Hurricane Ivan caused over $18 billion in damage in Alabama, making it one of the most destructive storms to hit the state in modern history.

The elevation in Alabama ranges from sea level at Mobile Bay to 2,413 feet (735 m) at Mount Cheaha in the northeast.

In 2002, the 11th US Circuit Court ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments statue. Chief Justice Roy Moore refused to follow the court order, leading to protests. The monument was eventually removed in August 2003.

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.

Alabama’s land consists of 22 million acres (89,000 km²) of forest, which is 67% of the state’s total land area.

Alabama was under military rule from the end of the war in May 1865 until its official restoration to the Union in 1868.

Alabama is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida to the south, and Mississippi to the west.

Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states.

Alabama declared its secession from the Union on January 11, 1861.

About three-fifths of Alabama’s land area is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain, a gentle plain that descends towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.