The first variant of the name Tennessee came about when the Spanish explorer Juan Pardo came on a journey in 1567 to an Indian village that the locals called “Tanasqui”. In the early 1700’s, British traders found a Cherokee village called “Tanasi” on a river of the same name (now the Little Tennessee River). This place was first recorded on maps in 1725. It is known if it was the same place that Pardo had found. The meaning of the name is not known. It is believed to be a Cherokee modification of the earlier Yuchi to mean “meeting place” or “winding river”. The nickname “Volunteer State” comes from the War of 1812 (the War of Independence between the colonies and Great Britain), because Tennessee sent many volunteer soldiers and thus played a prominent role. The area that now includes Tennessee was settled by Paleo Indians 12,000 years ago. The first explorations were made around 1540 by the Spaniard Hernando de Soto, followed by Tristan de Luna (1559) and Juan Pardo (1567). Tennessee became the 16th state to join the Union in 1796. Due to its proximity to the northern states and the anti-secessionists in the east of the state, Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union on June 8, 1861. Many of the major battles of the American Civil War took place in Tennessee, most of which were won by the Union. After the end of the American Civil War, slavery was abolished by the new constitution on February 22, 1865. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which among other things guarantees equal treatment, was ratified on July 18, 1866. On July 24, 1866, Tennessee became the first of the Confederate States to rejoin the United States. In 1996, Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial with a year-round anniversary celebration, “Tennessee 200”. A new 77,000 m² park called “Bicentennial Mall” was dedicated on June 1, 1996 at the base of Capitol Hill in Nashville. There you can get an impression of the history and nature of the state of Tennessee. The main products of the state are textiles, cotton, cattle and electric power. About 59 percent of the more than 82,000 farms in the state raise cattle. The large-scale cultivation of cotton did not take place until the 1820s with the opening of the land between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. The upper part of the Mississippi Delta extends into southwest Tennessee and cotton thrives in this fertile area. Today, however, soybeans are also increasingly being cultivated in the west of the state. After the yellow fever epidemic of the 1870s, which killed over 5,000 people in Memphis alone and over 20,000 along the Mississippi River, the population was severely decimated. People from the mid-south were slowly coming back into the country. Farmers and freed slaves brought their music and folklore with them and maintained their musical heritage. Numerous band leaders and composers gathered in Memphis, so that a large number of very different styles of American music were created there. Blues, gospel, rock n’ roll and “rockabilly country music” emerged. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and BB King all started their careers in Memphis in the 1950s. Check topschoolsoflaw.com for brief history of the state of Tennessee.