Mississippi River (means "father of waters”) is the second-longest river after the Missouri in the United States. The length of the Mississippi has been variously interpreted. The U.S. Geological Survey calculates its length at 2,300 miles (3,705 kilometers) from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the delta outlet on the Gulf of Mexico. It is slightly shorter than the Nile River.
Its triangular drainage area is approximately 1,250,000 square miles (3,250,000 square kilometers) and is the third largest in the world.
The Mississippi River has been a focal point in American history, commerce, agriculture, literature, and environmental awareness. Also, it has been the symbolic border between the East and the West. States lying immediately west of the Mississippi are Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Minnesota; to the east are Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
The river was a key trade route when the central United States was settled.
During the Civil War, control of the river was a major strategic objective and the Mississippi River still plays an important role today as a trade route.
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