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Clarke County is located in the East-central portion of Mississippi. Clarke County was formed on December 23, 1833 - created from the Choctaw Cession in 1830. It was named in honor of the first Mississippi state chancellor and judge Joshua G. Clarke.

The original Mississippi Act described the county bounderies as:

"Beginning on the State line of Alabama, at the point at which the line between townships four and five strikes said State line, and running thence west with said line between townships four and five, to the line between ranges thirteen and fourteen east; thence south, with said line between ranges thirteen and fourteen east to the southern boundary line of the Choctaw nation, thence east with said boundary line to the northwest corner of the Higoowanne reserve; thence to the northeast corner of the same; thence east along said boundary line to the point at which the southern boundary of township number one strikes the same; thence directly east to the State of Alabama, and thence north with said State line to the place of beginning."

The first officers of the county were William Covington, George Evans, Stephen Grice, Henry Hailes, George Knight, Samuel K. Lewis, Calvin M. Ludlow, Norman Martin, and David B. Thompson.

The county seat is Quitman, named for Gen. John A. Quitman [photo], second Chancellor of the State, later governor, and an officer in the Mexican war. Other Clarke County communities include: Enterprise, Pachuta, Shubuta, Stonewall, and De Soto. In it's first census in 1840 there were 2,986 residents listed. In the last federal census in 2010 the population was 16,732. The total area for the county is 693 sq. miles of which 2 sq. miles are water.