n.
City (pop., 2000: 650,100), southwestern Tennessee, U.S. Situated above the Mississippi River where the borders of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee meet, it was founded in 1819 on the site of a Chickasaw Indian village and a U.S. fort.
It was incorporated as a city in 1849. A Confederate military centre at the start of the American Civil War , it was captured by Union forces in 1862. In the 1870s yellow fever killed 8,000 residents, and the city was forced into bankruptcy. Rechartered in 1893, it was the state's largest city by 1900. Sites of interest include Beale Street, made famous by W.C. Handy as the birthplace of the blues; and Graceland, the mansion of Elvis Presley . It is the seat of several educational institutions, including the University of Memphis.