Tennessee
Tennessee | |
|---|---|
| Nickname: The Volunteer State[1] | |
| Motto(s): Agriculture and Commerce | |
| Anthem: Eleven songs | |
 Map of the United States with Tennessee highlighted | |
| Country | United States |
| Before statehood | Southwest Territory |
| Admitted to the Union | June 1, 1796 (16th) |
| Capital (and largest city) | Nashville[2] |
| Largest county or equivalent | Shelby |
| Largest metro and urban areas | Nashville |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Bill Lee (R) |
| • Lieutenant Governor | Randy McNally (R) |
| Legislature | General Assembly |
| • Upper house | Senate |
| • Lower house | House of Representatives |
| Judiciary | Tennessee Supreme Court |
| U.S. senators | Marsha Blackburn (R) Bill Hagerty (R) |
| U.S. House delegation | 7 Republicans 1 Democrat 1 vacant (list) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 42,181 sq mi (109,247 km2) |
| • Land | 41,235 sq mi (106,898 km2) |
| • Water | 909 sq mi (2,355 km2) 2.2% |
| • Rank | 36th |
| Dimensions | |
| • Length | 440 mi (710 km) |
| • Width | 120 mi (195 km) |
| Elevation | 900 ft (270 m) |
| Highest elevation | 6,643 ft (2,025 m) |
| Lowest elevation | 178 ft (54 m) |
| Population (2024) | |
| • Total |  7,227,750[6] |
| • Rank | 15th |
| • Density | 171.0/sq mi (65.9/km2) |
| • Rank | 20th |
| • Median household income | $67,600 (2023)[7] |
| • Income rank | 42nd |
| Demonyms | Tennessean Big Bender (archaic) Volunteer (historical significance) |
| Language | |
| • Official language | English |
| • Spoken language | Language spoken at home[8] |
| Time zones | |
| East Tennessee except for Bledsoe, Cumberland, and Marion counties | UTC−05:00 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) |
| Middle and West Tennessee, and Bledsoe, Cumberland, and Marion counties | UTC−06:00 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−05:00 (CDT) |
| USPS abbreviation | TN |
| ISO 3166 code | US-TN |
| Traditional abbreviation | Tenn. |
| Latitude | 34°59′ N to 36°41′ N |
| Longitude | 81°39′ W to 90°19′ W |
| Website | tn |
Tennessee (/ˌtɛnɪˈsiː/ (
listen), locally /ˈtɛnɪsi/),[9][10][11] officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Nashville, which is the country music center of America. Tennessee borders eight states including Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Several professional sports teams play there, including the Tennessee Volunteers, Tennessee Titans of the NFL, the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, and the Nashville Predators of the NHL.
Cherokee and other Native American tribes lived in Tennessee before the arrival of Europeans. African American slaves worked on plantations in the state. Tennessee is known for its country music and Southern cuisine.
Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populated state and as of 2025, the state's population is around 7.22 million.[6]
| Dance | Square dance |
|---|---|
| Mammal | Tennessee Walking Horse Raccoon |
| Bird | Northern mockingbird Bobwhite quail |
| Fish | Channel catfish Smallmouth bass |
| Insect | Firefly Lady beetle Honey bee |
| Flower | Iris Passion flower Tennessee echinacea |
| Tree | Tulip poplar Eastern red cedar |
| Food | Tomato |
| Fossil | Pterotrigonia (Scabrotrigonia) thoracica |
| Mineral | Agate |
History
[change | change source]The 2016 Tennessee Heritage Protection Act puts "the brakes on cities' and counties' ability to remove monuments or change names of streets and parks".[12]
In Crossfield, Tennessee, the South Cumberland Elementary School: Murals painted in 2003, one of a large Confederate battle flag and another showing the team's mascot, the Rebel, triumphantly holding a Confederate battle flag while a boy in a blue outfit is being lynched on a tree, were altered/removed in 2018 after it was discovered by the anti-hate organization located in Shelbyville.[13]
In Franklin, the Forrest Crossing Golf Course, owned by the American Golf Corporation, changed its name to the Crossing Golf Course on September 22, 2017.[14] It had been named after Confederate General and Klansman Nathan Bedford Forrest.[14]
In Memphis, Tennessee, Three Confederate-themed city parks were "hurriedly renamed" before the passage of the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act[15] of 2013. Confederate Park (1908) was renamed Memphis Park; Jefferson Davis Park (1907) was renamed Mississippi River Park; and Forrest Park (1899) was renamed Health Sciences Park.[16][17] The vote of the City Council was unanimous.[18] At the time the monuments were dedicated, African Americans could not use those parks.[19] Many other monuments have been removed or renamed in Memphis.
Gallery
[change | change source]
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]
- ↑ "Tennessee adopts 'The Volunteer State' as official nickname". Nashville: WTVF-TV. Associated Press. February 10, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ↑ Cite error: The named reference
commercialappeal0517was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page). - ↑ "State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates". US Census Bureau. Census Reference Files. 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ↑ "QuickFacts Tennessee; United States". census.gov. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. April 1, 2020. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
- 1 2 "Elevations and Distances in the United States". United States Geological Survey. 2001. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
- 1 2 "United States Census Quick Facts Tennessee". Census.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2025.
- ↑ "Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2023" (PDF). 2.census.gov. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
- ↑ "Languages in Tennessee (State)". Statistical Atlas. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
- ↑ "Definition of 'Tennessee'". Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018 – via Collins English Dictionary.
- ↑ "Tennessee". Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2018. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ↑ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). "Tennessee". Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 488. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
- ↑ Hughes, Rosana (July 13, 2017). "NAACP begins effort to remove Confederate statue from Hamilton County Courthouse". Times Free Press. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ↑ Rosenberg, Eli (March 7, 2018). "A school's Confederate flag gym mural appeared to depict a lynching, until it got painted over". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
- 1 2 Sauber, Elaina (October 4, 2017). "Franklin golf course drops Confederate general from name". The Tennessean. p. W2. Retrieved December 1, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "SB2138 – Tennessee 2015–2016 – Historical Sites and Preservation – As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of 2016". – Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 4. – TrackBill". trackbill.com.
- ↑ Johnson, Eugene J. and Robert D. Russell, Jr., Memphis: An Architectural Guide, The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1990 pp. 50–51
- ↑ Stanglin, Doug (February 6, 2013). "Memphis Changes Names of 3 Confederate-Themed Parks". USA Today.
- ↑ Sainz, Adrian (February 5, 2013). "Memphis renames 3 parks that honored Confederacy". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ↑ "Memphis City Council votes on ordinance to remove Confederate statues". WREG. September 5, 2017. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2025.
- Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
- McKenzie, Kevin (May 25, 2017). "Nashville overtakes Memphis as Tennessee's largest city". The Tennessean.
This short article about a place or feature in the United States can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.- 1 2 This elevation measurement was adjusted to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
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