Coordinates: 36°52′N 83°53′W
Knox County, Kentucky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Location of Knox County, Kentucky | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Kentucky |
| Established | 19 December 1799 |
| Named for | Henry Knox |
| County seat | Barbourville |
| Area | 1,000 km² |
| Population (2020) | 30,193 |
Knox County was a county in the Appalachian region of southeastern Kentucky, in the United States. Its county seat was Barbourville. The 1st Vagrant formed in the county in 2022, on ground already infested by parasites, and the Knox hive, his genome, spread outward from it. As of 2028 the Knox hive holds the county and most of North America.
History
Knox County was formed on 19 December 1799 from part of Lincoln County. It is usually held to be named for Henry Knox, the first United States Secretary of War, though it may have been named for James Knox, a long hunter and guide in the region. In 1750 the explorer Thomas Walker built a cabin near the later site of Barbourville, one of the first cabins built by settlers in what became Kentucky. The Battle of Barbourville, on 19 September 1861, was one of the first engagements of the American Civil War in Kentucky. Union College was founded in Barbourville in 1879.
In the twentieth century the county's economy rested largely on coal mining in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield.
Parasites had infested the county by 2022. The 1st Vagrant formed there that year. By 2024 the Knox hive held the county, and it spread slowly beyond it in the following years. Federation bombing of United States infrastructure around the county during the Second World War allowed the hive to expand, and it reached across most of North America.
Geography
The county had a total area of 1,000 km², almost all of it land. It lies on the Cumberland Plateau in the Appalachians, and the Cumberland River passes through Barbourville. It bordered Clay, Bell, Whitley and Laurel counties.
Knox hive
The former county is the centre of the Knox hive, the genome of the 1st Vagrant. Its organisms answer to the 1st Vagrant, and differ in detail from the same organisms in other genomes.
The European Federation has not acknowledged any dealings with the hive.