one of the United States of North America, lying between Lat. 30° and 35° N. and Long. 85° and 88° W. It is bounded by Florida and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, the state of Mississippi on the west, Tennessee on the north, and Georgia on the east. Its length is 330 miles, breadth 174, and area 50,722 square miles. The country, to the extent of more than 50 miles from the coast, consists of uneven lands, of a poor sandy soil, bearing little except pines, but interspersed with marshes and alluvial tracts on the sides of the streams, which are extremely fertile. Higher up, the country becomes fertile and beautiful, and it bears that aspect as far as the mountains occupying the northern part of the state. These mountains are about 50 miles in breadth, and are supposed to exceed 1500 feet in height, but have peaks rising much higher. They are covered with a stony soil, but on their southern side are many rich and beautiful valleys, clothed with forests of oak, hickory, walnut, gum, and maple. The country abounds in coal and iron Alabama ore, with numerous marble and hard and soft limestone quarries. The climate in the southern and low-lying parts of the country is very warm, but in the more elevated parts mild and salubrious. Its principal river, the Alabama, is formed by the junction of the Coosa and the Tallapoosa, and flowing S.S.W., unites with the Tombecbee, 45 miles above Mobile Bay, to form the river Mobile. The population of this state has rapidly increased during the last forty years, being in 1810 only 20,845, and in 1850, 779,001; of whom 344,323 were slaves. Its commercial prosperity has fully kept pace with the increase of its population; for in the year ending 30th June 1851, the value of its exports amounted to $18,528,824, being greater than that of any of the other states, with the exception of New York and Louisiana. Its imports for the same period amounted to $413,446. The following are the principal of its agricultural productions for the year 1850:—560,360 bales of ginned cotton; 637,829 lbs. of wool; 292,429 bushels of wheat; 28,485,966 bushels of Indian corn; 163,605 lbs. of tobacco; 3,961,592 lbs. of butter; 30,423 lbs. of cheese; and 31,801 tons of hay. In the same year the quantity of improved land amounted to 4,387,088 acres; the value of its farming implements and machinery was $5,066,814; and of its live stock $31,558,686. It enjoys great facilities for commerce from its rivers being navigable to a great distance from the sea, as also from its railroads, of which, in January 1852, 121 miles were open, and 190 miles in progress; and besides these, it has 52 miles of canals. Several large cotton factories have been established, and the people are now beginning to direct their attention to the mineral wealth of the country: coal-mining is carried on to a considerable extent, and several iron forges have recently been erected. The facilities presented for shipbuilding are likewise beginning to attract notice. By the last census (1850) the representative population was 631,272, who send seven members to Congress. The government is vested in a governor, senate, and house of representatives, who meet biennially at Montgomery. The senate consists of 33 members, elected for four years, one-half going out every two years: the house of representatives consists of 100 members elected for two years. The members of both houses receive $4 a-day each, and the governor has a salary of $2500. In 1847, the public records and offices were removed from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery, where the meetings of the legislature are now held. The Capitol was destroyed by fire in 1849, but another has been erected on its site, completed in November 1851. The judges of the supreme and chancery courts are elected by the joint vote of both houses of the General Assembly for a period of six years: and by an amendment in the jurisdiction ratified in January 1850, the people elect the judges of the circuit courts for a similar period. The jurisdiction of the circuit courts extends to all civil and criminal causes in the state, and that of the supreme court to hearing and deciding in appeals from the inferior courts. A well-endowed university has been founded at Tuscaloosa, and there is also a Baptist, a Catholic, and a Methodist college. This state is divided into fifty-three counties. It was admitted into the Union as an independent state, by an act of Congress in 1819.