and Ballpark Village (STL) districts and
2740-690: A temporary state capital in St. Charles. In 1826, the capital was shifted to its permanent location of Jefferson City , also on the Missouri River. Originally the state's western border was a straight line, defined as the meridian passing through the Kawsmouth, the point where the Kansas River enters the Missouri River. The river has moved since this designation. This line is known as the Osage Boundary. In 1836
2877-544: A then-current understanding of pre-Columbian civilizations, including the formative Mesoamerican civilizations such as the (Pre-Classic) Olmec , Maya , and Zapotec . Lafcadio Hearn in 1876 wrote about a theory that the mounds were built by people from the lost continent of Atlantis. The Reverend Landon West in 1901 claimed that the Serpent Mound in Ohio was built by God, or by man inspired by him. He believed that God built
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#17328763834643014-516: A transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the cession to the United States. Part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase by the United States, Missouri earned the nickname Gateway to the West because it served as a significant departure point for expeditions and settlers heading to the West during the 19th century. St. Charles , just west of St. Louis, was the starting point and
3151-532: A variety of goods to traders for sale and trade with their Native American clients. The fur trade and associated businesses made St. Louis an early financial center and provided the wealth for some to build fine houses and import luxury items. Its location near the confluence of the Illinois River meant it also handled produce from the agricultural areas. River traffic and trade along the Mississippi were integral to
3288-488: A whole, is called the Camp Jackson Affair . These events sharpened the divisions within the state. Governor Jackson appointed Sterling Price , president of the convention on secession, as head of the new Missouri State Guard . In the face of Union General Lyon's rapid advance through the state, Jackson and Price were forced to flee the capital of Jefferson City on June 14, 1861. In Neosho, Missouri , Jackson called
3425-568: Is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States . Ranking 21st in land area , it borders Iowa to the north, Illinois , Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma , Kansas , and Nebraska to the west. In the south are the Ozarks , a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. At 1.5 billion years old, the St. Francois Mountains are among
3562-781: Is a Late Woodland culture (700–1200 CE) in the Lower Mississippi Valley in the Southern United States that marks a significant change in the cultural history of the area. Population and cultural and political complexity increased, especially by the end of the Coles Creek period. Although many of the classic traits of chiefdom societies had not yet developed, by 1000 CE, the formation of simple elite polities had begun. Coles Creek sites are found in Arkansas, Louisiana , Oklahoma , Mississippi , and Texas . The Coles Creek culture
3699-460: Is a striking complex of more than 1 square mile (2.6 km ), where six earthwork crescent ridges were built in concentric arrangement, interrupted by radial aisles. Three mounds are also part of the main complex, and evidence of residences extends for about 3 miles (4.8 km) along the bank of Bayou Macon . It is the major site among 100 associated with the Poverty Point culture and is one of
3836-497: Is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico. Missouri's highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954, while the lowest recorded temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905. Located in Tornado Alley , Missouri also receives extreme weather in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. On May 22, 2011,
3973-591: Is considered ancestral to the Plaquemine culture. Around 900–1450 CE, the Mississippian culture developed and spread through the Eastern United States, primarily along the river valleys. The largest regional center where the Mississippian culture was first definitely developed is located in Illinois along a tributary of the Mississippi and is referred to as Cahokia . It had several regional variants including
4110-568: Is home to diverse flora and fauna , including several endemic species. There is a large amount of fresh water present due to the Mississippi River , Missouri River , Table Rock Lake and Lake of the Ozarks , with numerous smaller tributary rivers, streams, and lakes. North of the Missouri River, the state is primarily rolling hills of the Great Plains , whereas south of the Missouri River,
4247-535: Is now the Eastern United States, stretching as far south as Crystal River in western Florida. During this time, in parts of present-day Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the Hopewellian Marksville culture degenerated and was succeeded by the Baytown culture . Reasons for degeneration include attacks from other tribes or the impact of severe climatic changes undermining agriculture. The Coles Creek culture
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4384-438: Is popularly ascribed to a speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver in 1899, who declared that "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me." This is in keeping with the saying "I'm from Missouri", which means "I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced." However, according to researchers,
4521-423: Is the largest pre-Columbian earthwork north of Mexico. This site had numerous mounds, some with conical or ridge tops, as well as palisaded stockades protecting the large settlement and elite quarter. At its maximum about 1150 CE, Cahokia was an urban settlement with 20,000–30,000 people. This population was not exceeded by North American European settlements until after 1800. Some effigy mounds were constructed in
4658-611: Is the name for a Native American culture that flourished from 1000 to 1650 CE among a people who predominantly inhabited land along the Ohio River in areas of modern-day southern Ohio, northern Kentucky , and western West Virginia . A continuation of the Coles Creek culture in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. Examples include the Medora site in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana; and
4795-570: Is unlikely. The spread of the Mississippian culture from the late 1st millennium CE most likely involved cultural assimilation, in archaeological terminology called "Mississippianised" cultures. 19th-century ethnography assumed that the Mound-builders were an ancient prehistoric race with no direct connection to the Southeastern Woodland peoples of the historical period who were encountered by Europeans. A reference to this idea appears in
4932-472: The 1904 election . He promoted what he called "the Missouri Idea", the concept of Missouri as a leader in public morality through popular control of law and strict enforcement. He successfully conducted antitrust prosecutions, ended free railroad passes for state officials, extended bribery statutes, improved election laws, required formal registration for lobbyists, made racetrack gambling illegal and enforced
5069-494: The Anna and Emerald Mound sites in Mississippi. Sites inhabited by Plaquemine peoples continued to be used as vacant ceremonial centers without large village areas much as their Coles Creek ancestors had done, although their layout began to show influences from Middle Mississippian peoples to the north. The Winterville and Holly Bluff (Lake George) sites in western Mississippi are good examples that exemplify this change of layout, but
5206-674: The Grand Village close to present-day Natchez, Mississippi . In 1729 the Natchez revolted and massacred the French colony of Fort Rosalie. The French retaliated by destroying all the Natchez villages. The remaining Natchez fled in scattered bands to live among the Chickasaw , Creek , and Cherokee people . They traveled with them on the trail of tears when federal Indian removal policies after 1830 forced
5343-629: The Illinois Country. They came from colonial villages on the east side of the Mississippi River, where soils were becoming exhausted and there was insufficient river bottom land for the growing population. The early Missouri settlements included many enslaved Africans and Native Americans, and slave labor was central to both commercial agriculture and the fur trade. Sainte-Geneviève became a thriving agricultural center, producing enough surplus wheat, corn and tobacco to ship tons of grain annually downriver to Lower Louisiana for trade. Grain production in
5480-605: The Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Americans from the Upland South rushed into the new Missouri Territory ; Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States. Missouri was admitted as a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 . As a border state , Missouri's role in the American Civil War was complex, and it was subject to rival governments, raids, and guerilla warfare. After
5617-581: The Missouri Rhineland . Outside the state's major cities, popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks , Table Rock Lake and Branson . Some of the largest companies based in the state include Cerner , Express Scripts , Monsanto , Emerson Electric , Edward Jones , H&R Block , Wells Fargo Advisors , Centene Corporation , and O'Reilly Auto Parts . Well-known universities in Missouri include
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5754-693: The Norse colonization of North America . In 1797, Barton reconsidered his position and correctly identified the mounds as part of indigenous prehistory. Notable for the association with the Ten Lost Tribes is the Book of Mormon (1830). This provides a related belief, as its narrative describes two major immigrations to the Americas from Mesopotamia : the Jaredites (ca. 3000 - 2000 BCE) and an Israelite group during 590 BCE (termed Nephites , Lamanites and Mulekites ). While
5891-767: The Plaquemine culture and the Fort Ancient culture , were still active at the time of European contact in the 16th century. One tribe of the Fort Ancient culture has been identified as the Mosopelea , presumably of southeast Ohio, who spoke an Ohio Valley Siouan language . The bearers of the Plaquemine culture were presumably speakers of the Natchez language isolate. The first written description of these cultures were made by members of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto 's expedition, between 1540 and 1542. The namesake cultural trait of
6028-567: The Platte Purchase was added to the northwest corner of the state after purchase of the land from the native tribes, making the Missouri River the border north of the Kansas River. This addition increased the land area of what was already the largest state in the Union at the time (about 66,500 square miles (172,000 km ) to Virginia's 65,000 square miles, which then included West Virginia). In
6165-537: The St. Francis and the Mississippi rivers. The two largest rivers are the Mississippi (which defines the eastern boundary of the state) and the Missouri River (which flows from west to east through the state), essentially connecting the two largest metros of Kansas City and St. Louis. Although today it is usually considered part of the Midwest , Missouri was historically seen by many as a border state , chiefly because of
6302-537: The St. Louis Arsenal . Alarmed at this action, and discovering the Confederate aid, General Nathaniel Lyon struck first, encircling the camp and forcing the state troops to surrender. Lyon directed his soldiers, largely non-English-speaking German immigrants , to march the prisoners through the streets, and this led to riot by pro-secession citizens. While it is disputed how it started, this riot led to violence and Union soldiers killed by St. Louis civilians. The event as
6439-566: The University of Missouri , Saint Louis University , and Washington University in St. Louis . The state is named for the Missouri River , which was named after the indigenous Missouria , a Siouan-language tribe. French colonists adapted a form of the Illinois language -name for the people: Wimihsoorita . Their name means "One who has dugout canoes". The name Missouri has several different pronunciations even among its present-day inhabitants,
6576-474: The protests and riots that followed the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer of Ferguson , which led Governor Jay Nixon to call out the Missouri National Guard . A grand jury declined to indict the officer, and the U.S. Department of Justice concluded, after careful investigation, that the police officer legitimately feared for his safety. However, in a separate investigation,
6713-409: The 1560s reported staying with Indian societies who had built mounds. Later explorers to the same regions, only a few decades after mound-building settlements had been reported, found the regions largely depopulated with its residents vanished and the mounds untended. Conflicts with Europeans were dismissed by historians as the major cause of population reduction since few clashes had occurred between
6850-479: The 1560s, likewise noted Native American groups using existing mounds and constructing others. He produced a series of watercolor paintings depicting scenes of native life. Although most of his paintings have been lost, some engravings were copied from the originals and published in 1591 by a Flemish company. Among these is a depiction of the burial of an aboriginal Floridian tribal chief, an occasion of great mourning and ceremony. The original caption reads: Sometimes
6987-479: The 17th century ( Beaver Wars period). Carbon dating seems to indicate that they were wiped out by successive waves of disease. Because of the disappearance of the cultures by the end of the 17th century, the identification of the bearers of these cultures was an open question in 19th-century ethnography. Modern stratigraphic dating has established that the "Mound builders" have spanned an extended period of more than five millennia so that any ethnolinguistic continuity
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#17328763834647124-595: The Civil War and the end of World War II, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. The expansion of railroads to the West transformed Kansas City into a major transportation hub within the nation. The growth of the Texas cattle industry along with this increased rail infrastructure and the invention of the refrigerated boxcar also made Kansas City
7261-742: The Department of Justice also found that the Ferguson Police Department and the City of Ferguson relied on unconstitutional practices in order to balance the city's budget through racially motivated excessive fines and punishments, that the Ferguson police "had used excessive and dangerous force and had disproportionately targeted blacks," and that the municipal court "emphasized revenue over public safety, leading to routine breaches of citizens' constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection under
7398-591: The Earth." Charles Whittlesey , who was one of the foremost archaeologists at that time, pronounced the stone to be authentic. The Newark Holy Stones, if genuine, would provide support for monogenesis , since they would establish that American Indians could be encompassed within Biblical history. After his first expedition, Wyrick uncovered a small stone box that was found to contain an intricately carved slab of black limestone covered with archaic-looking Hebrew letters along with
7535-411: The Illinois Country was critical to the survival of Lower Louisiana and especially the city of New Orleans. St. Louis was founded on February 14, 1764, by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent , Pierre Laclède , and Auguste Chouteau . From 1764 to 1803, European control of the area west of the Mississippi to the northernmost part of the Missouri River basin, called Louisiana, was assumed by
7672-421: The Indians had not built them." Priest's racism has also been discussed in detail by author Robert Silverberg , archaeologist Stephen Williams , and author Jason Colavito . Later authors placing the Book of Mormon in this context include Silverberg (1969), Brodie (1971), Kennedy (1994), and Garlinghouse (2001). Some nineteenth-century archaeological finds (e.g., earth and timber fortifications and towns,
7809-424: The Middle Mississippian culture of Cahokia, the South Appalachian Mississippian variant at Moundville and Etowah , the Plaquemine Mississippian variant in south Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Caddoan Mississippian culture of northwestern Louisiana, eastern Texas, and southwestern Arkansas. Like the mound builders of the Ohio, these peoples built gigantic mounds as burial and ceremonial places. Fort Ancient
7946-586: The Mississippi River were part of the French province of Louisiana . To distinguish the settlements in the Middle Mississippi Valley from French settlements in the lower Mississippi Valley around New Orleans, French officials and inhabitants referred to the Middle Mississippi Valley as La Haute Louisiane, "The High Louisiana", or "Upper Louisiana". The first European settlers were mostly ethnic French Canadians , who created their first settlement in Missouri at present-day Ste. Genevieve , about 45 miles (72 km) south of St. Louis. They had migrated in about 1750 from
8083-415: The Mississippians, possibly belonging to the Siouan phylum. The only tribal name associated with the Fort Ancient culture in the historical record is the Mosopelea , recorded by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin in 1684 as inhabiting eight villages north of the Ohio River. The Mosopelea is most likely identical to the Ofo ( Oufé , Offogoula ) recorded in the same area in the 18th century. The Ofo language
8220-400: The Missouri Partisan Rangers, such insurgencies also arose in portions of the Confederacy occupied by the Union during the Civil War. Historians have portrayed stories of the James brothers' outlaw years as an American "Robin Hood" myth. The vigilante activities of the Bald Knobbers of the Ozarks in the 1880s were an unofficial continuation of insurgent mentality long after the official end of
8357-521: The Missouri River lie the Northern Plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Here, rolling hills remain from the glaciation that once extended from the Canadian Shield to the Missouri River. Missouri has many large river bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Meramec Rivers . Southern Missouri rises to the Ozark Mountains , a dissected plateau surrounding the Precambrian igneous St. Francois Mountains . This region also hosts karst topography characterized by high limestone content with
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#17328763834648494-487: The Mormons from Missouri and confiscated their lands. Conflicts over slavery exacerbated border tensions among the states and territories. From 1838 to 1839, a border dispute with Iowa over the so-called Honey Lands resulted in both states' calling-up of militias along the border. With increasing migration, from the 1830s to the 1860s, Missouri's population almost doubled with every decade. Most newcomers were American-born, but many Irish and German immigrants arrived in
8631-413: The Mound Builders was the building of mounds and other earthworks. These burial and ceremonial structures were typically flat-topped pyramids or platform mounds , flat-topped or rounded cones, elongated ridges, and sometimes a variety of other forms. They were generally built as part of complex villages. The early earthworks built in Louisiana around 3500 BCE are the only ones known to have been built by
8768-510: The Mound Builders were not identical to the Southeast Woodland Native Americans of the 18th century. It is now thought that the most likely bearers of the Plaquemine culture , a late variant of the Mississippian culture, were ancestral to the related Natchez and Taensa peoples. The Natchez language is a language isolate. The Natchez are known to have historically occupied the Lower Mississippi Valley . They are first mentioned in French sources of around 1700, when they were centered around
8905-431: The Native Americans out of the Southeast and west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory (admitted in the early 20th century as the state of Oklahoma . The Natchez language became extinct in the 20th century, with the death in 1957 of the last known native speaker, Nancy Raven . Based on the idea that the origins of the mound builders lay with a mysterious ancient people, various other suggestions were belonging to
9042-422: The Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites were all of Jewish origin coming from Israel around 590 BCE, the Jaradites were a non-Abrahamic people separate in all aspects, except in a belief in Jehovah, from the Nephites. The Book of Mormon depicts these settlers building magnificent cities, which were destroyed by warfare about CE 385. The Book of Mormon can be placed in the tradition of the "Mound-Builder literature" of
9179-467: The Plaquemine area as a distinct culture began to shrink after CE 1350. Eventually, the last enclave of purely Plaquemine culture was the Natchez Bluffs area, while the Yazoo Basin and adjacent areas of Louisiana became a hybrid Plaquemine-Mississippi culture. This division was recorded by Europeans when they first arrived in the area. In the Natchez Bluffs area, the Taensa and Natchez people had held out against Mississippian influence and continued to use
9316-535: The Spanish as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain , due to Treaty of Fontainebleau (in order to have Spain join with France in the war against England). The arrival of the Spanish in St. Louis was in September 1767. St. Louis became the center of a regional fur trade with Native American tribes that extended up the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, dominating the regional economy for decades. Trading partners of major firms shipped their furs from St. Louis by river down to New Orleans for export to Europe. They provided
9453-417: The Sunday-closing law. He helped enact Progressive legislation, including an initiative and referendum provision, regulation of elections, education, employment and child labor, railroads, food, business, and public utilities. Several efficiency-oriented examiner boards and commissions were established during Folk's administration, including many agricultural boards and the Missouri library commission. Between
9590-539: The West", "The Iron Mountain State", and "Pennsylvania of the West". It is also known as the "Cave State" because there are more than 7,300 recorded caves in the state (second to Tennessee ). Perry County is the county with the most caves and the single longest cave. The official state motto is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto", Latin for "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law." Archaeological excavations along river valleys have shown continuous habitation since about 9000 BCE. Beginning before 1000 CE ,
9727-409: The age of the earthworks. In his book, Antiquities Discovered in the Western States (1820), Atwater claimed that "Indian remains" were always found right beneath the surface of the earth, while artifacts associated with the Mound Builders were found fairly deep in the ground. Atwater argued that they must be from a different group of people. The discovery of metal artifacts further convinced people that
9864-470: The best-known early examples of earthwork monumental architecture. Unlike the localized societies during the Middle Archaic, this culture showed evidence of a wide trading network outside its area, which is one of its distinguishing characteristics. Horr's Island , Florida, now a gated community next to Marco Island , was excavated by Michael Russo in 1980. He found an Archaic Indian village site. Mound A
10001-522: The characters on the stone were blocky and appeared to be an ancient form of the Hebrew alphabet. Finally, the stone bore no resemblance to any modern Masonic artifact. In 1870, Whittlesey declared finally that the Holy Stones and other similar artifacts were "Archaeological Frauds." In 19th-century America, many popular mythologies surrounding the origin of the mounds were in circulation, typically involving
10138-418: The city for newer housing developed in the suburbs, often former farmland where land was available at lower prices. These major cities have gone through decades of readjustment to develop different economies and adjust to demographic changes. Suburban areas have developed separate job markets, both in knowledge industries and services, such as major retail malls. In 2014, Missouri received national attention for
10275-453: The deceased king of this province is buried with great solemnity, and his great cup from which he was accustomed to drink is placed on a tumulus with many arrows set about it. Maturin Le Petit , a Jesuit priest, met the Natchez people , as did Le Page du Pratz (1758), a French explorer. Both observed them in the area that today is known as Mississippi. The Natchez were devout worshippers of
10412-561: The early 1830s, Mormon migrants from northern states and Canada began settling near Independence and areas just north of there. Conflicts over religion and slavery arose between the 'old settlers' (mainly from the South) and the Mormons (mainly from the North). The Mormon War erupted in 1838. By 1839, with the help of an "Extermination Order" by Governor Lilburn Boggs , the old settlers forcibly expelled
10549-424: The early 2000s. In a January 2023 episode of Tucker Carlson 's Fox Nation show Tucker Carlson Today had a guest who stated that: "They didn't build 'em. Someone before them built 'em". Carlson replied: "That's right" and said there was "skeletal evidence of people who bear no genetic resemblance to the current Indians". On June 29, 1860, David Wyrick, the surveyor of Licking County near Newark , discovered
10686-461: The east bank of the Mississippi River and identified their settlements as being in le pays des Illinois, "the country of the Illinois". When settlers of French Canadian descent began crossing the Mississippi River to establish settlements such as Ste. Genevieve, they continued to identify their settlements as being in the Illinois Country. At the same time, the French settlements on both sides of
10823-429: The election of a special convention on secession. This convention voted against secession, but also qualified their support of the Union. In the aftermath of Battle of Fort Sumter Pro-Southern Governor Claiborne F. Jackson ordered the mobilization of several hundred members of the state militia who had gathered in a camp in St. Louis for training. In secret, he also requested Confederate arms and artillery to help take
10960-525: The face of a largely reinforced Union Army. Though regular Confederate troops staged some large-scale raids into Missouri, the fighting in the state for the next three years consisted chiefly of guerrilla warfare . "Citizen soldiers" or insurgents such as Captain William Quantrill , Frank and Jesse James , the Younger brothers , and William T. Anderson made use of quick, small-unit tactics. Pioneered by
11097-499: The formation of sinkholes and caves. The southeastern part of the state is known as the Missouri Bootheel region, which is part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Mississippi embayment . This region is the lowest, flattest, warmest, and wettest part of the state. It is also among the poorest, as the economy there is mostly agricultural. It is also the most fertile, with cotton and rice crops predominant. The Bootheel
11234-421: The future of the state and nation. In 1860, enslaved African Americans made up less than 10% of the state's population of 1,182,012. In order to control the flooding of farmland and low-lying villages along the Mississippi, the state had completed construction of 140 miles (230 km) of levees along the river by 1860. After the secession of Southern states began in 1861, the Missouri legislature called for
11371-481: The great Mississippian culture . De Soto observed people living in fortified towns with lofty mounds and plazas and surmised that many of the mounds served as foundations for priestly temples. Near present-day Augusta, Georgia , de Soto encountered a group ruled by a queen, Cofitachequi . She told him that the mounds within her territory served as burial places for nobles. The artist Jacques le Moyne , who had accompanied French settlers to northeastern Florida during
11508-529: The great flood disappeared, Noah and his ark landed in America. While surveying the land, Noah also discovered mounds that had been constructed before the waters rose. Upon seeing this, Noah questioned where these agricultural phenomena came from. "Surveying the various themes of mound builder origins, he could not decide whether the mounds were the work of Polynesians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Israelites, Scandinavians, Welsh, Scotts, or Chinese, although he felt certain
11645-463: The hand tools available, move the soil long distances, and finally, workers to create the shape with layers of soil as directed by the builders. However early mounds found in Louisiana preceded such cultures and were products of hunter-gatherer cultures. From about 800 CE, the mound-building cultures were dominated by the Mississippian culture , a large archaeological horizon, whose youngest descendants,
11782-469: The height of their owners estimated at 14 feet (4.3 m). President Abraham Lincoln referred to the giants whose bones fill the mounds of America. But still there is more. It calls up the indefinite past. When Columbus first sought this continent – when Christ suffered on the cross – when Moses led Israel through the Red-Sea – nay, even, when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker – then as now, Niagara
11919-429: The institution of slavery . They settled predominantly in 17 counties along the Missouri River , in an area of flatlands that enabled plantation agriculture and became known as " Little Dixie ". The state was rocked by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes . Casualties were few due to the sparse population. In 1821, the former Missouri Territory was admitted as a slave state , under the Missouri Compromise , and with
12056-549: The late 1840s and 1850s. As a majority were Catholic , they set up their own religious institutions in the state, which had been mostly Protestant . Many settled in cities, creating a regional and then state network of Catholic churches and schools. 19th-century German immigrants created the wine industry along the Missouri River and the beer industry in St. Louis. While many German immigrants were strongly anti-slavery, many Irish immigrants living in cities were pro-slavery, fearing that liberating African-American slaves would create
12193-608: The law." A series of student protests at the University of Missouri against what the protesters viewed as poor response by the administration to racist incidents on campus began in September 2015. On June 7, 2017, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued a warning to prospective African-American travelers to Missouri. This is the first NAACP warning ever covering an entire state. According to
12330-627: The locale of Dillon just northeast of Rolla in Phelps County , through Maries , Gasconade , Crawford , and Franklin counties, where it discharges into the Meramec River near Moselle ( 38°23′57″N 90°53′21″W / 38.39917°N 90.88917°W / 38.39917; -90.88917 ( Bourbeuse River (mouth) ) ). The elevation of the river at its source is approximately 1,140 feet (350 m) above sea level and at its mouth about 463 feet (141 m). The total length of
12467-439: The middle Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, extending into the southeast and the upper river. The land that became the state of Missouri was part of numerous different territories, possessed changing and often indeterminate borders, and had many different Native American and European names between the 1600s and statehood. For much of the first half of the 1700s, the west bank of the Mississippi River that would become Missouri
12604-577: The more general genre of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories , specifically involving Vikings , Atlantis , and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel , summarised by Feder (2006) under the heading of "The Myth of a Vanished Race". Benjamin Smith Barton in his Observations on Some Parts of Natural History (1787) proposed the theory that the Mound Builders were associated with "Danes", i.e. with
12741-742: The mound and placed it as a symbol of the story of the Garden of Eden . More recently, Black nationalist websites claiming association with the Moorish Science Temple of America , have taken up the Atlantean (" Mu ") association of the Mound Builders. Similarly, the " Washitaw Nation ", a group associated with the Moorish Science Temple of America established in the 1990s, has been associated with mound-building in Black nationalist online articles of
12878-537: The mounds being built by a race of giants . A New York Times article from 1897 described a mound in Wisconsin in which a giant human skeleton measuring over 9 feet (2.7 m) in length was found. In 1886, another New York Times article described water receding from a mound in Cartersville, Georgia , which uncovered acres of skulls and bones, some of which were said to be gigantic. Two thigh bones were measured with
13015-427: The musical genres ragtime , Kansas City jazz and St. Louis blues . The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue , and the lesser-known St. Louis-style barbecue , can be found across the state and beyond. Missouri is a major center of beer brewing and has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the U.S. It is home to Anheuser-Busch , the world's largest beer producer, and produces Missouri wine , especially in
13152-511: The natives and the Europeans in the area during the same period. The most widely accepted explanation today is that new infectious diseases brought from the Old World, such as smallpox and influenza , had decimated most of the Native Americans from the last mound-builder civilization, as they had no immunity to such diseases. The Fort Ancient culture of the Ohio River valley is considered
13289-451: The next century. However, there were also other European accounts, earlier than 1560, that give a first-hand description of the enormous earth-built mounds being constructed by Native Americans. One of them was Garcilaso de la Vega (c.1539–1616), a Spanish chronicler also known as " El Inca " because of his Incan mother. He was the record-keeper of the noted De Soto expedition that landed in present-day Florida on May 31, 1538. Garcilaso gave
13426-400: The ninth century, built cities and mounds before declining in the 14th century. The Indigenous Osage and Missouria nations inhabited the area when European people arrived in the 17th century. The French incorporated the territory into Louisiana , founding Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764. After a brief period of Spanish rule , the United States acquired Missouri as part of
13563-498: The oldest in the world. The Missouri River , after which the state is named, flows through the center and into the Mississippi River , which makes up the eastern border. With over six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the country. The largest urban areas are St. Louis , Kansas City , Springfield , and Columbia . The capital is Jefferson City . Humans have inhabited present-day Missouri for at least 12,000 years. The Mississippian culture , which emerged in
13700-436: The people of the Mississippian culture created regional political centers at present-day St. Louis and across the Mississippi River at Cahokia , near present-day Collinsville, Illinois . Their large cities included thousands of individual residences. Still, they are known for their surviving massive earthwork mounds , built for religious, political and social reasons, in platform , ridgetop and conical shapes. Cahokia
13837-456: The period and has been called "the most famous and certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature". Josiah Priest 's 1833 400-page publication American Antiquities centered around his study of the Bible and antiquarian journals, supplemented by information from his travels. After visiting earthworks in Ohio and New York, Priest concluded that these mounds could be traced back to
13974-672: The period of roughly 3500 BCE (the construction of Watson Brake ) to the 16th century CE, including the Archaic period ( Horr's Island ), Woodland period ( Caloosahatchee , Adena and Hopewell cultures ), and Mississippian period . Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the Great Lakes , the Ohio River Valley, Florida, and the Mississippi River Valley and its tributary waters. The first mound building
14111-399: The phrase "show me" was already in use before the 1890s. Another one states that it is a reference to Missouri miners who were taken to Leadville, Colorado to replace striking workers. Since the new miners were unfamiliar with the mining methods, they required frequent instruction. Other nicknames for Missouri include "The Lead State", "The Bullion State", "The Ozark State", "The Mother of
14248-519: The poem "The Prairies" (1832) by William Cullen Bryant . The cultural stage of the Southeastern Woodland natives encountered in the 18th and 19th centuries by British colonists was deemed incompatible with the comparatively advanced stone, metal , and clay artifacts of the archaeological record. The age of the earthworks was also partly over-estimated. Caleb Atwater 's misunderstanding of stratigraphy caused him to significantly overestimate
14385-403: The reason, but it may have been because of changes in river patterns or other environmental factors. With the 1990s dating of Watson Brake and similar complexes, scholars established that pre-agricultural, pre-ceramic American societies could organize to accomplish complex construction during extended periods, invalidating scholars' traditional ideas of Archaic society. Watson Brake was built by
14522-561: The renovation of existing historical buildings in each downtown area. The 2019 announcement of an MLS expansion team in St. Louis is driving even more development in the downtown west area of St. Louis. Kansas City has experienced a boom in population, with new developments such as Three Light apartments being centered in Downtown Kansas City , as well as suburban development in the Northland . Missouri borders eight different states,
14659-597: The return destination of the Lewis and Clark Expedition , which ascended the Missouri River in 1804, to explore the western lands to the Pacific Ocean. For decades, St. Louis was a major supply point for parties of settlers heading west. As many of the early settlers in western Missouri migrated from the Upper South , they brought enslaved African Americans as agricultural laborers, and they desired to continue their culture and
14796-679: The rising sun, invoking thanks and blowing tobacco smoke to the four cardinal directions". The most complete reference for these earthworks is Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley , written by Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis. It was published in 1848 by the Smithsonian Institution, which had commissioned the survey. Since many of the features that the authors documented have been destroyed or diminished by farming and development, their surveys, sketches, and descriptions are still used by modern archaeologists . All of
14933-703: The river is 154 miles (248 km), while the airline distance between source and mouth is 53 miles (85 km). The watershed area is 842.9 square miles (2,183 km). Tributaries of the Bourbeuse River include Boone Creek , Brush Creek , Dry Fork , Little Bourbeuse River , Red Oak Creek , Spring Creek and Voss Creek . The USGS stream gauge in Union , near the mouth of the river, measures an average flow of 692 cubic feet (19.6 m) per second. Download coordinates as: Missouri Missouri ( / m ɪ ˈ z ʊər i / mih- ZOOR -ee )
15070-481: The same sites as their ancestors. The Plaquemine culture is considered directly ancestral to these historic period groups encountered by Europeans. Groups who appear to have absorbed more Mississippian influence were identified as those tribes speaking the Tunican , Chitimachan , and Muskogean languages . Following the description by Jacques le Moyne in 1560, the mound-building cultures seem to have disappeared within
15207-637: The settlement of migrants from the South and its status as a slave state before the Civil War, balanced by the influence of St. Louis. The counties that made up " Little Dixie " were those along the Missouri River in the center of the state, settled by Southern migrants who held the greatest concentration of slaves. In 2005, Missouri received 16,695,000 visitors to its national parks and other recreational areas totaling 101,000 acres (410 km ), giving it $ 7.41 million in annual revenues, 26.6% of its operating expenditures. North of, and in some cases just south of,
15344-567: The shapes or outlines of culturally significant animals. The most famous effigy mound, Serpent Mound in southern Ohio, ranges from 1 foot (0.30 m) to just over 3 feet (0.91 m) tall, 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, more than 1,330 feet (410 m) long, and shaped as an undulating serpent . Between 1540 and 1542, Hernando de Soto , the Spanish conquistador , traversed what became the southeastern United States. There he encountered many different mound-builder peoples who were perhaps descendants of
15481-458: The sites that they identified as located in Kentucky came from the manuscripts of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque . Radiocarbon dating has established the age of the earliest Archaic mound complex in southeastern Louisiana. One of the two Monte Sano Site mounds, excavated in 1967 before being destroyed for new construction at Baton Rouge, was dated at 6220 BP (plus or minus 140 years). Researchers at
15618-486: The so-called "Keystone" in a shallow excavation at the monumental Newark Earthworks , which is an extraordinary set of ancient geometric enclosures created by Indigenous people. There he dug up a four-sided, plumb-bob -shaped stone with Hebrew letters engraved on each of its faces. The local Episcopal minister John W. McCarty translated the four inscriptions as "Law of the Lord," “Word of the Lord," “Holy of Holies," and "King of
15755-491: The state and volunteer regiments for the Union Army. Fighting ensued between Union forces and a combined army of General Price's Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops from Arkansas and Texas under General Ben McCulloch . After winning victories at the battle of Wilson's Creek and the siege of Lexington, Missouri and suffering losses elsewhere, the Confederate forces retreated to Arkansas and later Marshall, Texas , in
15892-434: The state convention was reassembled with most of its members present, save twenty who fled south with Jackson's forces. The convention declared all offices vacant and installed Hamilton Gamble as the new governor of Missouri. President Lincoln's administration immediately recognized Gamble's government as the legal Missouri government. The federal government's decision enabled raising pro-Union militia forces for service within
16029-467: The state is dominated by the Oak-Hickory Central U.S. hardwood forest . Recreational and commercial uses of public forests, including grazing, logging, and mining, increased after World War II. Fishermen, hikers, campers, and others started lobbying to protect forest areas with a "wilderness character". During the 1930s and 1940s, Aldo Leopold , Arthur Carhart and Bob Marshall developed
16166-475: The state legislature into session to call for secession. However, the elected legislative body was split between pro-Union and pro-Confederate. As such, few of the pro-unionist attended the session called in Neosho, and the ordinance of secession was quickly adopted. The Confederacy recognized Missouri secession on October 30, 1861. With the elected governor absent from the capital and the legislators largely dispersed,
16303-451: The state's economy. As the area's first major city, St. Louis expanded greatly after the invention of the steamboat and the increased river trade. Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the Treaty of San Ildefonso after it had been a Spanish colony since 1762, but the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control until
16440-451: The sun . Having a population of some 4,000, they occupied at least nine villages and were presided over by a paramount chief , known as the Great Sun, who wielded absolute power. Both observers noted the high temple mounds that the Natchez had built so that the Great Sun could commune with God, the sun. His large residence was built atop the highest mound, from "which, every morning, he greeted
16577-626: The third syllable as / i / or / ə / . Any combination of these phonetic realizations may be observed coming from speakers of American English . In British received pronunciation , the preferred variant is / m ɪ ˈ z ʊər i / , with / m ɪ ˈ s ʊər i / being a possible alternative. Donald M. Lance, a professor of English at the University of Missouri , stated that no pronunciation could be declared correct, nor could any be clearly defined as native or outsider, rural or urban, southern or northern, educated or otherwise. Politicians often employ multiple pronunciations, even during
16714-462: The time thought that such hunter-gatherer societies were not organizationally capable of this type of construction. It has since been dated as about 6500 BP or 4500 BCE, although not all agree. Watson Brake is located in the floodplain of the Ouachita River near Monroe in northern Louisiana. Securely dated to about 5,400 years ago (around 3500 BCE), in the Middle Archaic period, it consists of
16851-402: The two most common being / m ɪ ˈ z ɜːr i / mih- ZUR -ee and / m ɪ ˈ z ɜːr ə / mih- ZUR -ə . Further pronunciations also exist in Missouri or elsewhere in the United States, involving the realization of the medial consonant as either / z / or / s / ; the vowel in the second syllable as either / ɜːr / or / ʊər / ; and
16988-450: The use of a plaster-like cement, ancient roads, metal points and implements, copper breastplates, head-plates, textiles, pearls, native North American inscriptions, North American elephant remains etc.) were well-publicized at the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon and there is the incorporation of some of these ideas into the narrative. References are made in the Book of Mormon to
17125-467: The war, and they are a favorite theme in Branson's self-image . The Progressive Era (1890s to 1920s) saw numerous prominent leaders from Missouri trying to end corruption and modernize politics, government, and society. Joseph "Holy Joe" Folk was a key leader who made a strong appeal to the middle class and rural evangelical Protestants. Folk was elected governor as a progressive reformer and Democrat in
17262-521: The war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became large centers of industrialization and business. Today the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. Missouri has been called the "Mother of the West", the "Cave State", and the "Show Me State". Its culture blends elements of the Midwestern and Southern United States . It is the birthplace of
17399-527: Was 6,137,428 on July 1, 2019, a 2.48% increase since the 2010 United States census . Mound Builders Many pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed " Mound Builders ", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks that indigenous peoples erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The "Mound Builder" cultures span
17536-519: Was a diphtheria epidemic in the area around Springfield, which killed approximately 100 people. Serum was rushed to the area, and medical personnel stopped the epidemic. During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis and Kansas City suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs in railroads and manufacturing, as did other Midwestern industrial cities. St. Charles claims to be the site of the first interstate highway project in 1956. Such highway construction made it easy for middle-class residents to leave
17673-575: Was a burial mound that dated to 3400 BCE, making it the oldest known burial mound in North America. The oldest mound associated with the Woodland period was the mortuary mound and pond complex at the Fort Center site in Glade County, Florida. Excavations and dating in 2012 by Thompson and Pluckhahn show that work began around 2600 BCE, seven centuries before the mound-builders in Ohio. The Archaic period
17810-633: Was an early marker of political and social complexity among the cultures in the Eastern United States. Watson Brake in Louisiana, constructed about 3500 BCE during the Middle Archaic period , is the oldest known and dated mound complex in North America. It is one of 11 mound complexes from this period found in the Lower Mississippi Valley. These cultures generally had developed hierarchical societies that had an elite. These commanded hundreds or even thousands of workers to dig up tons of earth with
17947-492: Was followed by the Woodland period ( circa 1000 BCE). Some well-understood examples are the Adena culture of Ohio , West Virginia , and parts of nearby states. The subsequent Hopewell culture built monuments from present-day Illinois to Ohio; it is renowned for its geometric earthworks. The Adena and Hopewell were not the only mound-building peoples during this period. Contemporaneous mound-building cultures existed throughout what
18084-592: Was formerly classified as Muskogean but is now recognized as an eccentric member of the Western Siouan phylum. The late survival of the Fort Ancient culture is suggested by the remarkable amount of European-made goods in the archaeological record. Such artifacts would have been acquired by trade even before direct European contact. These artifacts include brass and steel items, glassware, and melted down or broken goods reforged into new items. The Fort Ancient peoples are known to have been severely affected by disease in
18221-426: Was inconceivable to Priest and like-minded men that a race so lazy and inept could conceive and build such huge, elaborate structures." Priest speculated that the original dwellers could be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel . The reasoning Priest gives for his conclusion that there was an even earlier settler than the Native Americans relies upon his interpretation of the Biblical flood story. According to Priest, after
18358-533: Was mostly uninhabited, something of a no man's land that kept peace between the Illinois on the east bank of the Mississippi River and to the North, and the Osage and Missouri Indians of the lower Missouri Valley. In the early 1700s, French traders and missionaries explored the whole of the Mississippi Valley, and named the region "Louisiana". Around the same time, a different group of French Canadians established five villages on
18495-464: Was roaring here. The eyes of that species of extinct giants, whose bones fill the mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara, as ours do now. Co[n]temporary with the whole race of men, and older than the first man, Niagara is strong, and fresh to-day as ten thousand years ago. The Mammoth and Mastodon – now so long dead, that fragments of their monstrous bones, alone testify, that they ever lived, have gazed on Niagara. In that long – long time, never still for
18632-530: Was the center of a regional trading network that reached from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico . The civilization declined by 1400 CE, and most descendants left the area long before the arrival of Europeans. St. Louis was at one time known as Mound City by the European Americans because of the numerous surviving prehistoric mounds since lost to urban development. The Mississippian culture left mounds throughout
18769-518: Was the epicenter of the four New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 . Missouri generally has a humid continental climate with cool, sometimes cold, winters and hot, humid, and wet summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel , the climate becomes humid subtropical . Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extreme temperatures. Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate
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