When did European explorers come to Alabama?
European Exploration and Colonial Period. Fort Toulouse In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his forces first set foot in what is now Alabama. His arrival marked the beginning of a dramatic cultural shift in the Southeast. From the mid-sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, Spain, France,...
Who was the first person to visit Alabama?
In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his forces first set foot in what is now Alabama. His arrival marked the beginning of a dramatic cultural shift in the Southeast. From the mid-sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, Spain, France, and England vied for control of the region.
What was the first colonial era in Alabama?
Colonial Era in Alabama. In 1540, Hernando de Soto and his men became the first Europeans to traverse Alabama’s interior, bringing death and destruction to several Native American towns on his route. It was not until the arrival of the French, in the persons of the Le Moyne brothers, that the first European settlement was established,...
What was the first settlement in Alabama?
In 1702 the French founded the first permanent European settlement in Alabama, at Fort Louis, north of present-day Mobile. The British had also made a number of trips to the region from the Carolinas, but the French settlements—part of a string of forts arcing southward from Canada and designed to contain the British—were more numerous.
Who was the first person to visit Alabama?
Which country claimed Alabama?
What was the conflict between the Indians of Alabama and American settlers?
What states claimed the Mississippi River?
What was the name of the French settlement in the Mobile River?
When was Mississippi divided?
When did the British give West Florida to Spain?
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Who is the first European explorer to visit Alabama?
explorer Hernando de SotoFort Toulouse In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his forces first set foot in what is now Alabama. His arrival marked the beginning of a dramatic cultural shift in the Southeast.
What Europeans explored Alabama?
The European presence in what is now Alabama began in the early sixteenth century, when Spanish explorers reached the Gulf Coast. In 1540, Hernando de Soto and his men became the first Europeans to traverse Alabama's interior, bringing death and destruction to several Native American towns on his route.
Who found Alabama first?
Alabama State History. 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.
When did Europeans come to Alabama?
Europeans reached the area in the 16th century. During the first half of the 19th century, cotton and slave labor were central to Alabama's economy.
Did the French settle in Alabama?
In 1717, French explorers and settlers traveled up the Alabama River from Mobile and established Fort Toulouse near a Native Creek village at the confluence of two rivers near the present town of Wetumpka, twenty miles north of Montgomery, the present-day state capital.
Was Alabama a French territory?
For sixty-five years the French held the territory now included in Alabama. The population of their colony in 1712 was about four hundred. In 1713 officers of Crozat, a rich Paris merchant who had received from the French king a charter of this colony took possession of the territory.
Was Alabama a Spanish colony?
The Spanish colony of West Florida was a territory in the Southeast that spanned a large section of the central Gulf Coast. Organized in 1783, it represented the last European claim to any portion of the state of Alabama and at one time encompassed most of the southern half of the state.
Where did Alabama come from?
ALABAMA: From an Indian tribe of the Creek Confederacy originally called the Alabamas or Alibamons, who in turn gave the name to a river from which the State name was derived. ALASKA: From Eskimo word "alakshak”, meaning peninsula; also said to mean "great lands."
Where did the Alabama tribe live?
Origins. The tribes lived in adjacent areas in what is now the state of Alabama, By 1780, the tribes had migrated to modern-day East Texas. Although they were two separate tribes, the Alabamas and Coushattas have been closely associated throughout their history.
Who migrated to Alabama?
The top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico (27 percent of immigrants), China (6 percent), India (6 percent), Guatemala (5 percent), and Germany (5 percent). In 2018, 166,266 people in Alabama (3 percent of the state's population) were native-born Americans who had at least one immigrant parent.
What country conducted most early European exploration of the American Southeast?
HERNANDO DE SOTO explored the southeast region of North America for Spain, searching for gold, a suitable site for a colony, and an overland route from Mexico to the Atlantic.
Who were the first Native Americans?
The earliest ancestors of Native Americans are known as Paleo-Indians. They shared certain cultural traits with their Asian contemporaries, such as the use of fire and domesticated dogs; they do not seem to have used other Old World technologies such as grazing animals, domesticated plants, and the wheel.
Who explored Alabama?
The first European to arrive in the area was Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda in 1519. More Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500s including Hernando de Soto in 1540.
Was Alabama a Spanish colony?
The Spanish colony of West Florida was a territory in the Southeast that spanned a large section of the central Gulf Coast. Organized in 1783, it represented the last European claim to any portion of the state of Alabama and at one time encompassed most of the southern half of the state.
What country conducted most early European exploration of the American Southeast?
HERNANDO DE SOTO explored the southeast region of North America for Spain, searching for gold, a suitable site for a colony, and an overland route from Mexico to the Atlantic.
What happened in Alabama in the 1930s?
Alabama in the 1930s Alabamians suffered through the Depression, actually posting higher unemployment rates than any other southern state and boasting the dubious distinction of Birmingham's being arguably the hardest-hit city in America, with its full-time workforce plummeting from 100,000 to 15,000.
Who was the first person to explore Alabama?
Though not the first Europeans to view present-day Alabama—a distinction due to the expeditions of either Alonso Álvarez de Pineda (1519) or Pánfilo de Narváez (1528)—Soto and his men were the first to explore the interior. The Soto expedition landed on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula on May 30, 1539, with 513 soldiers, their servants, and 237 horses. The force proceeded to terrorize and enslave the region's Native American inhabitants throughout its march northward toward Apalache (present-day Tallahassee) in quest of gold. After spending the winter at Apalache, the expedition turned northeastward and travelled through present-day Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Spaniards entered Alabama along the Coosa River and followed it to Talisi, most likely to have been located near present-day Childersburg, Talladega County, according to historian Charles Hudson's widely accepted reconstruction of De Soto's route. They then headed west along the Alabama River.
How many nations claimed Alabama?
During the three centuries of European occupation, Alabama had been claimed by three different nations, each of which contributed to the exploration of its territory. As the eighteenth century drew to a close, so did the era of European rule.
What was the first major cultural shift in the Southeast?
In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his forces first set foot in what is now Alabama. His arrival marked the beginning of a dramatic cultural shift in the Southeast. From the mid-sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, Spain, France, and England vied for control of the region. Native American groups used trade and warfare ...
What was the reason for the Spanish occupation of Pensacola Bay?
Fear of French encroachment combined with an ever-growing threat of incursion by the English spurred the Spanish occupation of Pensacola Bay in 1698. Indeed, on January 26, 1699, four French ships captained by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville appeared offshore before the Pensacola settlement.
What was Soto's method of ensuring cooperation from the town's inhabitants?
Capture of a town leader would become Soto's standard method of ensuring cooperation from the town's inhabitants while he and his men travelled through tribal territories. Understandably, such a tactic aroused great resentment; at one point two Spaniards were slain in an ambush while building rafts to cross the river.
What happened in 1820?
Native American groups, by and large, were in the process of being forced off their lands by the federal government at the urging of white settlers.
Where did the Soto expedition land?
The Soto expedition landed on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula on May 30, 1539, with 513 soldiers, their servants, and 237 horses. The force proceeded to terrorize and enslave the region's Native American inhabitants throughout its march northward toward Apalache (present-day Tallahassee) in quest of gold.
Where did the French settle in Alabama?
In 1702 the French founded the first permanent European settlement in Alabama, at Fort Louis, north of present-day Mobile. The British had also made a number of trips to the region from the Carolinas, but the French settlements—part of a string of forts arcing southward from Canada and designed to contain the British—were more numerous. Port Dauphin, on Dauphin Island, received the first Africans when a slave ship landed there in 1719.
Who were the first Europeans to explore the Mississippi River?
The first known European explorers were Spaniards, who arrived at Mobile Bay in 1519. The main thrust of exploration came in 1540, when Hernando de Soto and his army of about 500 men entered the interior from the valley of the Tennessee River to search for gold. His expedition, which crisscrossed the area extensively, included the first European sighting of the Mississippi River and added greatly to European knowledge of southern indigenous cultures; it also opened the whole region to European settlement. A battle with the warriors of Choctaw chief Tuscaloosa, however, resulted in the slaughter of several thousand Native Americans in the area, one of the bloodiest single encounters between Europeans and indigenous peoples in North America. De Soto ultimately found no gold, and the Spaniards who followed him failed to establish settlements in Alabama.
What is the state of Alabama?
The present-day state of Alabama was originally inhabited by various indigenous peoples. Visible traces of their occupancy, which spanned nearly 10,000 years, may be seen at Dust Cave, a Paleo-Indian site; at Russell Cave, a site dating to the Archaic period; and at Moundsville, a Mississippian site nestled in a series of large mounds that snake across the land. Many place-names in the state are of Native American origin, including the name Alabama itself, which derives from a word that perhaps means “thicket clearers.” The principal indigenous groups at the time of the initial European exploration of the region were the Chickasaw, in the northwest; the Cherokee, in the northeastern uplands; the Upper Creek, or Muskogee, in the centre and southeast; and the Choctaw, in the southwest.
How many people were in Alabama in 1820?
By 1820 Alabama’s population was more than 125,000, including about 500 free Blacks. By 1830 there were 300,000 residents, nearly one-fifth of them slaves, and cotton was the principal cash crop.
Where did the first Africans settle?
The British had also made a number of trips to the region from the Carolinas, but the French settlements—part of a string of forts arcing southward from Canada and designed to contain the British—were more numerous. Port Dauphin, on Dauphin Island, received the first Africans when a slave ship landed there in 1719.
What was the bloodiest encounter between Europeans and Native Americans in North America?
A battle with the warriors of Choctaw chief Tuscaloosa, however, resulted in the slaughter of several thousand Native Americans in the area, one of the bloodiest single encounters between Europeans and indigenous peoples in North America.
Who was the first person to visit Alabama?
Although a member of Pánfilo de Narváez 's expedition of 1528 may have entered southern Alabama, the first fully documented visit was by explorer Hernando de Soto. In 1539 he made an arduous expedition along the Coosa, Alabama and Tombigbee rivers.
Who claimed the land between Alabama and Mississippi?
A strip of land 12 or 14 miles wide near the present northern boundary of Alabama and Mississippi was claimed by South Carolina, as part of the eastern colonies' previous hopeful extensions to the west. In 1787, during constitutional negotiations, South Carolina ceded this claim to the federal government.
What was the economy of Alabama after the Civil War?
For a half century after the Civil War, Alabama was a poor, heavily rural state, with an economy mainly based on cotton production. Most farmers were tenant, sharecroppers or laborers who did not own land. Reconstruction ended when Democrats, calling themselves " Redeemers " regained control of the state legislature by both legal and extralegal means (including violence and harassment). In 1901, Southern Democrats passed a state Constitution that effectively disfranchised most African Americans (who in 1900 comprised more than 45 percent of the state's population), as well as tens of thousands of poor whites. By 1941, a total 600,000 poor whites and 520,000 African Americans had been disfranchised.
How many slaves were there in Alabama in 1860?
By 1860 the investment and profits in cotton production resulted in planters holding 435,000 enslaved African Americans, who made up 45% of the state's population. At the time of statehood, the early Alabama settlers adopted universal white suffrage.
What was Alabama's political system in the 1980s?
As a result of African-American disenfranchisement and rural white control of the legislature, state politics were dominated by Democrats into the 1980s as part of the " Solid South .". Alabama produced a number of national leaders.
What was the impact of the Civil War on Alabama?
During the ensuing American Civil War Alabama had moderate levels of warfare. The population suffered economic losses and hardships as a result of the war. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed all enslaved people in Confederate states. The Southern capitulation in 1865 ended the Confederate state government.
What was the significance of Alabama's secession?
The state's wealthy planters considered slavery essential to their economy. As one of the largest slaveholding states , Alabama was among the first six states to secede. It declared its secession in January 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America in February. During the ensuing American Civil War Alabama had moderate levels of warfare. The population suffered economic losses and hardships as a result of the war. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed all enslaved people in Confederate states. The Southern capitulation in 1865 ended the Confederate state government. A decade of Reconstruction began, a controversial time that has a range of interpretation. Its biracial government established the first public schools and welfare institutions in the state.
When did the Europeans settle in Alabama?
The European presence in what is now Alabama began in the early sixteenth century, when Spanish explorers reached the Gulf Coast. In 1540, Hernando de Soto and his men became the first Europeans to traverse Alabama's interior, bringing death and destruction to several Native American towns on his route. The arrival of the French, in the persons of the Le Moyne brothers, brought the first European settlements, including Mobile in 1711. Wars raging between major powers in Europe during the first half of the eighteenth century resulted in changes in control of various parts of the Southeast from France to Spain to Great Britain. The American Revolution and the ascendancy of the United States in the region ushered in the territorial period in 1798.
When did Alabama become part of the Cherokee?
Alabama became part of the Cherokee homeland only in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless,...
When did Hernando de Soto set foot in Alabama?
In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his forces first set foot in what is now Alabama. His...
What is Alabama known for?
Alabama, which joined the union as the 22nd state in 1819, is located in the southern United States and nicknamed the “Heart of Dixie.” The region that became Alabama was occupied by aboriginals as early as some 10,000 years ago. Europeans reached the area in the 16th century. During the first half of the 19th century, cotton and slave labor were central to Alabama’s economy. The state played a key role in the American Civil War; its capital, Montgomery, was the Confederacy’s first capital. Following the war, segregation of blacks and whites prevailed throughout much of the South. In the mid-20th century, Alabama was at the center of the American Civil Rights Movement and home to such pivotal events as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In the early 21st century, the state’s economy was fueled in part by jobs in aerospace, agriculture, auto production and the service sector.
What was the state of Alabama's economy in the early 21st century?
In the early 21st century, the state’s economy was fueled in part by jobs in aerospace, agriculture, auto production and the service sector. Date of Statehood: December 14, 1819. Capital: Montgomery. Population: 4,779,736 (2010)
Why did the Selma to Montgomery march take place?
In 1965, five months before President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act prohibiting discriminatory voting practices, thousands of non-violent protesters joined a 54-mile Selma to Montgomery march to bring attention to the injustice African Americans faced when attempting to register to vote.
What was the first capital of the Confederacy?
The state played a key role in the American Civil War; its capital, Montgomery, was the Confederacy’s first capital.
Which state declared Christmas a holiday?
Alabama was the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday, in 1836. The Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American flying unit in the U.S. military, were trained in Alabama.
When did European exploration begin?from britannica.com
European exploration, exploration of regions of Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans, beginning about the 4th century bce.
Who explored the African coast?from britannica.com
European exploration of the African coast Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski. Expedition after expedition was sent forth throughout the 15th century to explore the coast of Africa. In 1445 the Portuguese navigator Dinís Dias reached the mouth of the Sénégal, which “men say comes from the Nile, being one of the most glorious rivers ...
What are the three phases of geographical exploration?from britannica.com
Three major phases of investigation may nevertheless be distinguished. The first phase is the exploration of the Old World centred on the Mediterranean Sea, the second is the so-called Age of Discovery, during which, in the search for sea routes to Cathay (the name by which Chinawas known to medievalEurope), a New World was found , and the third is the establishment of the political, social, and commercial relationships of the New World to the Old and the elucidation of the major physical features of the continental interiors—in short, the delineation of the modern world.
What is the name of the island that Ptolemy ruled?from britannica.com
Eastward of this is Ptolemy’s India, with the huge island of Taprobane —a muddled representation of the Indian peninsula and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
What animals did Europeans have?from en.wikipedia.org
The European lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, dogs and various domesticated fowl, from which many diseases originally stemmed. In contrast to the indigenous people, the Europeans had developed a richer endowment of antibodies. The large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced Eurasian germs to the indigenous people of the Americas .
Why did the population of the Americas drop?from en.wikipedia.org
After European contact, the native population of the Americas plummeted by an estimated 80% (from around 50 million in 1492 to eight million in 1650), mostly as the result of outbreaks of Old World disease.
How did Europeans enslave indigenous peoples?from en.wikipedia.org
Europeans enslaved indigenous peoples where they lived in the Americas and transported African slaves to work on large-scale plantations. Indigenous population loss following European contact directly led to Spanish explorations beyond the Caribbean islands they initially claimed and settled in the 1490s, since they required a labor force to both produce food and to mine gold. Slavery was not unknown in indigenous societies. With the arrival of European colonists, enslavement of indigenous peoples "became commodified, expanded in unexpected ways, and came to resemble the kinds of human trafficking that are recognizable to us today". While disease was the main killer of indigenous peoples, the practice of slavery and forced labor was also significant contributor to the indigenous death toll. With the arrival of other Europeans other than Spanish, enslavement of native populations increased since there were no prohibitions against slavery until decades later. It is estimated that from Columbus's arrival to the end of the nineteenth century between 2.5 and 5 million Native Americans were forced into slavery. Indigenous men, women, and children were often forced into labor in sparsely populated frontier settings, in the household, or in the toxic gold and silver mines. This practice was known as the encomienda system and granted free native labor to the Spaniards. Based upon the practice of exacting tribute from Muslims and Jews during the Reconquista, the Spanish Crown granted a number of native laborers to an encomendero, who was usually a conquistador or other prominent Spanish male. Under the grant, they were bound theoretically bound to both protecting the natives and converting them to Christianity. In exchange for their forced conversion to Christianity, the natives paid tributes in the form of gold, agricultural products, and labor. The Spanish crown tried to terminate the system through the Laws of Burgos (1512–13) and the New Laws of the Indies (1542). However, the encomenderos refused to comply with the new measures and the indigenous people continued to be exploited. Eventually, the encomienda system was replaced by the repartimiento system which was not abolished until the late 18th century.
Who was the first person to visit Alabama?
Although a member of Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition of 1528 may have entered southern Alabama, the first fully documented visit was by explorer Hernando de Soto. He made an arduous expedition along the Coosa, Alabama and Tombigbee rivers in 1539.
Which country claimed Alabama?
The English also laid claims to the region north of the Gulf of Mexico. Charles II of England included the territory of modern Alabama in the Province of Carolina, with land granted to certain of his favorites by the charters of 1663 and 1665. English traders from Carolina frequented the valley of the Alabama River as early as 1687.
What was the conflict between the Indians of Alabama and American settlers?
Conflict between the Indians of Alabama and American settlers increased rapidly in the early 19th century. The great Shawnee chief Tecumseh visited the region in 1811, seeking to forge an Indian alliance of resistance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Britain encouraged Tecumseh's resistance movement. Several tribes were divided in opinion.
What states claimed the Mississippi River?
A strip of land 12 or 14 miles wide near the present northern boundary of Alabama and Mississippi was claimed by South Carolina , but in 1787 that state ceded this claim to the federal government. Georgia likewise claimed all the lands between the 31st and 35th parallels from its present western boundary to the Mississippi River, and did not surrender its claim until 1802. Two years later, the boundaries of Mississippi Territory were extended so as to include all of the Georgia cession.
What was the name of the French settlement in the Mobile River?
The French also colonized the region. In 1702 they founded a settlement on the Mobile River, constructing Fort Louis there. For the next nine years this was the French seat of government of New France, or Louisiane (Louisiana). In 1711, Fort Louis was abandoned to floods.
When was Mississippi divided?
In 1817 , the Mississippi Territory was divided. The western portion became the state of Mississippi, and the eastern portion became the Alabama Territory, with St. Stephens, on the Tombigbee River, as the temporary seat of government.
When did the British give West Florida to Spain?
A few years later, during the American Revolutionary War, the British ceded this region to Spain. By the Treaty of Versailles, September 3, 1783, Great Britain ceded West Florida to Spain. By the Treaty of Paris (1783), signed the same day, Britain ceded to the newly established United States all of this province north of the 31°N, thus laying the foundation for a long controversy.
Overview
European colonization
The Spanish were the first Europeans to enter Alabama, claiming land for their Crown. They named the region as La Florida, which extended to the southeast peninsular state now bearing the name.
Although a member of Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition of 1528 may have entered southern Alabama, the first fully documented visit was by explorer Her…
Indigenous peoples, early history
At least 12,000 years ago, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians appeared in what is today referred to as "The South". Paleo-Indians in the Southeast were hunter-gatherers who pursued a wide range of animals, including the megafauna, which became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. Their diets were based primarily on plants, gathered and processed by women who learned about nut…
Early statehood
In 1819, Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state to the Union. Its constitution provided for equal suffrage for white men, a standard it abandoned in its constitution of 1901, which reduced suffrage of poor whites and most blacks, disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters.
One of the first problems of the new state was finance. Since the amount of m…
Secession and Civil War (1861–1865)
The "Unionists" were successful in the elections of 1851 and 1852. Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and uncertainty about agitation against slavery led the State Democratic convention of 1856 to revive the "Alabama Platform". When the Democratic National Convention at Charleston, South Carolina, failed to approve the "Alabama Platform" in 1860, the Alabama delegates, followed by t…
Reconstruction (1865–1875)
According to the Presidential plan of reorganization, a provisional governor for Alabama was appointed in June 1865. A state convention met in September of the same year, and declared the ordinance of secession null and void and slavery abolished. A legislature and a governor were elected in November, and the legislature was at once recognized by President Andrew Johnson, but not b…
Democratic politics and disfranchisement
After 1874, the Democratic party had constant control of the state administration. The Republican Party by then was chiefly supported by African Americans. Republicans held no local or state offices, but the party did have some federal patronage. It failed to make nominations for office in 1878 and 1880 and endorsed the ticket of the Greenback party in 1882.
The development of mining and manufacturing was accompanied by economic distress among …
Progressive era (1900–1930)
The Progressive Movement in Alabama, while not as colorful or successful as in some other states, drew upon the energies of a rapidly growing middle class, and flourished from 1900 to the late 1920s. B. B. Comer (1848–1927) was the state's most prominent progressive leader, especially during his term as governor (1907–1911). Middle-class reformers placed high on their agenda th…