Page 198 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

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Tennessee
Nashville, capital city of Tennessee
Founded 1779
Incorporated 1806
Named for Francis Nash City Population658,602 Metro 1,757,912
Elevation 597 ft (182 m)
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the second largest city in Tennessee, after Memphis. It is the fourth largest city in the Southeastern United States. It is located beside the Cumberland River.
The Native Amnericans who lived in the area
that would become Nashville belonged to the Mississippipeoples, who were famous for their mound- building. In the Nashville area, they used of the dry river terraces above the floodplain of the river.
By the time of the arrival of Europeans, the area was shared hunting ground among the Shawnee Cherokee and Chickasaw.
The first Europeans to visit what would become Nashville were French fur traders. In 1710 Jean du Charleville founded a trading post at a natural spring of salty water. The natural salt lick attracted animals, which in turn attracted Native American hunters with whom the French could trade. As a result, the area became known as “French Lick.”
In 1779, James Robertson and John Donelson left northwestern North Carolina, arriving on the banks
of the Cumberland River near the center of present downtown Nashville on Christmas Day. They cleared the land and built a log stockade on a river terrace, and named it the Bluff station. The settlers were 60 families, including women and children, who came in 30 flatboats and several pirogues down the Tennessee River and up the Cumberland, arriving April 23, 1780. They were, at the time, still in the state of North Carolina. The town was officially created and named Nashville in 1784, by an act of the North Carolina legislature. Nashville was in honour of American Revolutionary hero, General Francis Nash.