Welcome to Alabama

Alabama is a state as rich in opportunity as it is heritage. Hernando de Soto first claimed Alabama for Spain in 1540, but it was the French who established the first permanent settlement at Mobile in 1702. Alabama became part of the United States at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Settlers poured into Alabama so fast that Alabama achieved statehood in 1819, as the twenty-second state. Because of floods in 1826, the capital was moved from Cahawaba, near Selma to Tuscaloosa. Montgomery became the permanent capital in 1846.