Hurricane Ivan, a category 3 storm upon landfall, struck Alabama in 2004, causing over $18 billion in damage. It was one of the most destructive storms in the state’s modern history.

After seceding, Alabama joined the Confederate States of America, and the Confederacy’s capital was initially at Montgomery. Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the war effort, though few battles were fought in the state.

The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of Alabama from 1000 to 1600 CE, with one of its major centers at the Moundville Archaeological Site.

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

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

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

Alabama is 23rd in the amount of surface water in the United States.

The new voter registration laws, particularly the cumulative poll tax, also disenfranchised poor white voters. By 1941, whites constituted a slight majority of those disenfranchised by these laws, with 600,000 whites and 520,000 African Americans losing the ability to vote.

Alabama remained chiefly agricultural, with an economy tied to cotton. The state constitution of 1868 created Alabama’s first public school system and expanded women’s rights. Legislators funded public road and railroad projects, despite allegations of fraud and misappropriation.

The climate in Alabama is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa) under the Köppen Climate Classification.