This article is about the U.S. State; for other meanings, see Alabama (disambiguation).
State of Alabama
(Flag of Alabama)
(Seal of Alabama)
State nickname: Camellia State, The Heart of Dixie¹, Yellowhammer State
Other U.S. States
Capital
Montgomery
Largest city
Birmingham
Governor
Bob Riley (R)
Senators
Richard Shelby (R)
Jeff Sessions (R)
Official languages
English
Area
52,423 mi²/135,775 km² (30th)
- Land
50,750 mi²/131,442 km²
- Water
1,673 mi²/4,333 km² (3.19%)
Population (2000)
- Population
4,447,100 (23rd)
- Density
33.84 /km² (26th)
Admission into Union
- Date
December 14, 1819
- Order
22nd
Time zone
Central: sweet home alabama mp3 UTC-6/DST-5
Latitude
30°13'N to 35°N
Longitude
84°51'W to 88°28'W
Width
190 mi/306 km
Length
330 mi/531 km
Elevation
- Highest point
Mount Cheaha 2,408 ft/734 m
- Mean
499 ft/152 m
- Lowest point
0 ft/0 m
Abbreviations
- USPS
AL
- ISO 3166-2
US-AL
Web site
www.alabama.gov
State motto
We Dare Defend Our Rights
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 state located in the southern United States.
History
Main article: History of Alabama
The memory of the Native American presence is particularly strong in Alabama. Among Native American people alabama secretary of state once living in present Alabama were Alabama (Alibamu), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Koasati, and Mobile. Trade with the Northeast via the Ohio sweet home alabama lyrics River began during the Burial Mound Period (1000 B.C.-A.D. 700) and continued until European contact. Meso-American influence is evident in the agrarian Mississippian culture university of west alabama that university of north alabama followed.
The French established alabama (at)aol.com info alabama history the first European settlement in the state with the establishment of Mobile alabama state university in 1702. Southern Alabama was French from 1702–1763, part of British West Florida from 1763–1780, and part of Spanish West Florida from 1780–1814. Northern and central Alabama was part of British Georgia from 1763–1783 and part of the American Mississippi territory thereafter. Its statehood delayed by the lack of a coastline (rectified when Andrew Jackson captured Spanish Mobile in 1814), Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819.
The state of Alabama seceded alabama state parks from the Union on January 11, 1861 and became the Alabama Republic and on February 18, 1861 became a Confederate state. While not many battles were fought in the state, it contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the Civil War. After the war mobile alabama a provisional government was set up in gulf shores alabama state of alabama 1865 and Alabama was officially readmitted to the Union on July 14 1868.
The cradle of the Confederacy during the Civil War, Alabama was at stage center in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Law and government
Main article: Law and Government of Alabama
Local & County Government
Alabama has 67 counties have their own alabama state map 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, alabama all but 7 counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties alabama newspapers in the state homes for sale in alabama have to lobby to the Local Legislation Committee the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste alabama news disposal to land use zoning.
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 alabama virtual library current Alabama Constitution was alabama board of nursing adopted in 1901.
During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by federal troops map of alabama of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1877, the Reconstruction period ended with the recognition of Rutherford B. Hayes as President-elect. White Southerners assumed control of the government and passed laws to segregate and alabama real estate disenfranchise black residents. The state became part of the "Solid South," a one-party system alabama state in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections alabama wild women in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally no Republican challenger orange beach alabama running.
From alabama football 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by margins as high as 73 percentage points. In 1960, Alabama gave sweet home alabama most of its electoral votes to segregationist candidate Harry F. Byrd. In 1964, the national Republican Party began to win more votes in the South by following a "Southern Strategy" which emphasized "states' rights" and the increasing liberalism alabama state department of education of the national Democratic Party. The first such candidate was conservative Barry Goldwater, who became the first Republican candidate supported by Alabama. In 1968, Alabama jefferson county alabama supported native son and American Independent Party (Segregationist) candidate George Wallace.
The last Democratic candidate to win Alabama's montgomery alabama votes in a presidential election was Southerner Jimmy Carter in 1976. Today, the lynyrd skynyrd sweet home alabama Republican party has become increasingly dominant alabama crimson tide in conservative Alabama politics. However, in local politics, Democrats still control many offices, including majorities in both houses of the Legislature, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans lynard skynard sweet home alabama in the state. 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 alabama escorts only 11 counties voting Democratic were Black Belt counties, where African Americans are in the majority.
U.S. birmingham, alabama presidential election, 2004, in Alabama
Geography
Main article: Geography of Alabama
Map of Alabama
Alabama is the 30th largest state in the sweet home alabama lynyrd skynyrd United States with 135,775 km2 (52,423 mi2) of total area. 3.19% of that is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water. About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general incline towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Alabama generally ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay, to a little more than alabama power 1800 feet university alabama map of alabama or 550 meters in the Appalachian mountains in the northeast. The highest mobile, alabama point is Mount Cheaha.
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 are poultry and eggs, cattle, nursery stock, peanuts, cotton, vegetables, milk, and soybeans. Its industrial outputs are paper, lumber and wood products, mining, rubber and plastic products, uss alabama transportation equipment and apparel.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Alabama
Historical populations
Census year
Population
1800
1,250
1810
9,046
1820
127,901
1830
309,527
1840
590,756
1850
771,623
1860
964,201
1870
996,992
1880
1,262,505
1890
1,513,401
1900
1,828,697
1910
2,138,093
1920
2,348,174
1930
2,646,248
1940
2,832,961
1950
3,061,743
1960
3,266,740
1970
3,444,165
1980
3,893,888
1990
4,040,587
2000
4,447,100
As of 2004, Alabama's population was estimated to be 4,530,182. The state had 108,000 foreign-born (2.4% of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2% gulf shores, alabama were illegal dothan alabama aliens (24,000).
Race and ancestry
The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census:
Census year:
2000
1990
White
71.1%
73.6%
Black
26.0%
25.3%
Asian
0.7%
0.5%
Native American
0.5%
0.4%
Other race
0.7%
0.1%
Mixed race
1.0%
*
White, non-Hispanic
70.3%
73.3%
Hispanic‡
1.7%
0.6%
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: university of south 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
The major religions of Alabama:
Christian – 92%
Protestant – 79%
Baptist – 49%
Methodist – 10%
Presbyterian – 3%
Episcopalian – 2%
Church of God – 2%
Church of Christ – 2%
Pentecostal – 2%
Lutheran – 2%
Other Protestant – 7%
Catholic – 13%
Other religions – 1%
Non-religious – 7%
Colleges and Universities (incomplete)
Main article: List of colleges and universities in Alabama
Air University
Alabama A&M University
Alabama State University
Andrew Jackson University
Athens State University
Auburn University
Auburn University at Montgomery
Birmingham-Southern College
Concordia College-Selma
Faulkner University
Heritage Christian University
Huntingdon College
Jacksonville State University
Judson College
Miles College
Oakwood College
Samford University
Selma University
Southeastern Bible College
Southern Christian University
Spring Hill College
Stillman College
Talladega College
Troy University System (formerly "Troy State University System")
Main Campus (Troy)
Troy University at Dothan
Troy University at Montgomery
Troy University at Phenix City
Tuskegee University
United States Sports Academy
University of Alabama System
Main Campus (Tuscaloosa)
Birmingham
Huntsville
University of Mobile
University of Montevallo
University of North Alabama
University of South Alabama
University of West Alabama
Virginia College
Culture and interests
Famous Alabamians
Music of Alabama
Alabama Public Television, state wide public TV network
List of television stations in Alabama
Alabama Shakespeare Festival
U.S. Space Camp
Rickwood Field
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail
Visionland Theme Park
Vulcan statue
References
Pickett, Albert J. (1851) History of Alabama: And Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period. Charleston, South Carolina: Walker and birmingham alabama James.
Armes, Ethel. (1910) "The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama." Cambridge, Massachusetts: The University Press.
Adams, George I.; Butts, Charles; Stephenson, L. W.; & Cooke, Wythe (1926). Geology of Alabama. Geological alabama department of education Survey of Alabama, Special Report No. 14. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press.
Carmer, Carl. (1934) Stars Fell on Alabama. New York, New alabama dot York: The Literary Guild.
Workers of the Writer's Program of the Works Progress Administration. (1941) Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South. American Guide Series. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama State Planning Commission.
U.S. Census Bureau.
Alabama QuickFacts. Geographic and demographic information.
Alabama - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1800 to 1990 (PDF)
External links
Alabama.gov - Official website.
TourAlabama.org - Alabama Department of Tourism and Travel
Archives.state.al.us - Alabama Department of Archives and History
All About Alabama at the Archives Department site
Code of Alabama 1975 - at the Alabama Legislature site
Alabama QuickFacts from the U.S. Census Bureau
Notes
¹ The phrase The Heart of Dixie is required by state alabama alabama department of corrections jobs law to be included on standard state license plates, but has recently been reduced to a very small size and eclipsed by the phrase Stars Fell on Alabama.
State of Alabama
Capital:
Montgomery
Largest Metro:
Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman Metropolitan Area
Regions:
Greater Birmingham | Black Belt | Central Alabama | Lower Alabama | Mobile Bay | North Alabama | South Alabama