Welcome to the Hospitality State Quiz

Answer: Arkansas

Mississippi is bordered to the north by Tennessee and to the east by Alabama. To the west, across the Mississippi River, lie Arkansas and Louisiana, but there is also a land border between Mississippi and Louisiana to the south. It is with Arkansas, therefore, that the only border is across the mighty river.

Answer: Andrew

Mississippi is one of four states with a capital named for a U.S. President (Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin are the other three). Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 to Scots-Irish immigrants in the Waxhaw Settlement in the Piedmont region between North Carolina and South Carolina, at the time part of British America.

As a 13-year old, Andrew Jackson served as a courier for the local militia during the Revolutionary War. His eldest brother was killed in action, and both Andrew and his other brother, Robert, were captured during by the British. Both boys contracted smallpox whilst prisoners and just a few days after their release Robert died of injuries sustained during his captivity. Orphaned at 14, the young Jackson blamed the British for the loss of his entire family. When he was given a second chance to fight against his old enemy, this time as a General in the War of 1812, he did so bravely and successfully, notably during the Battle of New Orleans.

Jackson subsequently became the seventh US President in March 1829 and served his full two four-year terms. He died aged 78 in 1845.

Answer: England

With an area of 50,300 square miles, England is only slightly larger than Mississippi. (Note that the United Kingdom, which also includes, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as England, is almost twice as large.)

Of the alternatives, Romania (92,000 sq miles) is almost twice the size of Mississippi. Both Iceland (40,000) and Portugal (35,560) are significantly smaller.

Answer: Cumberland Mountains

Located in the southeastern part of the larger Appalachian mountain chain, the Cumberland mountains stretch 130 miles from western Virginia and southern West Virginia into eastern Tennessee. The foothills then cross the border into northern Mississippi, where you will find Woodall Mountain, the state's highest point.

The alternatives are three more mountain ranges within the Appalachians. The Blue Ridge mountains run from Georgia in the south, across Virginia and into Pennsylvania. The Allegheny Mountains start in Pennsylvania and extend south into Virginia. The Catskill Mountains are part of the northern Appalachians, located between Albany and New York City in southeastern New York.

Answer: Jesse Owens

Perhaps the greatest all-round entertainer of the century, Elvis Aaron Presley was born in 1935 in the city of Tupelo in northeastern Mississippi.

Widely recognized as one of the three greatest 20th-century American playwrights (along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller), Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was born in 1911 in the city of Columbus in eastern-central Mississippi.

Acknowledged as the greatest player ever to play American football and the holder of just about every record for a wide receiver, Jerry Lee Rice was born in 1962 in the city of Starkville in eastern-central Mississippi. For good measure, he also played college football in his home state, at Mississippi Valley State.

The odd man out here is the athlete who took the 1936 Olympic Games by storm, winning gold in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay. James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was born in 1913 in the community of Oakville in north-central Alabama.

Other notable 20th-century Mississippi natives include actor James Earl Jones, TV host Oprah Winfrey, Muppet creator Jim Henson, football greats Brett Favre, Walter Payton and Archie Moore, novelist William Faulkner, civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and musical stars Bo Diddley, Faith Hill, B.B. King, Charlie Pride, Britney Spears, Conway Twitty, Muddy Waters, Tammy Wynette and Bobbie Gentry.

Answer: Gulfport

Located in the southeastern corner of the state, on the short Mississippi coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, Gulfport was home to 68,000 at the time of the 2010 census, making it clearly the state's second-largest city. Originally founded as a lumber port named Mississippi City in the 1850s, Gulfport was incorporated as a city in 1898. The city's motto is "Where Your Ship Comes In".

Gulfport is home to the Atlantic Fleet of the United States Naval Construction Battalion (better known by their initials, as the "Seabees"). In 2005, the city was hit by the eastern side of Hurricane Katrina, bringing 16 hours of hurricane-force winds and a 28-foot high storm surge.

The three alternatives are three more southern cities with populations in the 65,000-70,000 range at the time of the 2010 Census, so about the same size as Gulfport MS. By comparison, Kissimmee was ranked as only the 40th-largest city in Florida; Dothan was the seventh-largest city in Alabama; and Johnson City ranked eighth-largest in Tennessee.

Answer: George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

Established in 1931, the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park commemorates the capture of Fort Sackville and British Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton, a notable event during the American Revolutionary War. The park is located on the banks of the Wabash River in the city of Vincennes in southwestern Indiana.

Tourists visiting Mississippi can see the three alternatives. The Gulf Islands National Seashore preserves the barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico off the southeastern coastline of the state. Visitors to the Natchez National Historical Park, located in the city of Natchez in the southwestern corner of Mississippi, can tour two 19th-century sites, the William Johnson House and the Melrose Estate. The Vicksburg National Military Park and Cemetery commemorate the American Civil War battles fought in this region of western-central Mississippi over nearly two months during the spring of 1863.

Answer: Sardis Lake

Sardis Lake sits behind the Sardis Dam on the Little Tallahatchie River, spreading over parts of Lafayette, Panola and Marshall counties in the north of the state. Construction in the 1930s took four years to clear the 14-miles stretch of the river.

The lake region attracts both locals and tourists for hunting, camping, boating, skiing, swimming and picnicking. Abundant stocks of both bass and crappie also make it a popular destination for anglers.

Of the alternatives, Guntersville Reservoir (106 sq miles) is the largest lake in Alabama; Lake Marion (175 sq miles) is South Carolina's largest lake; and Watts Bar Lake (62 sq miles) is the largest lake in Tennessee.

Answer: I-45

I-10 crosses Mississippi on its 2,460-mile E/W journey from Santa Monica CA in the west to Jacksonville FL in the west. Just 77 miles of that trip is through Mississippi's Gulf Coast counties.

I-22 is a 213-mile Interstate, about half of which is a diagonal route across northeastern Mississippi as it goes from Memphis TN to Birmingham AL.

I-55 is a major N/S Interstate running 965 miles from Laplace LA to Chicago IL. It enters Mississippi in the south near to Oskya MS and travels 290 miles across the state through McComb, Jackson and Grenada before crossing into Tennessee just south of Memphis.

The odd one out here is I-45, which is a 285-mile Interstate that runs entirely within Texas, from Galveston in the south to Dallas in the northern part of the state.

The other Interstates that also run through or within Mississippi are I-20, I-59. I-69, I-110, I-220 and I-269.

Answer: December 10, 1817

Britain ceded the Mississippi Territory to the Union following the American Revolutionary War. Officially designated in 1798, some land that had once been part of the original states of Georgia and South Carolina was included into the new territory. The territory twice then expanded further after the original boundaries were drawn. The territory was divided and Mississippi acquired statehood as the 20th state in 1817. Its neighbour, Alabama, would become the 22nd state almost exactly two years later, on December 14, 1819.

Of the alternatives, March 4, 1791 is the date on which Vermont became the first new state to join the original 13 colonies. On June 15, 1836, the Union expanded to 25 states with the addition of Arkansas. The Union extends to the West Coast, with California becoming the 31st state on September 9, 1850.