Mississippi, North America

Mississippi, North America

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America—so large, in fact, that it runs through 10 U.S. states and is divided into two main parts: the Upper Mississippi (from its source in Northern Minnesota to where it meets the Ohio River at the southern tip of Illinois) and the Lower Mississippi (from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico). A major navigational route and settlement hub since the Native Americans settled there, the Mississippi River has been immortalized in American culture in everything from books like Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the rhythm and blues music of the Mississippi Delta.