Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Natchez

NATCHEZ, a city and port of entry of the United States, capital of Adams county, Mississippi, lies on the east bank of the Mississippi, 272 miles above New Orleans. Natchez-under-the-Hill, lying on a low alluvial bank, contains the steamboat landing and a few business houses. The main city, Natchez-on-the-Hill, occupies the summit of a bluff which rises nearly 200 feet above the river, and affords a wide view over the cotton plantations of Louisiana. Among the more conspicuous buildings are the city-hall, the court-house, the market-house, the Roman Catholic cathedral, the Jewish synagogue, and a number of handsome churches. There are two large cotton factories and other manufacturing establishments. Cotton dealing is the staple trade. The inhabitants numbered 4454 in 1850, 6612 in 1860, 9057 in 1870, and 7058 in 1880,—the city being in population the second in the State.

Fort Rosalie, erected on Natchez Bluff in 1716 by Bienville, and rebuilt in 1729 after its destruction by the Natchez Indians, continued to be a French trading and military post till 1763, when it passed into British hands and received the name of Fort Panmure. Occupied by the Spaniards from 1779 till 1798, Natchez became at the latter date the capital of the new Territory of Mississippi, retaining that rank till 1820. Its city charter dates from 1803.