From the rolling hills of the north to the sandy beaches along the Gulf of Mexico, a sense of history and heritage presides over the state of Mississippi.In the years following the turn of the 16th century, four Native American cultures met and clashed many times with settlers from Europe and the northeastern United States. Their epic struggle to pioneer a land filled with ample natural resources and unspoiled wilderness marked the beginning of the state's march toward progress. In every community from the Appalachian foothills to the casino-studded Biloxi peninsula, the state's diverse culture reflects the influences of its past. Mississippi was part of the Mississippian culture in the early part of the second millennium AD; descendant Native American tribes include the Chickasaw and Choctaw. Other tribes who inhabited the territory of Mississippi (and whose names became those of local towns) include the Natchez, the Yazoo, and the Biloxi. The first European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was that of Hernando de Soto, who passed through in 1540. The first settlement was that of Ocean Springs (or Old Biloxi), settled by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699. In 1716, Natchez was founded on the Mississippi River (as Fort Rosalie); it became the dominant town and trading post of the area. After spending some time under Spanish, British, and French nominal jurisdiction, the Mississippi area was deeded to the British after the French and Indian War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Several French and Indian War battles occurred , where French soldiers were burned at the stake, and some Rev. War battles happened here as well. The Mississippi Territory was organized on April 7, 1798, from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina; it was later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain. Land was purchased (generally through unequal treaties) from Native American tribes from 1800 to about 1830. Mississippi was the 20th state admitted to the Union, on December 10, 1817. When cotton was king during the 1850s, Mississippi plantation owners¿especially those of the Delta and Black Belt regions¿became increasingly wealthy due to the high fertility of the soil and the high price of cotton on the international market. The severe wealth imbalances and the necessity of large-scale slave populations to sustain such income played a heavy role in both state politics and in the support for secession. Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union as one of the Confederate States of America on January 9, 1861. During the Civil War the Confederate States were defeated. Under the terms of Reconstruction, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union on February 23, 1870. Mississippi was considered to typify the Deep South during the era of Jim Crow. A series of increasingly restrictive racial segregation laws enacted during the first part of the 20th century resulted in the emigration of almost half a million people, three-quarters of them black, in the 1940s. However, at the same time, Mississippi became a center of rich, quintessentially American music traditions: gospel music, country music, jazz music, blues, and rock and roll all were invented, promulgated, or heavily developed by Mississippi musicians. Mississippi was also noted for its authors in the early twentieth century, especially William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams. Mississippi was a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement. Most white Mississippians, through their politicians and involvement in the White Citizens' Council movement, and the violent tactics of its Ku Klux Klan members and sympathizers gave Mississippi a reputation as a reactionary state during the 1960s. The only nuclear weapons ever detonated east of the Mississippi were near Hattiesberg. Perhaps symbolic of its reactionary reputation, the state was the last to repeal prohibition and to [symbolically) ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, in 1966 and 1995 respectively--though these amendments were already legally in effect in Mississippi, as in the rest of the U.S. On August 17, 1969, Category 5 Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars). On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused even greater destruction across the entire 90 miles of Mississippi Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Alabama. As of 2005, Mississippi has an estimated population of 2,921,088, which is an increase of 20,320, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 76,432, or 2.7%, since the year 2000. The 2000 Census reported Mississippi's population as 2,844,658. The center of population of Mississippi is located in Leake County, in the town of Lena