Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the State of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers.
Memphis had a population of 653,450 in 2013, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee, the largest city on the Mississippi River, the third largest in the Southeastern United States, and the 20th largest in the United States. The greaterMemphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, had a 2010 population of 1,316,100. This makes Memphis the second-largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville. Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee’s major cities. A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian, and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as “Memphis & the Mid-South”.
Memphis was founded in 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson. The site atop the fourth Chickasaw bluff, they felt, was an ideal place for the city they envisioned. The location provided a certain amount of natural security: it had served as a fort for early French and Spanish explorers, and the high bluffs created a natural barrier against periodic flooding from the Mississippi River.
Memphis grew into the world’s largest spot cotton market and the world’s largest hardwood lumber market. Into the 1950s, it was the world’s largest mule market. Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American South. Many renowned musicians grew up in and around Memphis and moved from the Mississippi Delta. Including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash, B.B king, Aretha Franklin and many others.
Memphis has a median household income of $32,285 according to the 2010 U.S. Census.