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Alabama

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A map of Alabama with county boundaries drawn
A map of Alabama with county boundaries drawn

State motto Audemus jura nostra defendere
State bird Yellowhammer
State flower Camellia
State song "Alabama"
State tree Longleaf Pine
State spirit Conecuh Ridge
State reptile Red-bellied turtle

Alabama is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States.

Contents

Geography

Alabama is the 30th largest state in the United States with 52,423 square miles (135,775 km2) of total area. 3.19% of that is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second largest inland waterway system in the United States. About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general decline towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The North Alabama region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. The lowest point east of the Mississippi River lies in Dekalb County along a creek cutting tower ridges, and creating Buck's Pocket State Park. Another natural wonder is "Land Bridge", the longest natural bridge span east of the Mississippi River. Alabama generally ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay, to a little more than 1,800 feet (550 m) in the Appalachian mountains in the northeast. The highest point is Mount Cheaha.

States bordering Alabama include Tennessee to the north; Georgia to the east; Florida to the south; and Mississippi to the west. Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico in the extreme southern edge of the state.

National Parks in Alabama include Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Daviston; Little River Canyon National Preserve in Fort Payne; Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport; Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee; and Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site near Tuskegee.

Alabama also contains the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Selma To Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail.

History

Among Native American people once living in present Alabama were Alabama (Alibamu), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Koasati, and Mobile. Trade with the Northeast via the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period (1000 BC-A.D. 700) and continued until European contact. Meso-American influence is evident in the agrarian Mississippian culture that followed.

The French founded the first European settlement in the state with the establishment of Mobile in 1702. Southern Alabama was French from 1702 to 1763, part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1780, and part of Spanish West Florida from 1780 to 1814. Northern and central Alabama was part of British Georgia from 1763 to 1783 and part of the American Mississippi territory thereafter. Its statehood was delayed by the lack of a coastline (rectified when Andrew Jackson captured Spanish Mobile in 1814). Alabama was the twenty-second state admitted to the Union, in 1819.

The economy of the central "black belt" featured large rich slave plantations that grew cotton. Elsewhere poor whites were subsistence farmers. Alabama seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, 1861–65. While not many battles were fought in the state, Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the Civil War. All the slaves were freed by 1865. After a period of Reconstruction it emerged as a poor rural state, still tied to cotton, with high racial tensions between the ruling whites and the recently emancipated African Americans, who had second-class legal, social and economic status. The blacks lost the right to vote in 1901, and after 1917 many migrated to northern cities. Politically the state was one-party Democratic, and produced a number of national leaders. World War II brought prosperity. Cotton faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base. In the 1960s under Governor George Wallace the state opposed federal integration efforts. After the passage of the Civil Rights Laws of 1964 and 1965, blacks regained the right to vote and de jure segregation and Jim Crow disappeared. After 1980 the state became a Republican stronghold in presidential elections, and leaned Republican in state elections.

Demographics

Alabama Population Density map
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Alabama Population Density map

As of 2005, Alabama has an estimated population of 4,557,808, which is an increase of 32,433, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 110,457, or 2.5%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 77,418 people (that is 319,544 births minus 242,126 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 36,457 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 25,936 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 10,521 people.

The state had 108,000 foreign-born (2.4% of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2% were illegal aliens (24,000).

Race and ancestry

The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census: | width="200px" valign="bottom" style="padding-left:0.5em; padding-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller;" | Notes:
* Not available; mixed race was first reported in the census of 2000.
‡ Hispanics may be of any race and are included in applicable race categories.
|}

The largest reported ancestry groups in Alabama: American (17.0%), English (7.8%), Irish (7.7%), German (5.7%), and Scotch-Irish (2.0%). 'American' includes those reported as Native American or African American.

Religion

Alabama is part of the Bible Belt, in which evangelicals and fundamentalists are predominant. There is a sizeable Roman Catholic community along the Gulf Coast. The major denominations are:

Economy

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the 2003 total gross state product was $132 billion. The per capita income for the state was $26,505 in 2003. Alabama's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, cattle, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains such as corn and sorghum, vegetables, milk, soybeans, and peaches. Although known as "The Cotton State", Alabama ranks between eight and ten in national cotton production, according to various reports [link][link], with Texas, Georgia and Mississippi comprising the top three.

Alabama's industrial outputs include iron and steel products (including cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood products; mining (mostly coal); plastic products; cars and trucks; and apparel. Also, Alabama produces aerospace and electronic products, mostly in the Huntsville area, which is home of the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the US Army Missile Command, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal.

Also, the city of Mobile is a busy seaport on the Gulf of Mexico, and with inland waterway access to the Midwest via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Alabama levies a 2, 4 or 5 percent personal income tax, depending upon the amount earned and filing status. The state's sales general tax rate is 4 percent. The collection rate could be substantially higher, depending upon additional city and county sales taxes. The corporate income tax rate is currently 6.5%.

Transportation

Alabama has five major interstate roads that cross it: I-65 runs north-south roughly through the middle of the state; I-59/I-20 travels from the central west border to Birmingham, where I-59 continues to the north-east corner of the state and I-20 continues east; I-85 goes from the border of Georgia and ends in Montgomery, providing a main thoroughfare to Atlanta; and I-10 traverses the southernmost portion of the state, running from west to east through Mobile.

Major airports in Alabama include Birmingham International Airport (BHM), Dothan Regional Airport (DHN), Huntsville International Airport (HSV), Mobile Regional Airport (MOB), Muscle Shoals - Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), and Tuscaloosa Regional Airport (TCL).

Law and government

Local and county government

Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the Board of Commissioners, which usually also has executive authority in the county. Due to the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but 7 counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning. Alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state; the government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol.

Political climate

The current governor of the state is Bob Riley and the two U.S. senators are Jefferson B. Sessions III and Richard C. Shelby (all three from the Republican Party). The current state constitution was adopted in 1901.

During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1874 the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans. After 1890 a coalition of whites passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise black residents. The state became part of the "Solid South," a one-party system in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally no Republican challenger running.

From 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by large margins. 1960 was a curious election; the Democrats won with John F. Kennedy on the ballot, but the Democratic electors gave most of their electoral votes as a protest to someone else. In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater carried the state. However, Republican candidates rarely won state or local elections until the 1980s. In 1968, Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace, who defeated both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. In 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter carried the state, the region, and the nation, but Democratic control of the region slipped thereafter. Since 1980, the Republican party has become increasingly dominant in Alabama's federal elections. In local politics, by contrast, Democrats still control many offices. Democrats presently have majorities in both houses of the Legislature.

In 2004, George W. Bush won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote. The only 11 counties voting Democratic were Black Belt counties, where African Americans are in the majority. Alabama is one of the most conservative states in the country; Shelby County, in suburban Birmingham, and the city of San Francisco, California are the closest pair of greatly populated areas to being political polar opposites. In 2004, Bush won Shelby County, and John Kerry won San Francisco, each with approximately 80% of the vote.

Birmingham
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Birmingham

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Mobile
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Mobile

Tuscaloosa
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Tuscaloosa

Decatur
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Decatur

Further information: U.S. presidential election, 2004, in Alabama

Important cities and towns

In order of population

Cities 200,000+

Cities 150,000-200,000

Cities 65,000-150,000

Cities 50,000-65,000

Cities 35,000-50,000

Cities 20,000-35,000

Metropolitan and Combined Statistical Areas

Also see Alabama's Largest Metropolitan Areas.
Alabama Cities and Urban Areas/Sprawl. Top ten largest cities are shaded in dark green.
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Alabama Cities and Urban Areas/Sprawl. Top ten largest cities are shaded in dark green.

MSAs 1,000,000+

MSAs 500,000 - 1,000,000

MSAs 300,000 - 500,000

MSAs 150,000 - 300,000

MSAs 100,000 - 150,000

Education

Colleges and Universities

Miscellaneous topics

¹ The phrase The Heart of Dixie is required by state law to be included on standard state vehicle license plates, but has recently been reduced to a very small size and eclipsed by the phrase Stars Fell on Alabama.

See also

Cultural sites

Events

Sports Teams

List of Venues:

References

External links

 State of Alabama
History | People | Governors | Metropolitan Areas

Capital Montgomery
Regions North Alabama | Central Alabama | Greater Birmingham | South Alabama | Black Belt | Mobile Bay
Cities Anniston | Auburn | Birmingham | Decatur | Dothan | Florence | Gadsden | Hoover | Huntsville | Mobile | Montgomery | Tuscaloosa
Counties Autauga | Baldwin | Barbour | Bibb | Blount | Bullock | Butler | Calhoun | Chambers | Cherokee | Chilton | Choctaw | Clarke | Clay | Cleburne | Coffee | Colbert | Conecuh | Coosa | Covington | Crenshaw | Cullman | Dale | Dallas | DeKalb | Elmore | Escambia | Etowah | Fayette | Franklin | Geneva | Greene | Hale | Henry | Houston | Jackson | Jefferson | Lamar | Lauderdale | Lawrence | Lee | Limestone | Lowndes | Macon | Madison | Marengo | Marion | Marshall | Mobile | Monroe | Montgomery | Morgan | Perry | Pickens | Pike | Randolph | Russell | Shelby | St. Clair | Sumter | Talladega | Tallapoosa | Tuscaloosa | Walker | Washington | Wilcox | Winston

Political divisions of the United States

States: Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming
Federal district: District of Columbia
Insular areas: American Samoa | Guam | Northern Mariana Islands | Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands
Minor outlying
islands: 		Baker Island | Howland Island | Jarvis Island | Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island | Palmyra Atoll | Wake Island

[[zh-min-nan:Alabama]]

 

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