The following important events in the history of Mississippi affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements.

1699	The French established a settlement called Fort Maurepas on Biloxi Bay.
1716	Fort Rosalie, now Natchez, was established by the French on the Mississippi River.
1763	France ceded its claims to the Mississippi region to Great Britain.
1783	Britain ceded the Gulf Coast area to Spain. The rest of the Mississippi region was claimed by Georgia. The boundary was in dispute until 1795, when it was set at the 31st parallel, about sixty miles north of the coast.
1789-1794	The Georgia legislature authorized the Yazoo land sales. Hundreds of people moved from the Atlantic Coast states to the Mississippi area.
1798	Congress organized the Mississippi Territory. Georgia abandoned claims to the northern portion in 1802, and the Gulf Coast portion was acquired from Spain during the War of 1812.
1817	The eastern part of the Mississippi Territory was organized as the Territory of Alabama. Mississippi became a state.
1861	Mississippi seceded from the Union. It was readmitted in 1870.