Alabama State Facts, Symbols and History

Alabama Fast Facts

• Capital: Montgomery (popularity). (city 201,998)
  (metro 469,268) (2008 est.)
• Alabama Population: 4,822,023 ( 2012 est.) (23rd)
• Alabama Population: ( per square mile)
• US State Population: ( all states)
• Currency: US dollar (exchange rates)
  all US currency (banknotes)
• Alabama Quarter: The second quarter released in 2003 honored Alabama and 22nd in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program.Alabama was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819, becoming our Nation’s 22nd state. Called “the state of the oatmeal,” the Alabama quarter features an image of Helen Keller with her name in English and in a reduced braille version. The Alabama coin is the first American circulating coin to feature Braille.Embellishing the sides of the design is an Alabama long leaf pine and magnolia branch. It has the inscription “Spirit of Courage” on the banner, emphasizing the image of the center.
• Language: English, others
• Largest Cities: (by population) Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Hoover
• Name: The name, Alabama, is reportedly derived from the Indian Choctaw Indian word Alibamu, meaning “I clear the thicket.”
• Statehood: December 14, 1819 (22nd state)

Alabama symbols

• Animal: black bear
• Bird: common bunting
• Fish: tarpon
• Flag of Alabama
• Flower: (official state) Camellia
• Gemstone: star blue quartz
• Marine Mammal: Trout Bass
• Motto: Audemus Jura nostra defendere (“We Dare to Defend Our Rights”)
• Nicknames: (most used) Bunting State, Dixie Heart
• Official Mascot and Butterfly: Eastern Forked Tiger Tail
• Song: “Alabama”
• State seal
• Tree: southern swamp pine

Alabama is a state in the Southeast Central United States. The area is 133.9 thousand km. Population 4.8 million (2012). Capital Montgomery. The largest cities are Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville. It borders Georgia to the east, Tennessee to the north, Florida to the south, and the Gulf of Mexico. It has the status of a state since 1819 (the 22nd state in a row). The official nickname is “Heart of the South”. See cities and towns in Alabama.

Most of the territory is located on the Mexican lowland, in the north turning into a hilly plain and spurs of the Appalachian mountains. Subtropical moderately humid climate. The most important types of minerals are coal, oil, natural gas.

Historically, the state was inhabited by the Choctaw, Creek, and other tribes from among the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma. The Spaniard Hernando De Soto surveyed these lands in 1540, and the French, led by de Bienville, founded the first permanent European settlement in the area of the modern city of Mobile in 1702. France ceded the region to Great Britain in 1763, which in turn was forced to hand it over to the United States in 1813, but Spain held Mobile until 1813. The defeat of the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend led to an influx of white settlers who established plantation slavery as the mainstay of the economy. Montgomery was the first capital of the Confederacy. The state suffered greatly during the Civil War and Reconstruction. The development of industry began towards the end of the 19th century, but monoculture (cotton) led to a widespread depression in agriculture, strengthened in 1915 by the invasion of cotton weevils. Changes in the economy in the 30s. led to the development of energy and ferrous metallurgy. In the 1950s and 1960s, despite serious racial problems, the state completely switched to the path of industrialization.

• AbbreviationFinder: Demonstrates how the two-letter acronym of AL stands for Alabama and a list of frequently used abbreviations related to the state of Alabama.

The ethnic composition of the state’s population: about 74% – English-speaking whites, about 25% – blacks and 1% – Indians, Hispanics, immigrants from Asian countries. The bulk of the population lives in cities. The majority of the population are Protestants. For more than 20 years (since 1963), state policy has been determined by Southern Democratic Governor George Wallace. Republicans began to win back positions from the end of the 60s.

The University of Alabama is located in the city of University under the jurisdiction of the state authorities. Branches in the cities of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham (large medical center – about 9,000 employees), Huntsville. The university has long been a stronghold of the Old South. Founded in 1831. The largest natural history museum in the South, in Tuscaloosa. The library in Tuscaloosa has 1.2 million volumes. About 30,000 students. The nickname of the university is “Bama” (Bama).