Alabama

C

Plants and Animals

Forests cover about 65 per cent of the total land area of Alabama. A warm, humid climate, with a long growing season, has helped to produce more than 125 tree varieties and more than 150 species of shrubs.

Mammals and birds include Virginia deer, muskrat, coypu, beaver, flicker (or yellowhammer, the state bird), bluebird, cardinal, blue jay, and mockingbird. Reptiles include snakes, alligators, turtles, and lizards. Fish abound; chief varieties include catfish, bream, bass, crappie, mullet, flounder, and tarpon.

D

Resources, Products, and Industries

Among the major mineral deposits are coal, located mainly in the northern half of the state, and oil and natural gas, found principally in the East Gulf Coastal Plain. Natural gas production grew in Alabama throughout the 1990s, becoming the state's second most valuable mineral product. The state also has substantial deposits of limestone, iron ore, sand and gravel, bauxite, and clay. Alabama is in the Black Belt, an area of rich black soil, where cotton was long the main crop. Peanuts are now the principal crop, though soya beans, cotton, hay, and greenhouse products are also important.

Leading industries include clothing and textiles, transport equipment, primary metals, and paper and paper products. Other major manufactured products include industrial machinery, processed foods, and rubber and plastic products.

III

Population

Alabama has a population of 4,599,030 (2006 estimate), an increase of 10.1 per cent between 1990 and 2000. The average population density in 2006 was 35 people per sq km (91 per sq mi). The state’s major cities are Montgomery, the capital (population, 2005, 200,127); Birmingham (population, 2005, 231,483); Mobile (population, 2005, 191,544); and Huntsville (population, 2005, 166,313).

In 1990 whites made up 73.6 per cent of the population and blacks 25.3 per cent; additional groups included Asian or Pacific Islander, 0.5 per cent; Native American or Aleut, 0.4 per cent; and other races, 0.2 per cent.

A

Education

The first school was established in Alabama in 1799, but the legislature did not provide for a statewide public educational system until 1854. In the late 1990s Alabama spent about US$5,640 on each student's education, compared to a national average of about US$6,835. At the beginning of the 21st century Alabama had 76 institutions of higher education. Among the most notable of these institutions are the University of Alabama, with campuses at University (near Tuscaloosa), Birmingham, and Huntsville; Auburn University, in Auburn; and Tuskegee University, near Tuskegee.

B

Places of Interest

Popular attractions include Cheaha State Park, near Anniston, which is the site of Cheaha Mountain, the highest point of Alabama, and Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, near Alexander City, on the site where Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek in 1814. There are also many historical sites commemorating the American Civil War, such as the fortifications at Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines in Mobile Bay. The first White House of the Confederacy, in Montgomery, contains exhibits of personal furnishings of Jefferson Davis, while the Civil Rights Memorial, in Montgomery, honours 40 people who lost their lives in support of the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1968.

Although many of Alabama’s cultural activities are university related and thus distributed throughout the state, most of its cultural institutions are located in Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery. The most noteworthy art museums are the Birmingham Museum of Art, which contains part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection; the Fine Arts Museum of the South, in Mobile; and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. The state’s principal professional symphony orchestra is in Birmingham, as is the Birmingham Public and Jefferson County Free Library (1902), considered one of the most outstanding libraries in the South.