Tennessee

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result of an energetic program of reafforestation more than half the state's area is now once again covered with deciduous forest.

History The first Europeans to reach the territory on the Tennessee River, then occupied by Cherokees, were Spaniards, who came here in 1541. They were followed by Frenchmen and then by British settlers, who in 1663 incorporated the area in the British colony of Carolina. Between 1784 and 1789, when Tennessee was separated from Carolina, there existed on the territory of Tennessee an independent but not officially recognized state called Franklin. On June 1st 1796 Tennessee became the 16th state to adopt the Constitution of the Union. In 1861 it left the Union and joined the Confederation. During the Civil War Tennessee was the scene of much fighting, including the battles of Shiloh and Franklin. In 1866 the state was readmitted to the Union. Thirty years earlier most of the Cherokees had been deported to Oklahoma.

Economy The state's economic rise began with the establishment in 1933, during the great depression, of the Tennessee Valley Authority, charged to develop the valley of the Tennessee, which harnessed the power of the river to produce electricity. Tennessee's industries include chemicals, engineering, automobile construction and mining (coal, zinc, phosphates). Its principal agricultural crops are maize, wheat, tobacco and cotton. The main tourist areas are the Great Smoky Mountains, which attract visitors throughout the year, the valley of the Tennessee River with its numerous artificial lakes (water sports), Nashville and Memphis, home of the Blues and Rock'n Roll.