Alabama has a total area of 52,419 square miles (135,760 km²).

The first European settlement in Alabama was founded by the French at Old Mobile in 1702. The city was moved to the current site of Mobile in 1711.

The first capitol building in Montgomery burned down in 1849, but it was rebuilt on the same site in 1851. The second capitol building, designed by Barachias Holt of Exeter, Maine, remains to the present day.

The “Alabama Fever” land rush occurred when settlers and land speculators poured into Alabama to take advantage of fertile land suitable for cotton cultivation after the state was admitted to the Union.

North Alabama is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes.

During Reconstruction, Alabama was represented in Congress by three African-American congressmen: Jeremiah Haralson, Benjamin S. Turner, and James T. Rapier.

The use of state names derived from Native American languages is common in the U.S.; an estimated 26 states have names of Native American origin.

Baldwin and Mobile counties became part of Spanish West Florida in 1783, part of the independent Republic of West Florida in 1810, and finally part of the Mississippi Territory in 1812.

The 2011 tornado outbreak in Alabama resulted in 238 deaths and caused significant devastation to many communities across the state.