Mississippi’s Gulf Coast
Mississippi’s Gulf Coast is one of the most beautiful locations in the state. Whether you are planning a family vacation, want to relax on the white beaches or are looking for outdoor adventures – the approximately 100 km long coast has all this to offer. In the center are the two main towns Biloxi and Gulfport, where you can try your luck in casinos, stop off at first-class restaurants and bars, shop extensively and take advantage of the many cultural offers, such as museums and galleries. A little outside the cities, a diverse flora and fauna awaits you. To experience them extensively, you can kayak or rowboat through the swamps and across the rivers in the state to use the well-developed routes for long walks and extended bike tours.
- Timedictionary: Offers a list of largest cities in Mississippi.
Highlights of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast
- Biloxi & Gulfport
The locations in the center of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast have many casinos and excellent beaches. - Casinos
The casinos along the coast attract thousands of visitors every year. Mississippi is the state with the most casinos after Nevada. - Adventure and Nature
Explore the coastal swamps and rivers by kayak or rowboat and discover the diverse nature of Mississippi. - Fort Massachusetts
The fort, originally built for defense purposes but never fully completed, is located on an offshore island. - Gulf Islands National Seashore
America’s only marine national park is approximately 15 kilometers off the US
Information about Mississippi’s Gulf Coast
Length: approx. 100 km
White sandy beach: approx. 40 km
Largest city: Gulfport (approx.68,000 inhabitants)
- Transporthint: Overview of Mississippi, including population, history, geography and major industries.
Mississippi River
Mississippi River, North America’s largest river system and the world’s fourth longest (after the Nile, Amazon and Chang Jiang (Yangtze Kiang)). Calculated from the tributary of the Missouri River, it is approx. 6000 km long. The system drains 3.2 million km2 or almost half of the 48 contiguous states of the United States as well as a small part of Canada. The river has an important place in American culture and self-understanding, sung as the Ol ‘man River and with a central role in Mark Twain’s immortal novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Rivers
The main river originates from Lake Ithasca in Minnesota 450 masl On its way, it receives tributaries from the Rocky Mountains Missouri, Arkansas and Red River as well as Ohio from the Appalachians to the east. Below the confluence of Ohio, it meanders in large meanders through a kilometer-wide and approx. 1500 km long river plain formed by its own deposits since the Tertiary period. At the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, the deposits of material carried by the river form a widely branched delta that continues to grow, change direction, and now extends over 100 km SE of New Orleans. The material transport is enormous. With an average water flow of 19,000 m 3/ s is added to the delta approx. 500 million t flood sludge per year.
Utilization and regulation
The river is an important traffic artery, which especially in the time of the wheel steamers had great significance for passenger and goods transport in the United States. In its main course, it can today be sailed by barge up to 3000 km from New Orleans. Many of the tributaries are also navigable, and the total network for sailing has been significantly increased by canal construction, e.g. The Illinois Waterway, which with its opening in 1933 created connections to Chicago and Lake Michigan. To ensure navigation and prevent flooding, the main course is heavily regulated, while many tributaries are also regulated to utilize hydropower and enable irrigation, especially to the west. To coordinate the many regulations, dikes, locks, dams, etc., Congress established in 1879 The Mississippi River Commission, whose efforts were stepped up after violent floods in 1927. Since then, the federal government alone has allocated more than 25 billion. dollars to dam construction and dike protection. Yet the time of floods is not over. Some of the worst disasters to date occurred in 1973, 1982 and worst of all in 1993, when the water level in late summer reached 14 m above daily waters at St. Louis; 40,000 km2 were flooded. Among the causes, record precipitation and snowmelt in the northern source areas were pointed out, but also man-made conditions. This has led to a reassessment of the last century’s river control.
