History of Memphis Tennessee begins with Chickasaw homelands, the Mississippi River, cotton trading, railroads, blues, and civil rights. Its Shelby County location made the city a major river and distribution center.
The Chickasaw Nation controlled western Tennessee before American settlement. However, the 1818 Chickasaw Cession transferred the region to the United States.
John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson founded Memphis in 1819. They named it after the ancient Egyptian city beside the Nile.
The location stood on high bluffs above the Mississippi River. Therefore, Memphis offered a practical landing point for transportation and trade.
Memphis became a major cotton market serving plantations across the Mississippi Delta. Meanwhile, steamboats connected the city with New Orleans and northern ports.
This economy depended heavily on enslaved labor. Additionally, Memphis became a significant domestic slave-trading center before the Civil War.