Tennessee River

Tennessee River
The Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga
Map of the Tennessee River watershed
Location
Country	United States
State	Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky
Largest City	Huntsville
Physical characteristics
Source	Confluence of French Broad and Holston rivers at Knoxville
• coordinates	35°57′33″N 83°51′01″W / 35.95917°N 83.85028°W / 35.95917; -83.85028[1]
• elevation	813 ft (248 m)[2]
Mouth	Ohio River at Livingston / McCracken counties, near Paducah, Kentucky
• coordinates	37°04′02″N 88°33′53″W / 37.06722°N 88.56472°W / 37.06722; -88.56472[1]
• elevation	302 ft (92 m)[3]
Length	652 mi (1,049 km)[1]
Basin size	40,876 sq mi (105,870 km2)[4]
Discharge
• average	70,575 cu ft/s (1,998.5 m3/s)[4]
• maximum	500,000 cu ft/s (14,000 m3/s)

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River.^[5] It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as the Cherokee people had their homelands along its banks, especially in what are now East Tennessee and northern Alabama. Additionally, its tributary, the Little Tennessee River, flows into it from Western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, where the river also was bordered by numerous Cherokee towns.^[1] Its current name is derived from the Cherokee town, Tanasi, which was located on the Tennessee side of the Appalachian Mountains.^[6]