BILOXI  , a

city of Harrison county, Mississippi, U.S.A., in the south part of the state, on Biloxi Bay, a branch of the Mississippi Sound, which is a part of the Gulf of Mexico . By rail it is 8o m . N.E. of New Orleans and 61 m . S.E. of Mobile, Alabama . Pop . (188o) 1540; (1890) 3234; (1900) 5467 (949 be- ing negroes and 455 foreign-born) ; (1910) 7988 . The city is served by a branch of the Louisville & Nashville railway, and by an electric railway extending to Bay St Louis, through Gulfport (pop., 1900, 1o6o; 191o, 6386), 13 m . S.W., the port of entry of the Pearl River customs district, whose exports, chiefly timber, lumber, naval stores and charcoal, were valued at $8,392,271 in 1907 . Biloxi is both a summer and a winter resort, particularly for the people of New Orleans and Mobile, and has a fine beach, extending for about 12 M. around its peninsula, and bordered by an automobile drive; along the beach are some attractive residences, hotels and boarding houses, and several sanatoriums . The city's principal industries are the canning of oysters, shrimp, fish, figs and vegetables, and the manufacture of fertilizers and flour . A beautiful thin faience with remarkable metallic glazes is made here . The municipality owns the water-works, the water being obtained from artesian wells .

Pierre le Moyne d'Iberville (1661–1706) in 1699 built Fort Maurepas across the bay from the present city; and the settlement there, called Biloxi after the Biloxi Indians, was the first to be established by the French in this region . In 1702 this post, known as Old Biloxi, was abandoned, and the seat of government was removed to the Mobile river . In 1712 a settlement was made on the present site, being the first permanent settlement within what is now the state of Mississippi . Many of the early settlers were French Canadians, who came down the Mississippi to join the new colony . Biloxi was again the capital from 1719 until 1722 . It was incorporated as a village in 1872, and was chartered as a city in 1896 .