ALABA'MA, one of the states composing the Union of N. America, was first known to Europeans in the year 1541, half a century after the discovery of America. The celebrated exploring expedition of De Soto had to fight its way fiercely through the tribes who peopled its wilds at that period, and who were much less savage and far more numerous than the northern aborigines. In one instance, a chief's house measured 120 ft. by 40, and included small buildings like offices. Upon the Savannah river, at Silver Bluff, there was found a remarkable temple, 100 ft. long, 40 ft. wide, and proportionably high. In the beginning of the 18th c. the French built a fort on Mobile bay, but the city of that name was not commenced till nine years later (1711). In 1763, when the entire French possessions e. of the Mississippi (except New Orleans) fell into the hands of the English, A. was incorporated first with Georgia, afterwards, in 1802, with the Mississippi territory; but finally, in the year 1819, it became an independent member of the great American confederacy, and is now the fourth in point of population among the southern states.
A. very nearly forms a rectangle, widening a little towards the s.e. and s.w., so that we would naturally expect a fine sea-board; but of this it is deprived by Florida, which occupies fully three fourths of the coast-line. It lies between 30° 10' and 35° n. lat., and between 8,5° and 88° 30' .w. long. ; being about 330 m. in extreme length from n. to s., and 300 m. in breadth. It contains an area of 50,722 sq.m., or 32,462,080 acres, only 5,062,204 of which, or rather less than one sixth, were improved in 1870. The country is neither mountainous nor level, but rugged and broken, especially in the center, with many picturesque views and wild romantic gorges. The Alleghanies termi nate in the n. in a series of elevated hills, and the ground gradually slopes to within 60 m. of the gulf of Mexico, when it becomes level. There are three bays in A., the principal of which is Mobile bay, stretching n. for about 30 m. There are also three large rivers—the Tennessee, the Tombigbee, and the A.; the first of which only makes a sweep into the state at the me. angle, and then another sweep out at the n.w.; the second comes into A. from Mississippi, receives an affluent, Black Warrior, and flows due s. until it is joined by the A., flowing out of Georgia in a s.w. dirtetion. After the union, .the river is called the Mobile, and discharges its waters into the gulf of Mexico. The Tombigbee is about 500 m. in length and navigable for steamboats throughout its entire course in A. The A. is about 600 in. long, and may be ascended in steam
boats to Wetumpka, on the Coosa branch, 460 m. from the gulf; but the navigation of the Tennessee, which has 130 m. of its course in A., is obstructed by the muscle-shoals, a series of rapids. The climate of this state is almost tropical, as it reaches to within 7° of the torrid zone, and its productions are allied to those of the tropics. Rivers rarely freeze. In 1850-1851, the maximum temperature of the three winter months was ascertained to be 82°, the minimum, 18', and the mean at 3 o'clock P.M.. 48.25'. The lowlands are very unhealthy near the rivers and muscle-shoals, but the hilly regions are salubrious. The soil is exlmberantly fertile, yielding more cotton in 1870 than any other state except Mississippi and Georgia. There are fine grazing-lands in the low hills of the n., where the Alleghanies terminate, and the long flat valleys between them are extremely rich. The central part is a great, broken, and swelling prairie, remarkably fertile; while the southern, though often sandy and inferior in productiveness, has many fertile alluvial bottoms, which yield rice. Besides cotton, A. produces large quantities of Indian-corn, oats, sweet potatoes, and butter; a considerable amount of wheat, rye, rice, wool, hay, pease, beans, potatoes, fruits, market-vegetables, and sugar; some tobacco, barley, buckwheat, wine, cheese, grass-seeds, hops, flax, and silk are also raised. In 1870, 14,961,178 acres of land in A. were in farms, averaging 222 acres in size, with a live-stock valued at $26,690,095, and products worth $67,522,335. There is abundance of wild deer and turkeys; and wild geese and ducks frequent the muscle-shoals of the Tennessee in immense numbers. Bears, wolves, and foxes are likewise still met with. The trees, like the animals, are numerous, but not remarkably varied. In the center and a., there are oaks, poplar, hickory, chestnut, and mulberry; in the s., cypress and loblolly; pine is also abundant s. of the mountains. A. is, however, very rich in mineral treasures, particularly in coal, iron, limestone, and marble. Red ochre, lead, and manganese are also found. A vein of bituminous coal of a superior quality. runs eastward from Tuscaloosa into Georgia. There are, in various sections of the state, salt, sulphur, and chalybeate springs. At Blount's springs, a fashionable watering-place, there are several different varieties of sulphur waters. A gold mine was also wrought for a short time in St. Clair co., while the statuary granite of A. is admitted to be the best in the whole of the United States.