Memphis

“Bluff City”—Memphis, Tennessee—stands on bluffs above the Mississippi River where, safe from flooding, it was an important commercial center before the Civil War and, after a hiatus, again in the late nineteenth century and thereafter. It is less like the rest of Tennessee, rooted in the Appalachians, than like Mississippi and Arkansas. Rather, it is the cultural and business center of the region, some 1.5 million strong. The city is famous for its music, civil rights history, and its food, the latter centering on barbecue and other southern dishes. As a result, tourism is one of its larger industries.