- Alabama, unlike most other states, has a seal that is significantly different from its coat of …
The license plates of the state of Alabama proclaim the slogan “The Heart of Dixie.” It is a fitting motto, since Alabama is located in the center of the Deep South of the United States, which is known as Dixie. The region is in the southeastern part of the country. The state is also called the Cradle of the Confederacy because of its key role in the American Civil War era. It was in the capital city of Montgomery, on February 4, 1861, that the states that had broken away from the United States agreed to form the Confederate States of America. GeographyAlabama is bounded on the east by Georgia, on the north by Tennessee, and on the west by Mississippi. On the south it is bordered by a portion of Florida and by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Alabama has five natural geographical regions. The largest is the Gulf Coastal Plain. The northern part of the plain is the Black Belt, a gently rolling prairie named for its fertile black soil. It runs across the state at a width ranging from 25 miles (40 kilometers) to 50 miles (80 kilometers). The cotton plantations that made Alabama prosperous before the Civil War thrived in this area. In the east-central part of the state is the Piedmont Plateau. This triangular wedge of country is 500 to 1,000 feet (150 to 300 meters) high. Low plateaus form a rolling upland in the northwestern part of Alabama. The Appalachian Plateau juts into the state from the northeast. East of the Appalachian Plateau lies the Valley and Ridge Region, an area of long, narrow valleys between mountain ridges. The climate of Alabama is mild. Summers are long and warm, and the winters short and moderate. The average annual temperature is about 64° F (18° C). Average rainfall in the southwestern part of the state is more than 65 inches (165 centimeters) a year. Some areas in the north receive as little as 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain per year. Natural resourcesAlabama has long been a leading wood-producing state. Its chief commercial trees are pines, oaks, gum, and yellow poplar. Industrial resources include deposits of iron ore, coal, bauxite (for aluminum), and limestone. Other minerals include the state's well-known white marble. People and cultureThe earliest inhabitants of the region were prehistoric Indians. The first European explorers of the territory encountered American Indians of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee tribes. The whites who settled Alabama arrived from Georgia and the Carolinas, to the east, and from Tennessee, to the north. The settlers from Georgia and the Carolinas built the plantations that made cotton dominant for so long. Black slaves did most of the work on the plantations. The settlers who came from Tennessee were small farmers and generally not slave owners. When the crisis of Civil War came, in 1861, the plantation owners were in favor of leaving the Union, but the farmers to the north preferred to stay. Today the state's population consists largely of whites and the blacks who are descended from the slaves, who were freed in 1865. CitiesAlabama's chief industrial center and largest city is Birmingham, in the north-central part of the state. Often called the Pittsburgh of the South, the city has industrial plants making iron, steel, and aluminum. The next largest city is Montgomery, the state capital. Mobile, the state's third-largest city, is a port on Mobile Bay, which opens into the Gulf. Mobile is noted as the first city in the United States to establish a Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) celebration, though the festivities in New Orleans have become more famous. Huntsville, in north-central Alabama, is the state's fourth-largest city. It is home to the United States Army's Redstone Arsenal, the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, and the United States Space and Rocket Center. The booster rockets that carried the Apollo spacecraft to the moon in 1969 were made in Huntsville. Gadsden and Bessemer are large steel-making cities in the northern part of the state. Tuscaloosa, on the Black Warrior River, is a center for timber production. RecreationThe state of Alabama maintains many parks and several large public lakes. Mound State Monument south of Tuscaloosa is an important site of Native American culture. Fort Morgan, site of a major battle of the American Civil War, is still standing at the entrance to Mobile Bay. In addition to these state parks, the Natchez Trace Parkway, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, and Russell Cave National Monument are administered as national park areas. The U.S. Park Service has also made parts of Tuskegee University a national park for the study of black history. Alabama boasts many surviving examples of 19th-century residential architecture, perhaps most notably Gaineswood Mansion in Demopolis. Distinctive festivals are celebrated in various Alabama places. Mobile's Mardi Gras is a major event in February, as is its springtime Azalea Trail garden tours. Most Alabama towns and cities sponsor tours in April to celebrate their historical architecture. EducationAlabama is home to more than 50 institutions of higher education. The University of Alabama is at Tuscaloosa, with branch campuses at Birmingham and Huntsville. The state also has one of the best-known colleges in the United States, Tuskegee Institute, founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington for African Americans. EconomyCotton dominated the economy of Alabama until about 1930. The end of the state's one-crop economy was brought about by the arrival in 1915 of the boll weevil, a crop-destroying insect. The state also faced competition in cotton growing from other states, especially Texas and California. Today Alabama has a highly diversified economy. FarmingAfter the invasion of the boll weevil, farmers turned to growing soybeans instead of cotton. Soybeans are now the primary cash crop (crop grown to make money), though cotton is still grown as well. Peanuts are a cash crop in the southeastern part of the state. Corn and pecans are other important crops. Many farmers have turned from crops to raising livestock, primarily poultry, cattle for beef and dairy products, and pigs. ManufacturingIn spite of the extent and variety of agriculture, manufacturing is the most important part of the state's economy. There are more than 5,000 manufacturing firms in Alabama. The major industries are iron and steel processing, chemicals, paper, fabricated metal, textiles, and rubber and plastics. HistoryThe area that is now Alabama was inhabited by Native Americans for some 10,000 years. The Mississippian culture, which lasted from about AD 700 to 1730, left behind great mounds of earth that snake across the landscape near the river valleys. The earliest European explorers to arrive in Alabama were Spaniards. The best known was Hernando de Soto, who led a group of adventurers through the region in 1540 looking for gold. Spain, however, failed to settle Alabama, leaving it open to the French and English. French settlements were built at several locations, including Mobile, early in the 18th century. In 1763 the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War, gave France's land in North America to Great Britain. This territory included Alabama. During the American Revolution, Spanish troops took Mobile. In 1783 Great Britain surrendered all of Alabama except Mobile to the United States. In 1813 the United States drove the Spanish out of Mobile and established authority throughout the whole territory. Indian tribes were defeated and lost their lands shortly thereafter. StatehoodIn 1817 Alabama was made a territory. Two years later it became the 22nd state of the Union. Alabama prospered in the decades before the American Civil War. Cotton brought in great wealth. The Civil War nearly destroyed this prosperity, however, as it ended the slave labor system. After the war the state was not readmitted to the Union until 1868, when it passed a new constitution that protected the civil rights of blacks. By 1875 the white, cotton-growing upper class was back in power. This group remained in power until the early 20th century. Struggle for civil rightsRacial discrimination kept African Americans from achieving social and economic power in Alabama for much of the 20th century. The state became known as the setting for several major civil-rights activities. In 1955–56 Martin Luther King, Jr., directed a historic boycott of Montgomery's segregated bus system. After a period of fierce racial confrontation in the 1960s, the state changed its laws separating the races in schools, businesses, hotels, restaurants, and other establishments. Blacks gained the ability to vote, and many blacks have since been elected to public office. In recent years, white and black citizens have tried to work together to raise Alabama's economic and educational levels. Population (2000 census), 4,447,100. |