Biloxi (/bɪˈlʌksi/ bih-LUK-see; French: [bilusi]) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States.

The beachfront of Biloxi lies directly on the Mississippi Sound, with barrier islands scattered off the coast and into the Gulf of Mexico.

The name of Biloxi in French was Bilocci, a transliteration of the term for the local Native American tribe in their language.

[4] Due to fears of tides and hurricanes, colonial governor Bienville moved the capital of French Louisiana in 1722 from Biloxi to a new inland harbor town named La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans), built for this purpose in 1718–1720.

At the same time, the French colony west of the Mississippi, plus New Orleans, was ceded to Spain as part of the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

[8]) In the early stages of the Civil War, Ship Island was captured by Union forces, enabling them to take control of Biloxi.

This stimulated development in the city and attracted new immigrants from Europe and various ethnic groups who worked in the seafood factories.

[11] The Mississippi Gulf Coast became known as the "Poor Man's Riviera", and was frequented by Southern families interested in fishing expeditions during the summer.

[13][14] In 1959, Biloxi was the site of "Mississippi's first public assault on racial barriers in its 15-year civil rights struggle.

[12] Biloxi hotels upgraded their amenities and hired chefs from France and Switzerland in an effort to provide some of the best seafood cuisine in the country.

To celebrate the area's tricentennial in 1998/99, the city's tourism promotion agency invited the nationally syndicated Travel World Radio Show to broadcast live from Biloxi, with co-host Willem Bagchus in attendance Scores of hurricanes have hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but the most destructive, as measured by storm surge levels in the Biloxi Lighthouse, occurred in 1855, 1906, 1909, 1947, 1969 (Hurricane Camille), and 2005 (Hurricane Katrina)[18] On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast with high winds, heavy rains and a 30-foot (9.1 m) storm surge, causing massive damage to the area.

[21] Biloxi is the site of a memorial to Katrina victims, created by a team of local artists with assistance from the crew and volunteers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

[22][23][24] Multiple plans were been laid out to rebuild the waterfront areas of Biloxi, and in 2007 the federal government announced it was considering buying out up to 17,000 Mississippi coast homeowners to form a hurricane protection zone.

[25] Meanwhile, the city of Biloxi is rapidly implementing plans to allow the redevelopment of commercial properties south of Highway 90.

To the northeast, across Biloxi Bay, are the Jackson County city of Ocean Springs and the unincorporated community of St. Martin.

[27] Biloxi has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) that is heavily influenced by the Gulf of Mexico.

Biloxi is home to eight casino resort hotels, with 24-hour gambling, concert entertainment shows, and several restaurants.

Spotted seatrout, red drum, Spanish and king mackerel, flounder, snapper, grouper, sharks, and more are all available to anglers during the fishing season.

[citation needed] The Biloxi Shuckers, the Double-A Southern League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers play at Keesler Federal Park.

Biloxi was previously home to the original Sea Wolves team of the ECHL, and the Mississippi Surge of the Southern Professional Hockey League.

Biloxi City Futbol Club is set to join the Louisiana Premier League for the fall of 2016.

Interstate 110 splits off from I-10 at D'Iberville and heads south across the Back Bay of Biloxi to U.S. 90 near Beau Rivage, providing the city with an important hurricane evacuation route.