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Like a previous poster said, I think most people were thinking of
"delta" in a physical geography sense, like when a river splits
into distributaries before it empties into a sea.
 
My understanding of the location of the "Mississippi Delta" in the
cultural geography sense is that it is roughly the northwest
quadrant of the *state* of Mississippi, maybe approximately the
triangle (hence, "delta") bounded on the west by the Miss. River,
on the east by the Yazoo River, and on the north by the Tennessee
border.
 
This is all just a personal interpretation based on an interest
in blues music (the performers cited as being from the "Delta"
are from places like Clarksville, up in the north part of the
state), and in railroads (the Columbus and Greenville R.R. cuts
across the northern part of the state, and calls itself "The
Delta Route").
 
Is there anyone out there from Mississippi who can elaborate on
this?
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Thomas                         | The train ... traditional,
Evans Library, Texas A&M University |   yet environmentally sound
(409) 845-1024 / FAX (409) 845-6238 |
mthomas@tamvenus / [log in to unmask] |              --Lisa Simpson