Alabama is located on the Gulf Coast in the Deep South, bordered by Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. Its 133,677 sq km of land is primarily devoted to agriculture, notably cotton, peanuts, and soybeans. Oil, lumber, fishing, and manufacturing are also major industries.

The native Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chicasaw peoples were conquered by Andrew Jackson in 1814 and expelled. Alabama received statehood in 1819. Its capital, Montgomery, was briefly capital of the Confederacy. A hotbed of strife during the civil rights movement, notably under Governor George Wallace, Alabama today boasts the aerospace center in Huntsville, a major port and tourism destination in Mobile, and a center of manufacturing in Birmingham.