Nicknames: Yellowhammer State, Heart of Dixie
Motto: Audemus jura nostra defendere
Official language: English
Capital: Montgomery
Largest city: Birmingham
Time zone: Central, UTC-6/DST-5
Abbreviations: AL US-AL
Web site: www.alabama.gov
State bird: Yellowhammer
State flower: Camellia
State reptile: Alabama red-bellied turtle
State soil: Bama
State song: "Alabama" / Sweet Home Alabama (unofficial)
State spirit: Conecuh Ridge
State tree: Longleaf Pine
State fossils: Basilosaurus cetoides

• Alabama introduced the Mardi Gras to the western world. The celebration is held on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins.
• Alabama workers built the first rocket to put humans on the moon.
• Alabama is the only state with all major natural resources needed to make iron and steel. It is also the largest supplier of cast-iron and steel pipe products.
• Huntsville is known as the rocket capital of the World.
• The Alabama Department of Archives is the oldest state-funded archival agency in the nation.
• The word 'Alabama' means tribal town in the Creek Indian language.
• Alabama resident Sequoyah devised the phonetic, written alphabet of the Cherokee language.
• At the Battle of Mobile Bay Admiral David Farragut issued his famous command, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." The event occurred on August 5, 1864.
• Alabama generally ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay, to a little more than 1,800 feet (550 m) in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast. The highest point is Mount Cheaha.
• The North Alabama region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes.
• National Parks in Alabama include Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Daviston; Little River Canyon National Preserve in Fort Payne; Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport; Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee; and Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site near Tuskegee. Alabama also contains the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Selma To Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail.