| | Natchez Overview Natchez is the county seat[2] of, and the largest and only incorporated city within, Adams County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,464. One of Mississippi's oldest cities, it was founded by French colonists in 1716, antedating the current capital city, Jackson, by more than a century. Located along the Mississippi River, Natchez is the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The city is famous in American history for its role in the development of the Old Southwest, particularly with respect to its location on the Mississippi River. Natchez is the principal city of the Natchez, MS–LA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The original site of Natchez was the main ceremonial village of the Natchez (pronounced "Nochi") Indian tribe, who occupied the area for countless generations (and whose culture was unbroken since the 8th-century, according to archaeological findings). Many early explorers, including Hernando De Soto, La Salle and Bienville, made contact with the Natchez, some of whom left detailed records of their encounters. The Natchez's society was divided into nobles and commoners according to matrilineal descent. The supreme Natchez chief, the "Great Sun", owed his position to the rank of his mother. The flat-topped ceremonial mounds built by the Natchez show the influence of moundbuilding cultures to the north in the Middle Mississippi River Valley (see Mississippian culture). At Natchez, the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians is preserved as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) and maintained by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Nearby Emerald Mound, an earlier NHL ceremonial center also in Adams County, may be visited just off the Natchez Trace Parkway at mile marker 10.2. Hotel Deals in Natchez |
