The name “Alabama” first appears in written accounts from the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540, with Garcilaso de la Vega using Alibamo, the Knight of Elvas using Alibamu, and Rodrigo Ranjel using Limamu.

By 1903, only 2,980 African Americans were registered to vote in Alabama, despite at least 74,000 being literate. This was a sharp decline from the more than 181,000 eligible to vote in 1900.

The Spanish were the first Europeans to reach Alabama during their exploration of North America in the 16th century.

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 “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.

Beginning in the 1940s, courts started to recognize the voting rights of black voters. Legal challenges, such as the one against the state constitutional amendment giving registrars greater latitude to disqualify voters, were successful in overturning some provisions designed to ...Read more

Alabama receives an average of 56 inches (1,400 mm) of rainfall annually.

Alabama hosts 420 bird species that spend at least part of their year in the state.

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