Term

Mississippi

The main river of the United States. It flows from the north of the country to the south and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall

Explained in

• Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall
• Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work, Herbert Casson

  The largest river in the United States. In the 1840s goods from the south travelled up it, and up the Ohio, into the interior of the country.

• Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay

  A French trading company founded by John Law in 1717 with the right to trade with Louisiana. It was later renamed the Company of the Indies. The mania around its shares in 1719-1720 went down in history as the Mississippi Scheme.

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