Alabama Geography

Basic Facts

• Geographical Region: South
• Size: 52,423 sq.mi.,30th rank overall.
• Admitted to Statehood: December 14, 1819
• Population: 4,708,708; 23rd rank overall.
• Capital: Montgomery
• Other Major City: Birmingham
• Abbreviation: AL

Fun Facts

• Nickname: YellowHammer State
• State Flag: Click Here (opens window to 50states.com)
• State Bird: Yellowhammer (opens window to 50states.com)
• State Flower: Camellia (opens window to 50states.com)

Geographical Description

• Two thirds of the state is covered by the East Gulf Coastal Plain, including swamps.
• Major rivers include the Tombigbee, the Alabama, the Tennessee and the Chattahoochee.
• Russell Cave National Monument, near Bridgeport, is the site of caves that were inhabited continuously from 6000 B.C. to A.D. 1650.
• Alabama is comprised of coastal plains at the Gulf of Mexico sloping into hills and broken terrain in the north

Map: Relief Map of AL

Industry

Paper, lumber and wood products, mining, rubber, iron, steel, automotive manufacturing

Agriculture

Poultry and eggs, cattle, nursery stock, peanuts, cotton, vegetables, milk, soybeans, grains, peaches

Other Information

Fun Facts:

• Mardi Gras was first celebrated in Alabama, introducing it to the western world.
• The first rocket that put humans on the moon was built by workers in Alabama.
• Alabama in 1861 was the first to design and fly the Confederate Flag.
• Russell Cave is where a skeleton of a pre-historic man was found
• In Creek Indian language the word Alabama means tribal town.
• Alabama is the home of George Washington Carver. He discovered more than 300 uses of peanuts.
• The first open heart surgery in the Western Hemisphere was performed in 1902 by Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill in Montgomery by suturing a stab wound in a boy's heart.

More Fun Facts: http://www.50states.com/facts/alabama.htm