The earliest settlers to the region that is modern day Mississippi are only known today as the Mississippian, although the name they called themselves has so far been lost to the ages. This advanced civilization ruled over an area that included much of the Mississippi Valley and were the builders of large cities on the tops of huge mounts. Some of these ancient structures can still be found across the state today.

The first Europeans to arrive in the area were Spanish explorers, led by Hernando de Soto, and he came in contact with a number of later Native American tribes that lived in the area including the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Natchez, Yazoo and Biloxi.

Following the Spanish various French explorers charted the area and established the first settlements including Ocean Springs and Fort Rosalie. The area remained part of New France until it was ceded to the British following the last of the French and Indian Wars. This land was governed by the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina until the end of the American Revolution, and in 1798 the Mississippi Territory was created, and in 1817 Mississippi became the 20th state of the Union.

Mississippi became of the major cotton producing states, and was the second state to secede from the Union at the outbreak of the American Civil War. The state was readmitted to the Union in 1870.

It was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and is renowned for its rich music culture that influenced gospel, jazz and rock and rock.