Alabama, one of the Southern States of the United States, is known as the Heart of Dixie. Alabama occupies a central place in the history of the South. The Constitution of the Confederacy was drawn up in Montgomery, the state capital, in 1861. The Alabama Capitol served as the first Confederate Capitol. There, Jefferson Davis took office as president of the Confederacy.
Today, Alabama has a vital part in the nation’s future. Huntsville, called Rocket City, U.S.A., is the site of the Redstone Arsenal and the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. Scientists at Huntsville developed many important rockets and space vehicles, including the Saturn V rocket system that carried the first astronauts to land on the moon.
Most parts of the South did not become widely industrialized until the 1900’s. But heavy industry got a relatively early start in Alabama, mainly because of the state’s rich mineral resources. Northern Alabama had all three main raw materials used in making steel—coal, iron ore, and limestone. Blast furnaces for making iron and steel began operating in Birmingham in the 1880’s. After that, Birmingham grew rapidly. Today, it is one of Alabama’s largest cities, and one of the state’s important centers of service industries.
For many years, “King Cotton” ruled Alabama’s farm economy. When the cotton crop was poor, or when it sold at low prices, Alabama farmers suffered. But serious crop failures during the early 1900’s taught the farmers that they should plant a variety of crops. Then they would not lose all their money if the cotton crop failed. Alabama is still an important cotton producer. But much livestock and poultry and large crops of corn, peanuts, and soybeans are also raised in the state.
Forest-covered hills and ridges spread over much of northern Alabama. In places where the land has been cleared, bright red clay soils add splashes of color to the landscape. Many dams along rivers and creeks help prevent floods. Hydroelectric power stations at some of the larger dams produce electric power for use in homes and factories.
In the southern part of Alabama, the hills give way to thick pine forests, rolling grasslands, and low croplands. The Mobile Delta area in the southern part of the state has many swamps and bayous (shallow channels filled with slow-moving water). At the southern tip of Alabama, sandy beaches border Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Mobile, at the mouth of the Mobile River, is a busy seaport. Oceangoing ships unload a wide variety of goods at the Alabama State Docks in Mobile Bay. The goods include minerals and other raw materials to be made into manufactured goods in Alabama factories. The ships carry away Alabama coal and a wide variety of the state’s products, including iron and steel, petroleum products, pulp and other wood products, soybeans, and wheat. 
The name Alabama comes from the name of an Indigenous (native) tribe that once lived in the region. These people called themselves the Alibamu, meaning I open (or I clear) the thicket. One of Alabama’s nicknames, the Yellowhammer State, originated during the American Civil War (1861-1865). A company of Alabama troops paraded in uniforms trimmed with bits of bright yellow cloth. The soldiers reminded people of the birds called yellowhammers, which have yellow patches under their wings. After that, Alabama soldiers were known as Yellowhammers.
People
Population.
The 2020 United States census reported that Alabama had 5,024,279 people. The state’s population had increased about 5 percent over the 2010 census figure, 4,779,736. According to the 2020 census, Alabama ranks 24th in population among the 50 states.
About 80 percent of the people of Alabama live in metropolitan areas. These areas are Anniston-Oxford, Auburn-Opelika, Birmingham, Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, Decatur, Dothan, Florence-Muscle Shoals, Gadsden, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. The Columbus (Georgia) metropolitan area extends into Alabama. See Metropolitan area.
Alabama has 24 cities with populations of more than 25,000. Birmingham, one of the largest cities, developed as a steelmaking center. Today, Birmingham is an important center of service industries, particularly medical services.
Huntsville is the home of the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. During the 1950’s, Huntsville’s population grew by 340 percent. Thousands of people moved to the Huntsville area to work on missile and space projects of the United States government.
Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, and other cities have kept the attractiveness of small communities, in spite of their rapid growth. Huge oak trees arch over wide boulevards, even in many downtown areas. Stately old homes add to the charm and dignity of these cities.
About a fourth of the people in Alabama are African Americans. Other large population groups in the state include people of Irish, English, German, and Native American descent.
Schools.
Alabama established its public school system in 1854. Like most Southern States, Alabama had separate schools for white and Black students. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that school segregation is unconstitutional. In 1963, Alabama began to desegregate its public schools. By 1973, most of these schools had been integrated.
The superintendent of education heads Alabama’s public school system. The superintendent is appointed by the State Board of Education. The nine-member Board of Education establishes policies for the public school system. The governor serves as president of the board. The other eight members are elected by the voters to four-year terms.
Alabama law requires children between the ages of 6 and 17 to attend school. For the number of students and teachers in Alabama, see Education (table: U.S. students, teachers, and school expenditures).
Libraries.
Alabama’s first large library, the Supreme Court Library in Montgomery, was created in 1828. In 1901, the state legislature created the Department of Archives and History—the first state-supported archives in the United States. Today, the largest of Alabama’s public libraries are in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery. The Birmingham Public Library owns the Rucker Agee collection of rare maps, the Tutwiler collection on Southern history and literature, and a collection of civil rights documents. The University of Alabama’s William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library and the Auburn University libraries have materials on the history of the region.
Museums.
The Anniston Museum of Natural History includes exhibits on the history of the earth and displays of birds in their natural surroundings. The McWane Science Center in Birmingham houses a wide variety of science exhibits and displays. The Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site at Tuskegee University features exhibits that illustrate contributions of African Americans to U.S. history. The University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park exhibits a large collection of Native American items. The collection includes prehistoric items found at Mound State Monument. The History Museum of Mobile has displays on the long history of the Mobile Bay area.
Alabama has notable art museums in Montgomery, Mobile, Huntsville, and Birmingham. Birmingham also is home to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the Southern Museum of Flight. The U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Novosel has one of the largest collections of military helicopters in the world.
Visitor’s guide
The beaches and hotels along Alabama’s Gulf Coast are among the state’s major attractions. Many vacationers visit the area each year. Many enjoy saltwater fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and freshwater fishing on inland lakes. Tourists also come to see Alabama’s historic homes and beautiful gardens.
Alabama has many historic sites associated with the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the civil rights movement. Many cities have special tours that spotlight this heritage. Tourists can learn more about these periods of history at such sites as the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
One of Alabama’s outstanding annual events is the Mardi Gras celebration in Mobile. The festivities begin two weeks before Shrove Tuesday. They include colorful parades through the streets both during the day and in the evening.
During late March and early April, blossoms begin to appear on shrubs along Mobile’s famous Azalea Trail. This trail is an automobile route, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) long, through the city. The trail passes many of Mobile’s most beautiful homes and gardens. The azaleas and other flowering shrubs are usually loveliest during late March.
Land and climate
Land regions.
Most of southern Alabama lies less than 500 feet (150 meters) above sea level. The surface of the state rises gradually toward the northeast. Alabama has six main land regions: (1) the East Gulf Coastal Plain, (2) the Black Belt, (3) the Piedmont, (4) the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, (5) the Cumberland Plateau, and (6) the Interior Low Plateau.
The East Gulf Coastal Plain
is Alabama’s largest land region. It covers the entire southern two-thirds of the state, except for a narrow strip of land called the Black Belt. In western Alabama, the plain extends north almost to Tennessee.
The plain has several sections. The low, swampy land of the Mobile River Delta makes up the southwestern section. The southeastern part is called the Wiregrass area. It is named for a tough grass that once grew there in pine forests. Today, the Wiregrass area is an important farming region. The northern part of the plain is often called the Central Pine Belt because many pine forests cover its low, rolling hills. In the western part of this section, the soils are gravelly and sandy, and are not good for growing crops.
The Black Belt
is a narrow strip of rolling prairie wedged between the northern and southern parts of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. The Black Belt was named for the sticky black clay soils of its rolling uplands. Early in Alabama’s history, farmers developed large plantations in this region. Boll weevils came to the Black Belt in 1915, and damaged the cotton crop. Some farmers then changed from growing cotton to raising livestock. Fish-farming operations in the region began to raise catfish in the 1960’s. The industry expanded greatly after 1980.
The Piedmont,
Deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone, and marble, together with electric power from projects on the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, make the Piedmont an important manufacturing area.
The Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region
is an area of sandstone ridges and fertile limestone valleys. It lies northwest of the Piedmont. The region has coal, iron ore, and limestone—the three basic minerals used in making iron and steel. For this reason, Birmingham and other large cities in the region developed as centers of iron and steel production.
The Cumberland Plateau,
also known as the Appalachian Plateau, lies northwest of the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region. The surface varies from flat to gently rolling land. It reaches a height of about 1,800 feet (549 meters) above sea level in the northeast. The land slopes to about 500 feet (150 meters) where it meets the East Gulf Coastal Plain in the southwest. Farmers could not grow large crops in the plateau’s sandy soils until the 1880’s, when commercial fertilizers came into common use. Today, farmers raise hogs and poultry there, and grow cotton, hay, potatoes, and vegetables.
The Interior Low Plateau
lies in the northwestern part of the state. Much of the land is in the valley of the Tennessee River. Farmers in the region grow corn, cotton, and hay. Water transportation and hydroelectric power support manufacturing in the region. Decatur and “The Shoals,” the area of Muscle Shoals, Florence, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia, are industrial centers.
Coastline.
Alabama’s general coastline extends for 53 miles (85 kilometers) along the Gulf of Mexico. The tidal shoreline, which includes small bays and inlets, is 607 miles (977 kilometers) long. Mobile Bay, at the mouth of the Mobile River, is the chief feature of the Alabama coastline. It is an important harbor area. Mississippi Sound borders the coast west of Mobile Bay. Perdido Bay is at the border between Alabama and Florida. The long, sandy peninsula between Mobile and Perdido bays is known as the Gulf Coast. Dauphin Island, Alabama’s largest coastal island, lies at the entrance to Mobile Bay. An overseas highway connects the island with the mainland.
Rivers and lakes.
Navigable rivers flow through almost every part of Alabama. The Mobile River and its tributaries flow south to the Gulf of Mexico. They form the most important river system in the state. The Alabama and the Tombigbee, Alabama’s longest rivers, meet about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Mobile and form the Mobile River. The Alabama River begins where the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers meet, just north of Montgomery. The Tombigbee starts in Mississippi and flows southeast into Alabama. Its main tributary in Alabama is the Black Warrior.
The Chattahoochee River forms much of the border between Alabama and Georgia. The Tennessee River is the most important river in northern Alabama. It flows west across almost the entire width of the state.
Alabama has no large natural lakes, but dams on rivers have created many artificial lakes. The largest of these, Guntersville Lake, covers 110 square miles (285 square kilometers). It is formed by Guntersville Dam on the Tennessee River. Other large artificially created lakes, in order of size, include Wheeler on the Tennessee River, Martin on the Tallapoosa River, and Weiss on the Coosa River.
Plant and animal life.
Forests cover about two-thirds of Alabama. Pine forests are the most common type of forest. Besides pines, other trees in the state include cedars, cypresses, hemlocks, and oaks.
In the spring, blooming shrubs and trees cover the Alabama countryside. The state is famous for its azaleas. It also has flowering dogwood, mountain laurel, and rhododendrons. Alabama’s wildflowers include asters, Dutchman’s-breeches, goldenrods, orchids, pinks, and southern camasses.
Bobcats, deer, red and gray foxes, minks, opossums, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and wild turkeys live in many parts of Alabama. Beaver colonies thrive in the swamps and lowlands. Some alligators can be found in the state’s southern swamps and bayous (see Bayou). These areas also provide winter shelter for ducks, geese, and other water birds that fly north in the spring. Freshwater fish in Alabama streams include bass, bream, buffalo fish, catfish, crappies, garfish, and shad. Drumfish, flounder, mackerel, mullet, red snapper, and tarpon are common in the Gulf of Mexico along Alabama’s coast. Shellfish found in the Gulf include crabs, oysters, and shrimps.
Climate.
Alabama has a mild climate. January temperatures average about 50 °F (10 °C) in the southern part of the state and about 41 °F (5 °C) in the north. July temperatures average about 81 °F (27 °C) throughout the state. Alabama’s lowest temperature, −27 °F (−33 °C), occurred at New Market on Jan. 30, 1966. The highest temperature, 112 °F (44 °C), was at Centreville on Sept. 5, 1925. Alabama’s annual precipitation (rain, melted snow, and other moisture) averages from about 66 inches (168 centimeters) on the coast to 54 inches (137 centimeters) in the north. Snow falls in the north but is rare on the coast. 
Economy
Through the years, Alabama’s economy has been closely linked with major trends in the nation’s history. In the early 1800’s, plantation owners using slave labor made cotton the state’s leading product. In the decades following the Civil War, northern Alabama became a center for the iron and steel industries. In the mid-1900’s, the state became a leader in developing the rockets and satellites that brought the country into the space age.
Service industries, from health care to retail trade, form the leading part of Alabama’s economy today. Manufacturing, mining, and farming also contribute to Alabama’s economic output. Chemicals, motor vehicles, paper, and processed foods rank among the state’s leading manufactures. Alabama is an important producer of coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Poultry products are the leading source of farm income in the state.
Natural resources
of Alabama include thick pine forests, areas of fertile soil, valuable mineral deposits, and deep rivers.
Soil.
Alabama’s Black Belt is known for its black clay soils. Parts of the East Gulf Coastal Plain have sandy soils. Red soils cover most other parts of the state. In many areas, gray or yellow topsoil once covered these red soils. Erosion carried away much of the fertile topsoil after farmers cut down trees and plowed the land. Today, many Alabama farmers help save fertile soils by contour plowing, terracing, and other conservation methods.
Minerals.
Valuable deposits of coal and limestone lie fairly close together in the Birmingham area. Alabama’s most important coal beds lie in the north-central part of the state. Major deposits of limestone are also found in northern Alabama.
Alabama has important oil and natural gas fields in the west-central and southwestern parts of the state. Other mined products found in Alabama include bauxite, cement, clay, dolomite, gemstones, marble, salt, sand and gravel, and sandstone.
Service industries,
as a group, contribute the greatest part of Alabama’s employment and gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the state in a year. Most of the service industries are concentrated in the state’s metropolitan areas.
Birmingham is Alabama’s leading financial center. One of the South’s largest banking companies, Regions Financial Corporation, has its headquarters in Birmingham. The city also ranks as Alabama’s leading health care center. Many shipping companies are based in Mobile, which has one of the busiest ports in the United States.
Montgomery, the state capital, is the center of state government activities. Government services also include the operation of military establishments. Major military bases in the state include Fort Novosel, northwest of Dothan, and Maxwell Air Force Base, near Montgomery. The Huntsville area is home to the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal.
Many hotels, restaurants, and retail trade establishments operate in the Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery areas. These businesses benefit especially from the spending of the millions of tourists who visit the state each year.
Manufacturing.
Transportation equipment is one of Alabama’s leading manufacturing industries. Cars and trucks are produced in Lincoln, Montgomery, and Vance. Space and military equipment are manufactured in the Huntsville area, and aircraft are manufactured in the Mobile area.
Chemicals, food products, paper products, primary metals, and wood products are also important. Alabama’s most important chemical products are used by industry. The chief chemical production centers in the state include Decatur and Mobile. Meat packing is the state’s most important food processing activity. Most meat products are made in northern and southwestern Alabama. The state’s other food products include animal feed, baked goods, and dairy products. Mills in many parts of the state produce paper and wood products, especially in the northeastern and southeastern portions of the state. Primary metals manufacturing is centered mainly on the steel industry, which is concentrated in Birmingham.
Agriculture.
Farms cover about one-fourth of Alabama’s total land area. Livestock products account for about three-fourths of Alabama’s farm income. Alabama ranks among the leading states in the production of broilers (young, tender chickens). Broilers are the most valuable farm product in the state. They provide more than half of the state’s farm income. Counties in the northern part of the state produce the most broilers.
Beef cattle are another valuable farm product in Alabama. Cattle graze on grasslands throughout the state. Eggs and milk are also leading livestock products. Many hogs are raised in the northeast part of the state.
Until the early 1900’s, cotton production employed many farmworkers and provided almost all of Alabama’s agricultural wealth. Today, cotton is still one of Alabama’s leading field crop, and the state is an important cotton producer. Mechanical pickers harvest much of the cotton crop.
Greenhouse and nursery products are an important source of farm income. Peanuts, which are grown in the southern portion of the state, are another important crop. Other valuable field crops include corn, hay, soybeans, and wheat.
Peaches and watermelons are Alabama’s leading fruit products. The state’s leading vegetable crops include cucumbers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, and tomatoes. Many of the potatoes and sweet potatoes are produced in Baldwin, Cullman, and DeKalb counties. Pecans are another valuable farm product, produced mainly in the southern part of the state.
Mining.
Alabama’s most valuable mined products include coal, limestone, natural gas, petroleum, and portland cement. Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Walker counties in north-central Alabama produce most of the state’s coal. The coal is a bituminous (soft) variety that is taken from both underground and surface mines. Large limestone quarries lie near Birmingham and Huntsville. Natural gas and petroleum are obtained mainly from wells in the west-central and southwestern part of the state. The production of methane gas from coal is a major activity in west-central Alabama. The state ranks as an important producer of portland cement. Other mined products include clays, lime, marble, salt, and sand and gravel.
Fishing industry.
The Gulf of Mexico provides most of Alabama’s fish catch. Shrimp are the most valuable product of Alabama’s saltwater fishing industry. Blue crabs, mackerel, mullet, oysters, and red snapper are also leading products. Alabama’s Black Belt region is the center of the state’s fish-farming industry. Grain-fed catfish, raised in artificial ponds on farms, are an important food crop.
Electric power and utilities.
Plants that burn coal, natural-gas-burning plants, and nuclear plants are the leading sources of electric power in Alabama. Hydroelectric plants supply most of the remaining power. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a government corporation, operates hydroelectric and nuclear plants in northern Alabama.
Transportation.
Alabama has an extensive system of roads and highways. The state also has thousands of miles of rail lines. Major rail lines provide freight service in Alabama. Most of Alabama’s air traffic goes in and out of airports at Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile.
About 1,270 miles (2,040 kilometers) of navigable waterways cross the state. They include a section of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Brownsville, Texas, and Carrabelle, Florida. This section is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) long. The Black Warrior-Tombigbee-Mobile river system, 453 miles (729 kilometers) long, is the longest navigable waterway in Alabama. The Tennessee River connects northern Alabama with the Mississippi River system. The 234-mile- (377-kilometer-) long Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was completed in 1985. This waterway helps link the port at Mobile with inland ports on the Tennessee and Ohio rivers. Alabama has built dock facilities at Decatur, Demopolis, Eufaula, Guntersville, Huntsville, Phenix City, and other towns along waterways.
Mobile, on Mobile Bay, is Alabama’s only seaport. The Alabama State Docks at Mobile are among the finest port facilities in the United States.
Communication.
The Montgomery Advertiser has the largest print circulation of any Alabama newspaper. In 2023, the Alabama Media Group, the publisher of The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, and the Press-Register of Mobile stopped publishing print editions of those newspapers. Today, the publisher’s journalists contribute state and local news coverage through the website AL.com.
Government
Constitution.
The Constitution of Alabama was adopted in 2022. The state had six earlier constitutions, adopted in 1819, 1861, 1865, 1868, 1875, and 1901.
An amendment to the Constitution may be proposed either by the Alabama Legislature or by a constitutional convention. An amendment proposed by the Legislature must be approved by three-fifths of the members in each house. Then it must receive the approval of a majority of the electors voting on the issue.
A majority of the members of each house of the Alabama Legislature and a majority of the voters must approve calling a constitutional convention. An amendment proposed by the convention must be approved by a majority of the people voting on the issue in an election.
Executive.
The governor of Alabama is elected to a four-year term. This official can serve more than one term. However, the governor is not allowed to serve three terms in a row. Alabama’s other top executive officials include the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, treasurer, and commissioner of agriculture and industries. Each of these officials is elected to a four-year term.
Legislature.
Alabama’s Legislature consists of a Senate of 35 members and a 105-member House of Representatives. Each of Alabama’s 35 senatorial districts elects one senator. Each of the state’s 105 representative districts elects one member to the House of Representatives. Senators and representatives serve four-year terms. 
The Alabama Legislature holds regular sessions each year. These sessions may not last longer than 105 days, and the Legislature may not meet as a whole on more than 30 of these days. Sessions begin in March during the first year of the legislative term, in February during the second and third years, and in January during the fourth year.
Courts.
The highest court in Alabama is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and eight associate justices, and they are all elected to six-year terms. The Court of Criminal Appeals has five judges, and the Court of Civil Appeals has five judges. These judges also are all elected to six-year terms. Lower courts in Alabama include a circuit court, district court, probate court, and municipal courts.
Local government.
Alabama has 67 counties. Each is governed by a board of commissioners. The boards are known officially as county commissions. In each county, the probate judge also serves as the chief election official. The probate judge is elected to a six-year term. Other county officials include the sheriff, district attorney, superintendent of education, engineer, and tax assessor.
Most Alabama municipalities have a mayor-council form of government. A few cities operate under a city-manager plan. Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa have mayor-council governments.
Revenue.
Taxes provide about two-fifths of Alabama’s general revenue (income). Most of the rest comes from federal grants. The main sources of tax revenue are personal and corporate income taxes, and general sales and use taxes. Other major sources of tax revenue include taxes on alcoholic beverages, motor fuels, property, public utilities, and tobacco. Alabama also taxes business licenses and motor vehicle licenses.
Politics.
As in other Southern states, most candidates elected to national, state, and local offices in Alabama’s history have been Democrats. Most of Alabama’s major state and local political battles were traditionally waged in primary elections for the Democratic nomination. But since the mid-1900’s, Alabamians have elected a number of Republican candidates to local offices and to the Congress of the United States. In 1986, Guy Hunt became the first Republican to be elected governor of Alabama since the early 1870’s.
Until the 1960’s, Alabama voters usually supported Democratic presidential candidates. But in 1964, the state voted for Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona, the Republican candidate. It was the first time since 1872 that the state of Alabama supported a Republican presidential candidate. Since 1964, the Republican candidate has won Alabama’s electoral votes in almost every presidential election (see Electoral College).
History
Before European exploration.
Cliff-dwelling peoples lived in the Alabama region at least 8,000 years ago. Excavations in Russell Cave, in northeastern Jackson County, have revealed details of their lives. Later, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee (Creek) peoples lived in the region. White people called these groups the Civilized Tribes because they adopted many European customs. See Five Civilized Tribes.
European exploration and settlement.
Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, a Spanish explorer, sailed into Mobile Bay in 1519. In 1528, an expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez passed through Alabama coastal waters. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, the first European to cross North America, was a member of this expedition. Hernando de Soto, another Spaniard, led an expedition into the Alabama region from the northeast in 1540. He became the first European to explore the interior. De Soto (also called Soto) and Indigenous warriors fought a battle in southwestern Alabama. De Soto’s forces defeated Chief Tuscaloosa and his warriors.
In 1559, Tristán de Luna y Arellano, a Spanish adventurer from Mexico, explored the Alabama region. He organized small, temporary settlements on the Florida Panhandle and in southern Alabama. In 1561, he was removed from his command and returned to Spain.
The first permanent group of white settlers in the Alabama region were French. In 1699, two French-Canadian brothers—Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, and Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville—sailed to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay. In 1702, they founded Fort Louis nearby along the Mobile River. Fort Louis became the capital of the French colony known as Louisiana. In 1711, river floods forced the French to move 27 miles (43 kilometers) south to the present site of Mobile. This settlement, also called Fort Louis, became the first permanent white settlement in Alabama. It was renamed Fort Condé in 1720. The settlement was the capital of French Louisiana until 1722, when New Orleans became the capital.
In 1763, the French gave most of their colony of Louisiana to Britain in the Treaty of Paris. This treaty ended the French and Indian War. The Mobile area became part of West Florida, under British control. Northern Alabama was included in the Illinois country, a region in what is now the central United States.
In 1779, Spain declared war on Britain. In 1780, Bernardo de Gálvez captured Mobile from the British. In the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, Britain gave the Mobile region to Spain.
Territorial days.
In 1795, Thomas Pinckney, a U.S. diplomat, negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo. This treaty, also called the Pinckney Treaty, fixed the southern boundary of the United States along the 31st parallel of north latitude. All of present-day Alabama except the Mobile area lay north of the line and became part of the United States. In 1798, the U.S. Congress organized the southern part of the Alabama region, except the Mobile area, into the Mississippi Territory. In 1804, Congress extended the territory north to the border of Tennessee.
Just before entering the War of 1812 against Britain, U.S. forces seized Mobile from the Spanish. It took until April 15, 1813, however, to drive the Spanish garrison from the fort there. Also in 1813, a Creek group known as the Red Sticks fought a war against the American settlers and killed hundreds—both pioneers and enslaved people—at Fort Mims, near Tensaw. In March 1814, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. Chief Red Eagle (also known as William Weatherford), who had not been present at Horseshoe Bend, and other Red Stick warriors surrendered in the following weeks. Later, the Treaty of Fort Jackson required even friendly Creeks to give up their Alabama lands.
In 1817, Congress organized the Alabama Territory. St. Stephens, on the Tombigbee River, became the capital.
Early statehood.
A constitutional convention met in Huntsville in 1819 and drew up the territory’s first Constitution. On Dec. 14, 1819, Alabama entered the Union as the 22nd state. Huntsville served as the capital of Alabama for a little more than a year. William Wyatt Bibb, who had been governor of the Alabama Territory, became the new state’s first governor. Cahaba became the capital in 1820. In 1825, floods from the Alabama River caused great damage to Cahaba. Because of the floods, the capital was moved to Tuscaloosa in 1826. 
In 1838, federal troops marched into the remaining Indigenous territory of Alabama, in the northeast section of the state. They demanded that all Indigenous people move to the West. By 1840, all but a few scattered tribes had moved west beyond the Mississippi River.
Alabama suffered severe financial troubles during the 1840’s and 1850’s. The state bank, created during the 1820’s, was poorly managed. The bank issued too much money and, as a result, the money decreased in value. The bank also loaned large amounts of money for political reasons. In 1837, a financial panic and depression swept across the United States. The Alabama state bank could not afford to pay back the money it owed to its depositors. For this reason, Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick began to liquidate (close) the bank during the early 1840’s. Many Alabamians lost all their savings. The state also suffered from a drought that ruined crops, and from several epidemics of yellow fever.
During the 1840’s and 1850’s, many Northerners wanted the federal government to outlaw slavery in the nation’s Western territories. Others wanted to allow Westerners themselves to vote on the issue. In 1848, a Democratic state convention in Alabama adopted the “Alabama Platform” supported by William L. Yancey, a prominent politician. This platform demanded that the federal government protect slavery in the territories. Yancey later led the Southern delegates in walking out of the Democratic Party’s 1860 presidential convention. The walkout split the Democratic Party and ensured the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as president.
The Civil War and Reconstruction.
Slavery was not the only cause of discord between the North and South. Economic rivalries between the agricultural South and the industrial North and disagreements about the rights of states also created conflicts (see States’ rights). On Jan. 11, 1861, Alabama seceded (withdrew) from the Union. The Alabama secession convention then invited other seceding states to send delegates to Montgomery. On February 8, the convention established the Confederate States of America, with Montgomery as its capital. For this reason, Montgomery became known as the Cradle of the Confederacy. In May 1861, the capital of the Confederate States was moved to Richmond, Virginia.
In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate forces led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest captured a much larger Union force near Cedar Bluff. However, the most significant Civil War action in Alabama was the Battle of Mobile Bay on Aug. 5, 1864. The battle was won by Union forces under Rear Admiral David G. Farragut (see Farragut, David G.). Union General Lovell H. Rousseau raided eastern Alabama, also in 1864. In 1865, General James H. Wilson’s Union forces wrecked ironworks across the state, burned buildings at the University of Alabama, and destroyed the Selma munitions industry. 
Poverty and uncertainty marked life in Alabama after the Civil War. People who had been enslaved were free but poor, and many white farmers were penniless. Formerly well-off planters were broken financially and had lost their leadership positions.
On June 25, 1868, Alabama was readmitted to the Union. From then until 1874, Reconstruction gave power to Northerners called carpetbaggers, Southern Unionists called scalawags, and formerly enslaved people. Fraud, corruption, and waste put the state deeply into debt. However, the government provided much-needed public schools and colleges, and it took steps to give Black men full rights as citizens. Conservative Democrats took back the state government in 1874. In 1875, they adopted a new constitution that ensured that power would return to former Confederates. In 1901, Alabama rewrote its constitution yet again, denying most Black and poor white people the right to vote, and establishing racial segregation by law. In later decades, state constitutional amendments and federal court decisions invalidated several sections of the 1901 constitution.
State prosperity.
Alabama’s railroads and iron industry expanded dramatically in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama held large deposits of iron ore, limestone, and coal––materials used to make iron and steel. The growing town of Birmingham became home to Alabama’s first blast furnace, Alice No. 1, in 1880. By 1900, Birmingham had become known as the Pittsburgh of the South because of its iron industry. Iron and steel works were also built in Anniston, Bessemer, Decatur, Gadsden, and Talladega. Many cities also benefited from the growth of the textile industry. In addition, the piney woods of southern Alabama provided raw materials for a growing lumber industry.
In the early 1900’s, however, crop failures and labor shortages threatened Alabama’s prosperity. Boll weevils devastated the state’s cotton crop, and many Black workers began to leave Alabama for better jobs in the North.
World War I and the Great Depression.
Alabama’s industry and commerce grew after the United States entered World War I in 1917. Shipbuilding became an important industry in Mobile, and steelmaking increased in Birmingham. Farmers increased production of cotton and food to meet the demands of the war effort. In the mid-1920’s, the Alabama State Docks agency built new port facilities at Mobile. Alabama’s trade with other countries increased greatly as a result. The state’s politics during the era reflected the growth of the Ku Klux Klan, a group that opposed the advancement of Black Americans and other minority groups. White politicians often joined the Klan to improve their electoral opportunities.
Economic decline followed the prosperity of the 1920’s. In 1929, the Alabama-Tombigbee river system flooded large areas in southern Alabama, causing about $6 million in damage. That year also marked the start of the Great Depression, which caused great hardship for Alabamians. Between 1929 and 1931, more than 60 Alabama banks failed, with a loss of more than $16 million. During the early 1930’s, Alabama passed a state income tax law and the Budget Control Act to help save the state from bankruptcy.
In 1933, the federal government’s New Deal created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The TVA was given the responsibility of building flood-control and electric-power projects on the Tennessee River. The TVA took over Wilson Dam and two nitrate plants at Muscle Shoals. It also built the Wheeler and Guntersville dams. The Alabama Power Company, a private firm, also built dams and hydroelectric plants during the 1930’s. These plants provided inexpensive power for Alabama factories, and so boosted the state’s industrial growth.
The mid-1900’s.
The United States entered World War II on Dec. 8, 1941. Because of the war, the federal government expanded existing military bases in Alabama and built several new ones, including Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Federal money poured into the state’s shipbuilding and steelmaking industries. Thousands of Alabamians served in the nation’s military.
World War II helped establish new industries in Alabama––including chemicals, minerals, and rubber products––and expanded the state’s textile industries. New opportunities emerged for many Black and female workers. However, neither group was able to retain its advances in the years following the war.
Alabama’s industrial growth slowed down during the 1950’s, and many Alabamians left the state to find jobs in the North and West. Iron ore production in Alabama dropped sharply during the 1950’s. By the early 1960’s, most of Alabama’s iron ore mines had closed. In northern Alabama, however, the space and defense industries provided an economic boost. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) established the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center at the Redstone Arsenal in 1960. The center built much of the Saturn V rocket that carried astronauts to the moon in 1969.
Alabama’s agriculture also changed in the mid-1900’s. Farmers relied less on cotton and more on poultry, cattle, hogs, peanuts, and soybeans. Farmers also relied less on manual labor and more on machinery. Displaced farm workers moved to the cities for jobs, changing Alabama from a rural to an urban state.
Social changes accompanied the economic changes. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, African Americans sought equality with white people in education, public accommodations, voting rights, and economic opportunities. In 1955 and 1956, the Montgomery Improvement Association and its spokesman, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., conducted the Montgomery bus boycott. Numerous Black people refused to ride in public buses until the city abandoned the requirement that they sit in the rear. In 1956, a federal court ordered Montgomery to desegregate its buses. 
In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States had ruled that compulsory segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. On June 11, 1963, Alabama Governor George C. Wallace stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to block, symbolically, the admission of two Black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. President John F. Kennedy activated the National Guard to enforce the law, and the students were admitted. That September, Wallace tried to prevent public school desegregation in several cities. Again, President Kennedy called in the National Guard.
In 1963, King and fellow civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth led demonstrations to desegregate public facilities and businesses in Birmingham. Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor ordered that demonstrators be attacked with police dogs and fire hoses. After the events were shown on national television, the demonstrators became the focus of public sympathy. In March 1965, King led a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery to protest discrimination in voter registration. In August of that year, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which made thousands of Black Alabamians eligible to vote. 
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s support of African American civil rights sparked a reaction from Alabama’s white voters, who had traditionally supported the president’s Democratic Party. These voters came to support the presidential campaigns of George C. Wallace and grew separate from the national Democratic Party. The Republican Party eventually benefited from this division to become the dominant party in Alabama politics.
The late 1900’s.
Alabama, like other states, faced financial problems in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The state government sought ways to provide sufficient funds for such services as state-supported nursing homes and public education. In 1980, the state legislature increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol to increase funds for government services.
The rising costs of petroleum and natural gas led to increased use of coal. This action spurred further development of Alabama’s coal deposits. Industry continued to grow in the state, and the population rose steadily.
African Americans came to play an increasingly important role in local and state politics. At the same time, the Republican Party continued to gain strength in the state. In 1986, Guy Hunt became the first Republican to be elected governor of Alabama since Reconstruction. However, he was removed from office in 1993, following his conviction for felony ethics violations. He was sentenced to pay fines and to perform 1,000 hours of community service. In 1998, Hunt was pardoned by a state parole board.
The 2000’s.
Alabama began the 2000’s with financial problems but soon recovered. In 2003, the state government’s general fund—which provides money for state troopers, public health benefits, and prisons—had a deficit (shortage) of $675 million. After voters defeated a measure to increase taxes, Republican Governor Bob Riley ordered budgets for many state agencies reduced by up to 15 percent. 
In 2004, Hurricane Ivan struck Alabama’s popular Gulf Shores resort area, damaging many vacation homes and hotels, and washing away portions of the area’s sandy beaches. By 2006, Alabama’s beaches were repaired.
Alabama’s economic outlook had improved by 2006. Because of increases in jobs in construction and at automotive plants, the unemployment rate at the end of 2006 was the lowest in the state’s history. The state’s income exceeded its budgetary needs, and the Legislature reduced taxes. For the first time, voters elected a woman, Sue Bell Cobb, a Democrat, as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
Also in 2006, former Governor Donald Siegelman was convicted on federal corruption charges. Siegelman began serving his 88-month prison sentence in 2007. In 2008, however, Siegelman was released on bond as he appealed his conviction. His supporters said there was evidence to suggest the prosecution and conviction of Siegelman, a Democrat, resulted from political opposition by Republicans at state and federal levels. But the Republicans denied that politics were involved in their prosecution of the case. In 2012, a federal judge threw out two charges against Siegelman and reduced his prison sentence. Siegelman was released in 2017.
In April 2010, an explosion on an offshore oil rig left 11 people dead and caused about 134 million gallons (507 million liters) of oil to pour from an underwater well into the Gulf of Mexico. Within weeks of the explosion, oil from the spill had contaminated marshes along Alabama’s coast. It harmed marine life and affected the state’s fisheries and tourism industry. Officials called the spill one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
In late April 2011, a series of powerful tornadoes and other destructive storms struck Alabama. The tornadoes, which also hit several other Southern States, killed more than 230 Alabamians and caused billions of dollars in property damage. Hard-hit areas included Tuscaloosa and suburbs north of Birmingham.
In April 2017, Governor Robert Bentley resigned from office after reaching a deal with prosecutors. State lawmakers pursuing impeachment had found probable cause that Bentley had abused his office’s power, breaking ethics and campaign finance laws while covering up an extramarital affair with an aide. Under an agreement with prosecutors, Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges and agreed to resign, forgo retirement benefits, and serve a year of probation. Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey then replaced Bentley as Alabama’s governor.
In 2022, Alabama voters approved a new state constitution. Much of the previous constitution, adopted in 1901, had been made invalid by constitutional amendments and court decisions. Some outdated sections referred to such topics as racial segregation and poll taxes. The old constitution also contained offensive language.
