Yoknapatawpha County facts for kids
Yoknapatawpha County is a fictional county in the state of Mississippi, USA. It was created by the famous American writer William Faulkner. He based this imaginary county on a real place called Lafayette County, Mississippi, and its main town, Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner renamed Oxford to Jefferson in his stories. He often called Yoknapatawpha County "my apocryphal county," meaning his own invented place.
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What is Yoknapatawpha County?
William Faulkner used Yoknapatawpha County as the setting for almost all of his novels and more than 50 of his short stories. It became a central part of his literary world. For example, his novel Absalom, Absalom! even includes a map of the county that Faulkner drew himself. This shows how important the county was to his writing.
Where Did the Name Come From?
The name Yoknapatawpha is pronounced "Yok-na-pa-TAW-fa." It comes from two words in the Chickasaw language: Yocona and petopha. These words together mean "split land." Faulkner himself once said that the name means "water flows slow through flat land." The name Yoknapatawpha was actually the original name for the Yocona River. This real river flows through the southern part of Lafayette County, Mississippi, where the town of Oxford is located.
The History of the County
The land that became Yoknapatawpha County was originally home to the Chickasaw people. White settlers began to arrive and live there around the year 1800.
Before the American Civil War, the county had several very large farms called plantations. These plantations were owned by important families like the Greniers, McCaslins, Sutpens, Compsons, and Sartorises. They were located near the main town of Jefferson. After the Civil War, the county changed. It became a place with mostly smaller farms instead of large plantations.
By 1936, the county's population was about 25,611 people. Most of the people living there were Black, with a smaller number of white residents.
See also
In Spanish: Yoknapatawpha County para niños
