The original inhabitants of Alabama were the Native Americans belonging to the Mississippi culture. Near the city of Florence you can visit a museum that shows the history of these Indians. The Spaniards were the first Europeans to explore this area. This was about the year 1519. On December 14, 1819, Alabama joined the United States as the twenty-second state. According to EJIAXING, the capital became Montgomery in 1846. Alabama is also called the “Cotton State”. Growing cotton brought great prosperity and wealth to Alabama in the 19th century. The state owed its wealth in part to slaves, because they were used to grow cotton.
Around the year 1861, Alabama joined the Confederation of Southern States, which broke away from the ‘Union’, resulting in the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865. Alabama supplied many soldiers for the war, about one hundred thousand. No major battles were fought on the Alabama territory. It took years for the economy to recover somewhat after the Civil War. In the last years of the nineteenth century, Alabama developed into one of the largest production areas for iron and steel. After the Second World War there was more and more industrialization in the territory. Factories for auto parts, paper mills and electrical companies sprang up like mushrooms.
The state has 4 major airports: in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery. The ‘Amtrak’ (train) has connections with New Orleans and New York. The pick-up point for the Amtrak is in Birmingham.
The museum lover can visit the city of Birmingham. The Red Mountain Museum and the Birmingham Museum of Art can be found here. This state has no National Parks but a number of National Forests. Apart from the National Forests, there is little natural beauty to be found in Alabama.
U.S. Space & Rocket Center
Huntsville is home to the US Space & Rocket Center, which is said to be the world’s largest museum of space exploration and research. In any case, there are training courses for the future generation of astronauts. After the Second World War, rocket expert Wernher von Braun from Nazi Germany settled in Huntsville. In the Rocket Center you can admire rockets and other things like that. You can also sign up for a tour of the Rocket Center where Von Braun has conducted years of research.
The Alabama flag
The original flag (1861 – 1865) was blue and had a yellow star. It was the flag with which the state declared its separation from the Union. After the civil war, people wanted a calm and insignificant flag. It became this one that was recognized as a flag for the state in 1895. Despite the fact that the flag has never been said to have meaning, it is suspected that this flag is also a silent reference to the civil war.
Extra information
- Staatsleus: The Heart of Dixie
- Member of the union since: December 12, 1819
- Its area is 133,667 square kilometers.
- State flower Camellia
- Staatsboom Southern longleaf pine
- State bird Yellowhammer
- Staatsinsect Monarch Butterfly
