Alabama - Political
 
CapitalMontgomery
Largest CityBirmingham
Major CitiesMobile, Huntsville, Dothan, Tuscaloosa, Enterprise
NicknamesHeart of Dixie, Camellia State, Yellowhammer State
Area51,705 sq. miles
Population4,500,752
 
Alabama - Physical features
 
Physical FeaturesMobile Bay, Lewis Smith Lake, Lake Guntersville, Appalachian Mountains, Cumberland Plateau
RiversTombigbee, Alabama, Chattahoochee, Tennessee, Mobile, Coosa
Highest PointCheaha Mountain
IslandsDauphin Island
Bordering StatesGeorgia (east), Florida (south), Mississippi (west), Tennessee (north)
National ParksNone
Key ProductsCotton, Peanuts
Natural ResourcesTimber,oil, gas, steel
 
Alabama - History
 
1540Territory visited by Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto
1783Alabama ceded to the United States after the Revolutionary War
1819Admitted to the Union as the 22nd state
1861The Confederacy was founded at Montgomery, which was for some time it’s capital
1955-1956Rosa Parks arrested in Montgomery for refusing to give her bus seat to a white passenger.
1965Martin Luther King Jr. commands the famous and successful "Freedom March" from Selma to Montgomery
Present DayVisitors to Tuscaloosa can see the famous Helen Keller birthplace
 
Alabama - Facts
 
  • The US Space and Rocket Center is located in Huntsville, nicknamed the Rocket City
  • The Black Belt, an area of fertile, black soil and centered around Montgomery, covers central Alabama. This term is also sometimes used to describe the African Americans living in Alabama
  • Mobile is a major US port city
  • Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, located on the Tennessee River
  • Russell Cave in the northeastern corner of the state was home to prehistoric Indians who lived there 9000 years ago
  • The Tenn-Tom Waterway links Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides electricity to northern Alabama
  • Hernando De Soto explored the area in the early sixteenth century
  • Birmingham is nicknamed the "Pittsburgh of the South".
  • The Boll Weevil, a tiny insect that destroys cotton crops, caused farmers in the region to switch to peanut crops, which showed man’s ability to diversify, and hence a monument of a woman holding this insect stands in Enterprise, Alabama. This monument is the largest ever to be dedicated to an insect in the world