Alabama Info
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Capital
City: Montgomery
Economy: Manufacturing, textiles and agriculture.
Population: 4,447,100
Time Zone: 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (-6
GMT). Daylight Saving Time is observed April-October
 Alabama's
Flag:
Crimson St. Andrew's cross on a white field, patterned after the Confederate
Battle Flag, and adopted in 1895. The bars forming the cross must
not be less than six inches broad and must extend diagonally across
the flag from side to side.
History of Alabama:
Spanish explorers are believed to have arrived at Mobile Bay in 1519,
and the territory was visited in 1540 by the explorer Hernando de
Soto. The first permanent European settlement in Alabama was founded
by the French at Fort Louis de la Mobile in 1702. The British gained
control of the area in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, but had to cede
almost all the Alabama region to the U.S. after the American Revolution.
The Confederacy was founded at Montgomery in February 1861 and, for
a time, the city was the Confederate capital. During the last part
of the 19th century, the economy of the state slowly improved. At
Tuskegee Institute, founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington, Dr. George
Washington Carver carried out his famous agricultural research. In
the 1950s and '60s, Alabama was the site of such landmark civil-rights
actions as the bus boycott in Montgomery (1955–56) and the “Freedom
March” from Selma to Montgomery (1965). Today paper, chemicals,
rubber and plastics, apparel and textiles, and primary metals constitute
the leading industries of Alabama. Continuing as a major manufacturer
of coal, iron, and steel, Birmingham is also noted for its world-renowned
medical center, especially for heart surgery. The state ranks high
in the production of poultry, soybeans, milk, vegetables, livestock,
wheat, cattle, cotton, peanuts, fruits, hogs, and corn. Points of
interest include the Helen Keller birthplace “Ivy Green”
at Tuscumbia, the Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville, the White
House of the Confederacy, the restored state Capitol, the Civil Rights
Memorial, the Shakespeare Festival Theater Complex in Montgomery,
the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, the Russell Cave near Bridgeport,
the Bellingrath Gardens at Theodore, the USS Alabama at Mobile, Mound
State Monument near Tuscaloosa, and the Gulf Coast area.
Other Alabama Links:
Alabama Bureau of Tourism and
Travel
Alabama Department of Education
Alabama League of Municipalities
Business Council of Alabama
Alabama Travel Council
Alabama Public Library Service
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