Map of Tennessee (TN)

The Grand Divisions of Tennessee

The state has its own unique geographical and cultural feature, its called the "Grand Divisions of Tennessee." The three grand divisions are East, Middle, and West Tennessee.



I. The southern part of the Appalachian Plateau, the Cumberland Plateau dominates East Tennessee, within this mountainous area there are East Tennessee's principal cities Knoxville, Chattanooga, and the Tri-Cities (Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol).

East Tennessee is almost entirely in the Eastern Time Zone (see: US Time Zone Map) while the rest of the state uses Central Time.

II. Middle Tennessee lies west of the Cumberland Plateau; the region features rolling hills and fertile river valleys and the state capital Nashville as well as Tennessee's largest metro, the Nashville Metropolitan Area with a population of 1.6 million people.

III: Between Tennessee River and the Mississippi lies West Tennessee, a mostly agricultural region except for the state's second-largest city Memphis.

Summit
The highest elevation in the state lies on the border with North Carolina in the east, the Clingmans Dome at 2,025 m (6,643 ft), a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains (which are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains).