For a state that shares the same latitude as Cairo, Egypt why does Mississippi have such a large area of pine trees?

From what I know pine trees are very well suited to areas that get very cold and freeze. The sap they produce insulates their needles and the needles don't collect as much sun as an adaptation for areas that get less sunlight in the winters. Also broad leaf trees are well suited to areas that get a lot of sunlight and shed their leaves to conserve energy when there's less daylight in the winter.

So the state seems to be positioned in a great place for broad leaf trees to thrive and less so for pine trees. We share the same latitude as Cairo, Egypt for example, and likely aren't a desert due to the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River. Yet the state has a large piney woods region that starts roughly 20 miles from the coast and extends up much of the state covering central Mississippi.

Why is that? Why aren't broad leaf trees in the majority here?