ADT-Monitored Home Security Service in Belzoni, MS

Belzoni ( bel-ZOHN-ə) is a city in Humphreys County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta region, on the Yazoo River. The population was 2,235 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Humphreys County. It was named for the 19th-century Italian archaeologist/explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

The area was named Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World in 1976 by then Governor Cliff Finch, since it produces more farm-raised catfish than any further U.S. county. About 40,000 acres (160 km²) of the county are below water in ponds used to accumulate catfish. About 60% of U.S. farm-raised catfish are grown within a 65-mile (100-km) radius of Belzoni. The title “Catfish Capital” is as a consequence claimed by Savannah, Tennessee, Des Allemands, Louisiana, and Selkirk, Manitoba. Belzoni is known for the World Catfish Festival held all April.

The area that eventually became Belzoni was originally known as “Greasy Row” because of saloons along the bank of the Yazoo River, which was the main transportation route until replaced by railroads. In 1895, a charter was contracted for the village of Belzoni, although the area had been granted by European Americans and African Americans for several decades previously. It was developed for cotton plantations past the Civil War and relied on agriculture with ease into the 20th century. Steve Castleman, who secured the charter, was elected as the first mayor of Belzoni. When Humphreys County was formed by the state legislature in 1918, Belzoni was fixed as the county seat.