The first record of the site of Columbus in Western history is found in the annals of the explorer Hernando de Soto, who is reputed to have crossed the Tombigbee nearby on his search for El Dorado. The first trading post here was created in 1783, but there are recorded European settlements predating that by a few decades. In other parts of Mississippi, there are recorded incidents of Revolutionay War and French and Indian War Battles. Columbus was founded in 1821. Before its incorporation, the town site was referred to informally as Opossum Town, which remains its nickname even today. Columbus's existence owed to the failure of a flooded settlement across the river, Plymouth, MississippiPlymouth, which was established in 1817. The Plymouth Bluff (above the ruined settlement) is today an environmental center for Mississippi University for Women. One of the first actions taken by the city's founders was to establish a public school, Franklin Academy. As the territory had achieved statehood only a year previously, Franklin thus became Mississippi's first public school. However, this fact was not immediately recognized; early in its history, Columbus was referred to as "Columbus, Alabama" due to a mistaken estimate of the territorial boundary. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus%2C_Mississippi