The Mid-South is an informally-defined region of the United States in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, usually thought to be anchored by the Memphis metropolitan area. Exact definitions vary widely and consist of at least

West Tennessee West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that roughly comprises the western quarter of the state. The region includes 21 counties between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, delineated by state law. Its geography consists ...

, North Mississippi, Northeast

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, Southern

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and

Missouri Bootheel The Missouri Bootheel is a Salient (geography), salient (protrusion) located in the southeasternmost part of the U.S. state of Missouri, extending south of 36°30′ north latitude, so called because its shape in relation to the rest of the sta ...

at a minimum.History of the National Weather Service: Memphis, Tennessee
National Weather Service. Western Kentucky, Arkansas,

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

, Northwest Alabama, and even Eastern Oklahoma are also usually included. The region is bordered by the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

to the north and west, by

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

to the east, and the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

to the south. Although the region has no formally established boundaries, the designation has been used by various businesses and institutions generally operating in the region. In 1920, journalist C.P.J. Mooney equated the region with the Mississippi River Valley, centered in Memphis, and described by advocates as "the richest agricultural region in the world".C. P. J. Mooney, ed., ''The Mid-South and Its Builders: Being the Story of the Development and a Forecast of the Future of the Richest Agricultural Region in the World'' (1920), p. 16. Mooney delineated the region as "covering West Kentucky, West Tennessee, part of the Tennessee River Valley in Alabama, the northern half of Mississippi, the Eastern half of Arkansas and southeast Missouri". Southern Illinois (especially

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, shown on the map) and Southwestern Indiana are also occasionally included in this region. Victory University, located in Memphis, was originally named the Mid-South Bible Center when it was incorporated in 1944, and was thereafter renamed to the Mid-South Bible Institute in 1948, and to the Mid-South Bible College in 1960. From 1981 to 1987, a ''Mid-South Business Journal'' was also in publication. The

Mid-South Conference The Mid-South Conference (MSC) is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Kentuc ...

is an NAIA sports conference with member schools in the region.

References

Regions of the Southern United States {{US-geo-stub