Alabama

The State of Alabama, is located in the of the. It is bordered by to the north,  to the east,  and the  to the south, and  to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland waterways. The state ranks 23rd in population with almost 4.6 million residents in 2006. From the until, Alabama, like many Southern States, suffered economic hardship. In the years following the war, Alabama experienced significant recovery as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and high technology. Today, the state is heavily invested in the aerospace, education, health care, banking, and various heavy industries including automobile manufacturing, mineral extraction, steel production and fabrication.

Alabama is officially nicknamed the  State, which is also the name of the. Alabama is also known as the "." The capital of Alabama is, and the largest city is.

Etymology of state name
The, an which resided just below the confluence of the  and s on the upper reaches of the , served as the  of the names of the river and state. The word Alabama is believed to have originated from the and was later adopted by the Alabama tribe as their name. The spelling of the word varies significantly between sources. The first usage appears in three accounts of the expedition of  with Garcilasso de la Vega using Alibamo while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote Alibamu and Limamu, respectively. As early as, the tribe was known to the as Alibamon with French maps identifying the river as Rivière des Alibamons. Other spellings of the appellation have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, and Allibamou. The use of state names derived from is common with an estimated 27 states having names of Indian origin.

Although the origin of Alabama was evident, the meaning of the tribe's name was not always clear. An article without a appearing in the Jacksonville Republican on,  originated the idea that the meaning was "Here We Rest." This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of. Experts in the have been unable to find any evidence that would support this translation. It is now generally accepted that the word comes from the Choctaw words alba (meaning "plants" or "weeds") and amo (meaning "to cut", "to trim", or "to gather"). This results in translations such as "clearers of the thicket" or even "herb gatherers" which may refer to clearing of land for the purpose of planting crops or to collection of medicinal plants by.

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 the area is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second largest inland waterway system in the. About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general descent towards the and the Gulf of Mexico. The region is mostly mountainous, with the  cutting a large valley creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. Another natural wonder in Alabama is rock, the longest  east of the, located just south of , in.

Alabama generally ranges in elevation from, down at , to over 1,800 feet (550 m) in the in the northeast. The highest point is (see map), at a height of nearly 2,405 ft (733 m).

States bordering Alabama include to the north;  to the east;  to the south; and  to the west. Alabama has coastline at the, in the extreme southern edge of the state.

in Alabama include near ;  in ;  in ;  in ; and  near.

Alabama also contains the, the , and the.

, along the Gulf Coast, is the largest county in the state in both land area and water area.

A 5-mile-wide meteorite impact crater is located in, just north of Montgomery. This is the, which is the site of "Alabama's greatest natural disaster." A 1,000-foot-wide meteorite hit the area about 80 million years ago. The hills just east of downtown showcase the eroded remains of the impact crater that was blasted into the bedrock, with the area labeled the  or astrobleme ("star-wound") because of the concentric rings of fractures and zones of shattered rock that can be found beneath the surface. In 2002, Christian Koeberl with the Institute of Geochemistry University of Vienna published evidence and established the site as an internationally recognized impact crater.

Climate
The of Alabama is described as  with an average  annual temperature of 64°F (18°C). Temperatures tend to be warmer in the southern part of the state with its close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, while the northern parts of the state, especially in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast, tend to be slightly cooler. Generally, Alabama has very hot summers and mild winters with copious precipitation throughout the year. Alabama receives an average of 56 inches of rainfall annually and enjoys a lengthy growing season of up to 300 days in the southern part of the state.

Summers in Alabama are among the hottest in the United States, with high temperatures averaging over 90 °F throughout the summer in the entire state. Alabama is also prone to s and even s. Areas of the state far away from the Gulf are not immune to the effects of the storms, which often dump tremendous amounts of rain as they move inland and weaken.

South Alabama reports more than any part of the US outside of Florida. The Gulf Coast, around Mobile Bay, averages between 70 and 80 days per year with thunder reported. This activity decreases somewhat further north in the state, but even the far north of the state reports thunder on about 60 days per year. Occasionally, thunderstorms are severe with frequent and large  - the central and northern parts of the state are most vulnerable to this type of storm. Alabama ranks seventh in the number of deaths from lightning and ninth in the number of deaths from lightning strikes per capita. Sometimes es occur - these are common throughout the state, although the peak season for tornadoes varies from the northern to southern parts of the state. Alabama shares the dubious distinction, with, of having reported more than any other state - according to statistics from the  for the period   to. An F5 tornado is the most powerful of its kind. Several long - tracked F5 tornadoes have contributed to Alabama reporting more tornado fatalities than any other state except for and. The of March, 1974, badly affected Alabama. The northern part of the state - along the Tennessee Valley - is one of the areas in the US most vulnerable to violent tornadoes. The area of Alabama and Mississippi most affected by tornadoes is sometimes referred to as, as distinct from the of the Southern Plains. Alabama is one of the few places in the world that has a secondary tornado season (November and December) in addition to the Spring severe weather season.

Winters are generally mild in Alabama, as they are throughout most of the, with average January low temperatures around 40 °F in Mobile and around 32°F in Birmingham. Snow is a rare event in much of Alabama. Areas of the state north of Montgomery may receive a dusting of snow a few times every winter, with an occasional moderately heavy snowfall every few years. In the southern Gulf coast, snowfall is less frequent, sometimes going several years without any snowfall.

History
Among the people once living in the area of present day Alabama were  (Alibamu),, , , , , and. Trade with the Northeast via the began during the Burial Mound Period (1000 BC-A.D. 700) and continued until. Meso-American influence is evident in the agrarian that followed.

The founded the first an settlement in the state with the establishment of  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 captured Spanish Mobile in 1814. Alabama was the twenty-second state admitted to the Union, in 1819.

The economy of the central "" featured large cotton plantations whose owners built their wealth on the labor of enslaved African Americans. It was named for the dark, fertile soil. Elsewhere poor whites were subsistence farmers. According to the 1860 census, enslaved African Americans comprised 45% of the state's population of 964,201. There were only 2,690 free persons of color.

Alabama seceded from the Union in to join the. Following the Alabama was readmitted to the Union in. 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 the period of, the state was still chiefly rural and tied to cotton. Planters resisted working with free labor and sought to re-establish controls over African Americans. They used and segregation to reduce rights of African Americans and restore their own dominance. By the turn of the century whites effectively disfranchised African Americans and underfunded schools and services for them, but did not relieve them of the need to pay taxes. Continued racial discrimination, agricultural depression, and the failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation, led tens of thousands of African Americans to seek out opportunities in northern cities. They left Alabama in the early 20th century as part of the to industrial jobs and better futures in northern industrial cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York. What had been rapid population growth in Alabama (see table) dropped by half from 1910-1920, reflecting the migration of African Americans out of the state.

Because of the long disfranchisement of African Americans, the state continued as one-party Democratic for decades. It produced a number of national leaders. brought prosperity. Cotton faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base. In the 1960s under Governor, many whites in the state opposed integration efforts. By the moral crusade of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans achieved a restoration of voting and other civil rights through the passage of the national Civil Rights Laws of 1964 and 1965.  segregation ended in the states as were invalidated or repealed. After 1972, the state's voting pattern shifted to the Republican Party in presidential elections (as occurred in neighboring southern states). Since 1990 the state has voted increasingly Republican in state elections.

Demographics


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 immigrants (24,000).

The of Alabama is located in, outside of the town of , an area known as Jemison Division.

Race and ancestry
The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census:

The largest reported ancestry groups in Alabama: American (17.0%), (7.8%),  (7.7%),  (5.7%), and  (2.0%). 'American' does not include those reported as Native American.

Religion
In a 2007 survey, nearly 70% of respondents could name all four of the Christian Gospels. Of those who indicated a religious preference, 59% said they possessed a "full understanding" of their faith and needed no further learning. In a 2007 poll, 92% of Alabamians reported having at least some confidence in churches in the state.

Economy


According to the United States, the 2006 total was $160 billion, or $29,697 per capita for a ranking of 44th among states. Alabama's GDP increased 3.1% from 2005, placing Alabama number 23 in terms of state level GDP growth. The single largest increase came in the area of durable goods manufacturing. In 1999, for the state was $18,189.

Alabama's outputs include  and, , plant nursery items, s, ,  such as  and , s, , s, and es. Although known as "The Cotton State", Alabama ranks between eight and ten in national cotton production, according to various reports, with,  and  comprising the top three. Alabama's outputs include  and  products (including cast-iron and steel pipe);, , and  products;  (mostly coal);  products; cars and trucks; and. Also, Alabama produces and  products, mostly in the  area, which is home of the   and the, headquartered at.

Alabama is also home to the largest industrial growth corridor in the nation, including the surrounding states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia. Most of this growth is due to Alabama's rapidly expanding automotive manufacturing industry which in Alabama alone since its birth in 1993 (and has spread to other states), has generated over 67,800 new jobs. Alabama currently ranks 2nd in the nation behind Detroit in automobile output, but with recent expansions at sites in Alabama, the state by the first of 2009 will surpass Detroit, and become the largest builder of automobiles in North America.

In May 2007, a site north of was selected by German steelmaker  for a $3.7 billion steel production plant, with the promise of 2,700 permanent jobs.

The city of, Alabama's only saltwater port, is a busy seaport on the , and with inland waterway access to the Midwest via the. Alabama levies a 2, 4, or 5% personal income tax, depending upon the amount earned and filing status. The state's general sales tax rate is 4%. The collection rate could be substantially higher, depending upon additional city and county sales taxes. The corporate income tax rate is currently 6.5%. The overall federal, state, and local tax burden in Alabama ranks the state as the second least tax-burdened state in the country.

Alabama as recently as 2003 had an annual budget deficit as high as $670 million, yet is one of only a few handful of states to turn around into large surpluses with its current state's budget surplus at nearly $1.2 billion for 2007, and estimated over $2.1 billion for 2008.

Transportation
Alabama has five major interstate roads that cross it: runs north-south roughly through the middle of the state; I-59/I-20 travels from the central west border to Birmingham, where  continues to the north-east corner of the state and  continues east towards Atlanta;  goes from the border of Georgia and ends in Montgomery, providing a main thoroughfare to Atlanta; and  traverses the southernmost portion of the state, running from west to east through Mobile. Another interstate road,, is currently under construction. When completed (est. 2012), it will connect Birmingham with.

Major airports in Alabama include (BHM),  (DHN),  (HSV),  (MOB),  (MGM),  (MSL),  (TCL), and  (DCU).

Water ports


Listed from north to south

State government
The foundational document for Alabama's government is the, which was ratified in 1901. At more than 770 amendments and 310,000 words, it is the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the.

Alabama is divided into three equal branches:

The is the, a  assembly composed of the , with 105 members, and the , with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation.

The is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the. Other members of executive branch include the cabinet, the, the , the , the , and the.

The is responsible for interpreting the  and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. The highest court is the.

Local and county government
Alabama has 67. 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, all but 7 counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no. 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 ; the government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. However, counties can declare themselves "dry"; the state does not sell alcohol in those areas.

State politics


The current of the state is. The is. The currently holds a large majority in both houses of the. Due to the Legislature's power to override a gubernatorial by a mere simple majority (most state Legislatures require a 2/3 majority to override a veto), the relationship between the executive and legislative branches can be easily strained when different parties control the branches.

During following the, Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the  under. In 1874, the political coalition known as the  took control of the state government from the Republicans. After 1890, a coalition of whites passed laws to and disenfranchise black residents. The state became part of the "," a one-party system in which the 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, with generally no challenger running in the General Election. It was not until the 1980s that Republicans began to successfully challenge and win elections in local and state offices.

Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the, when it bureaucratically, and at times, violently resisted protests for electoral and social reform. The state's governor during the period,, remains a notorious and controversial figure. However, in 2007, the Alabama legislature passed, and the Governor signed, a resolution expressing "profound regret" over slavery and its lingering impact. The bill was signed in the Alabama state house which served as the first Capital of the.

National Politics
From 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by large margins. 1960 was a curious election. The Democrats won with on the ballot, but the Democratic electors from Alabama gave 6 of their 11 electoral votes as a protest to. In, Republican carried the state, in part because of his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which restored the franchise for African Americans.

In, Alabama supported native son and candidate  over both  and. In, Democratic candidate from Georgia carried the state, the region, and the nation, but Democratic control of the region slipped thereafter.

Since 1980, Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the Federal level, especially in Presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates are elected to many state-level offices and comprise a longstanding majority in the.

In, won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote. The only 11 counties that voted Democratic were counties, where s are in the majority.

The state's two current are  and, both Republicans.

In the, the state is represented by seven members, five of whom are Republicans: (, , , , and ) and two are Democrats: ( and ).

Primary and secondary education
Public primary and secondary education in Alabama is under the oversight of the as well as local oversight by 67 county school boards and 60 city boards of education. Together, 1,541 individual schools provide education for 743,364 elementary and secondary students.

Public school funding is appropriated through the Alabama Legislature through the Education Trust Fund. In FY 2006-2007, Alabama appropriated $3,775,163,578 for primary and secondary education. That represented an increase of $444,736,387 over the previous fiscal year.

In 2007, over 82 percent of schools made adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward student proficiency under the National No Child Left Behind law. In 2004, only 23 percent of schools met AYP.

Colleges and universities


Alabama's programs of higher education include 14 four-year public universities, numerous two-year community colleges, and 17 private, undergraduate and graduate universities. Public, post-secondary education in Alabama is overseen by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Colleges and universities in Alabama offer degree programs from 2-year associate degrees to 16 doctoral level programs.

Accreditation of academic programs is through the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges as well as a variety of subject focused national and international accreditation agencies.

Miscellaneous topics

 * The phrase The Heart of  (originating from Montgomery being the first capital of the during the Civil War) 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 . As of October, Alabama also provides an alternative "God Bless America" license plate at no additional charge. Both plates are considered the standard plate for the state.
 * The world's first Electric Trolley System was introduced in Montgomery in.
 * 911 and its use as the standard emergency number was first used in.

Cultural sites

 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville
 * / Huntsville

Events

 * , Mobile's Music Festival
 * Music Festival, Birmingham
 * , Mobile
 * (formerly the Birmingham Bowl)
 * (formerly the Bruno's Memorial Classic)
 * , Mobile
 * (formerly the Birmingham Bowl)
 * (formerly the Bruno's Memorial Classic)
 * (formerly the Birmingham Bowl)
 * (formerly the Bruno's Memorial Classic)
 * (formerly the Bruno's Memorial Classic)

Venues

 * , Montevallo
 * , Birmingham
 * , Tuscaloosa
 * Alys Stephens Concert Hall (Home of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra), Birmingham
 * , Birmingham
 * , Mobile
 * , Huntsville
 * , Auburn
 * , Mobile
 * , Birmingham
 * , Birmingham
 * , Mobile
 * , Mobile
 * , Mobile
 * , Montgomery
 * , Troy
 * , Decatur
 * , Hoover
 * , Birmingham
 * and the
 * , Huntsville
 * , Huntsville