拉塞福

密西西比河(Mississippi River)

美國中部的一條河流。源出明尼蘇達州艾塔斯卡湖，向南流，在流向墨西哥灣的中途收納了主要支流密蘇里河和俄亥俄河。它穿過紐奧良東南方注入墨西哥灣，全程3,780公里。它是北美洲最大的河流，包括支流在內，流域面積為3,100,000平方公里。1541年西班牙探險家德索托成為第一個發現這條河流的歐洲人。1673年法國探險家若利埃和馬凱特順流而下到了阿肯色河，1682年法國探險家拉薩爾到達這個三角洲，宣稱整個密西西比地區歸屬法國，即路易斯安那。法國掌握了河流上部的控制權，但在1769年下游部分到了西班牙手裡。1783年它被指定為美國的西部分界。1803年法國將它作為路易斯安那購地的部分賣給了美國。在美國南北戰爭裡，聯邦軍於1863年抓獲了維克斯堡，打破了美利堅邦聯軍隊對河流的控制。這是一條強大的河流，由於馬克吐溫的《頑童歷險記》而不朽。由於它是美國中部河運大動脈，密西西比河已成為世界上最繁忙的商業航運水道之一。

English version：

Mississippi River

River,central U.S. It rises at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows south,meeting its major tributaries,the Missouri and the Ohio rivers,about halfway along its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. It enters the Gulf southeast of New Orleans,after a course of 2,350 mi (3,780 km). It is the largest river in North America,and with its tributaries it drains an area of 1.2 million sq mi (3.1 million sq km). Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto was the first European to discover the river in 1541. French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled down it in 1673 as far as the Arkansas River. French explorer R.-R. La Salle,reached the delta in 1682 and claimed the entire Mississippi region for France,as Louisiana. France kept control over the upper river,but the lower portion passed to Spain in 1769. It was designated as the western boundary of the U.S. in 1783. France sold it to the U.S. in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. During the American Civil War,Union forces captured Vicksburg in 1863,breaking the Confederate hold on the river. A powerful river,it was immortalized by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn. As the central river artery of the U.S,it is one of the busiest commercial waterways in the world.

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