- published: 09 Apr 2011
- views: 7662
- author: Freewayjim
Vimeo results:
Youtube results:
More Videos
Loading...
Open Collage in a new Window
Email the Collage
- Loading...
Loading suggestions ...
- A&E; Network
- Aaron's 499
- Adamsville, Alabama
- African American
- African-American
- Al Karak
- Alabama
- Alabama Adventure
- Alabama Theatre
- Alabaster, Alabama
- Alagasco
- Alaska
- All-American Bowl
- Altamont School
- Alys Stephens Center
- American Airlines
- American Civil War
- American Samoa
- AMP Energy 500
- Amtrak
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Annexation
- Anniston, Alabama
- Anshan, Liaoning
- Area code 205
- Argo, Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Asian American
- AT&T;
- AT&T; City Center
- Atlanta
- Auburn, Alabama
- Baltimore
- Bankhead Lake
- Bartow Arena
- Baseball
- Bass Masters Classic
- BBC News
- BBVA Compass
- BBVA Compass Bowl
- BE&K;
- Belk
- BellSouth
- Bessemer, Alabama
- Bibb County, Alabama
- Billings, Montana
- Birmingham
- Birmingham Americans
- Birmingham Barons
- Birmingham Bulls
- Birmingham campaign
- Birmingham District
- Birmingham Fire
- Birmingham News
- Birmingham Stallions
- Birmingham Vulcans
- Birmingham Zoo
- Birmingham, Alabama
- BJCC Arena
- BNSF Railway
- Boise, Idaho
- Boston
- Boutwell Auditorium
- Brasfield & Gorrie
- Brighton, Alabama
- Brisbane
- Brookside, Alabama
- Buffalo Rock Company
- Bull Connor
- Burlington, Vermont
- Cadence Bank
- Cahaba River
- Calera, Alabama
- California
- Cardiff, Alabama
- Caremark Rx
- Catholic
- CBS
- Central Alabama
- Champions Tour
- Chelsea, Alabama
- Cheyenne, Wyoming
- Chicago
- Chicago White Sox
- China
- Cholera
- Citadel Broadcasting
- City
- City wiki
- Clanton, Alabama
- Clay County, Alabama
- Clay, Alabama
- Clear Channel
- Coal mining
- Cobán
- Colorado
- Columbiana, Alabama
- Columbus, Ohio
- Company town
- Concord, Alabama
- Connecticut
- Coosa River
- Corner, Alabama
- County Line, Alabama
- County seat
- Cox Radio
- Crescent (train)
- CSX Transportation
- Cullman, Alabama
- Cumberland Plateau
- Czech Republic
- Dale County, Alabama
- Daniel Building
- Davis Cup
- Daylight saving time
- Decatur, Alabama
- Deep South
- Delaware
- Delta Air Lines
- Demonym
- Denver
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Detroit
- Dixie Alley
- Dixie Bowl
- Do Dah Day
- Documentary film
- Dolomite, Alabama
- Dothan, Alabama
- Dudley Randall
- Dunnavant, Alabama
- Edgewater, Alabama
- English-American
- ESPN
- EWTN
- Fair Park Arena
- Fairfield, Alabama
- Fargo, North Dakota
- Federal Reserve Bank
- FIFA World Cup
- Florence, Alabama
- Florida
- Forestdale, Alabama
- Fortune 1000
- Fortune 500
- Fred Shuttlesworth
- Fultondale, Alabama
- Gadsden, Alabama
- Gardendale, Alabama
- Geography of Alabama
- Georgia (U.S. state)
- Ghana
- Ginger ale
- GrandAm
- Graysville, Alabama
- Great Depression
- Greek Orthodox
- Greensboro, NC
- Greenville, SC
- Guam
- Guatemala
- Gulf Coastal Plain
- Guédiawaye
- Gweru
- Hagåtña, Guam
- Hale County, Alabama
- Hall of Fame Classic
- Hattiesburg
- Hawaii
- HealthSouth
- Helena, Alabama
- History of Alabama
- Hitachi, Ibaraki
- Homewood High School
- Homewood, Alabama
- Honolulu
- Hoover, Alabama
- Houston
- Hueytown, Alabama
- Hungary
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Idaho
- Illinois
- IMAX
- Indiana
- Indianapolis
- Interstate 20
- Interstate 459
- Interstate 59
- Interstate 65
- ION Television
- Iowa
- Irondale, Alabama
- Israel
- Italy
- Jackson, Mississippi
- James Bevel
- Japan
- Jasper, Alabama
- Jim Crow laws
- John Coltrane
- John Hand Building
- Jordan
- Kansas
- Kelly Ingram Park
- Kentucky
- Kimberly, Alabama
- Kindergarten
- Lake Logan Martin
- Lake Neely Henry
- Lake Purdy
- Larry Langford
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Lee County, Alabama
- Leeds, Alabama
- Leer Tower
- Legion Field
- Lewis Smith Lake
- Liberty National
- Limestone
- Lipscomb, Alabama
- List of countries
- Los Angeles
- Louisiana
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Lower Alabama
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Madison, Alabama
- Maebashi
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Mayor
- Maytown, Alabama
- McCalla, Alabama
- McWane
- Meadowbrook, Alabama
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Metropolitan area
- Michigan
- Midfield, Alabama
- Midwest
- Miles College
- Miles Law School
- Milwaukee
- Mining
- Minneapolis
- Minnesota
- Minor, Alabama
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Mobile Bay
- Mobile, Alabama
- Montana
- Montevallo, Alabama
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Moody, Alabama
- Morris, Alabama
- Mulga, Alabama
- Multiracial American
- MyNetworkTV
- NASCAR
- Native Hawaiian
- NBC
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Deal
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New Orleans
- New York
- New York City
- Newark, New Jersey
- Newsweek
- NFL Europa
- Norfolk Southern
- North Alabama
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- North Johns, Alabama
- Northeast Alabama
- Northwest Alabama
- Nucor
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma City
- Olmsted Brothers
- Olympic Games
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Opera Birmingham
- Oregon
- Outline of Alabama
- Pacific Islander
- Pago Pago
- Paralympic
- Passenger railroad
- Paul Finebaum
- Pelham Civic Center
- Pelham, Alabama
- Pell City, Alabama
- Pennsylvania
- Pepsi Cola Company
- Per capita income
- PGA Tour
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pike County, Alabama
- Pinson, Alabama
- Pittsburgh
- Plzeň
- Pomigliano d'Arco
- Population density
- Portland, Maine
- Portland, Oregon
- Poverty line
- ProAssurance
- Protective Life
- Puerto Rico
- Radio
- Rail transportation
- Railroad Park
- Railroad yard
- Railroading
- Randy Newman
- Regions Center
- Regions Financial
- Regions Park
- Rhein Fire
- Rhode Island
- Rick and Bubba
- Rickwood Field
- Rock Creek, Alabama
- Rosh Haayin
- Saginaw, Alabama
- Saint Rose Academy
- Saipan
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Salt Lake City
- Sam Jones (mayor)
- Samford University
- Seattle
- Senegal
- Shannon, Alabama
- Shelby, Alabama
- Sheraton Birmingham
- Sheryl Crow
- Shoal Creek, Alabama
- Sloss Furnaces
- South Alabama
- South Carolina
- South Central Bell
- South Dakota
- Southern Company
- SouthTrust
- Southwest Airlines
- Sprint Cup
- State of Alabama
- Steel
- Sterrett, Alabama
- Sumiton, Alabama
- Superbike racing
- Superior Bancorp
- Sweet Home Alabama
- Székesfehérvár
- Tag line
- Tannehill Ironworks
- Tarrant, Alabama
- Template Alabama
- Tennessee
- Tennessee Valley
- Texas
- The Birmingham News
- The First 48
- The Tradition
- TIME
- Time zone
- Tommy Battle
- Tori Amos
- Tornado Alley
- Town
- Trafford, Alabama
- Trussville, Alabama
- Tufts University
- Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- U.S. Highway 280
- U.S. Highway 31
- U.S. state
- U.S. Steel
- UAB Blazers
- Ukraine
- Unincorporated area
- United Express
- United Kingdom
- United States
- University education
- US Airways
- US state
- USFL
- Utah
- UTC-5
- UTC-6
- Vandiver, Alabama
- Vermont
- Vincent, Alabama
- Vinnytsia
- Virginia
- Virginia College
- Vulcan statue
- WABM
- Wachovia
- Wall Street
- Warrior, Alabama
- Washington (state)
- Washington, D.C.
- Watson, Alabama
- WBMA-LD
- WBRC
- Wells Fargo Bank
- West Virginia
- Westin Hotel
- Westover, Alabama
- WFL
- Wheelchair rugby
- White American
- White flight
- WIAT
- Wichita, Kansas
- Wikitravel
- William A. Bell
- Wilmington, Delaware
- Wilsonville, Alabama
- Wilton, Alabama
- Winneba
- Wiregrass Region
- Wisconsin
- WJOX-FM
- WPXH
- WTTO
- WVTM-TV
- Wyoming
- WZZK-FM
- XFL
- Xterra
- Zimbabwe
-
Al Karak
Karak (also Kerak) (Arabic: Al-Karak الكرك) is a city in Jordan that is known for the famous crusader castle Kerak. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. Karak is the capital city of Karak Governorate.
Karak, once a Kingdom, lies 140 km to the south of Amman on the King's Highway. An ancient Crusader stronghold, it is situated on a hilltop about 1000 meters above sea level and is surrounded on three sides by a valley. Karak has a view of the Dead Sea. A city of about 20,000 people has been built up around the castle, and it has buildings from 19th century Ottoman period. The town is built on a triangular plateau, with the castle at its narrow southern tip, but it is undoubtedly Karak Castle which dominates.
wn.com/Al_Karak -
Alabama
Alabama (
i/ˌæləˈbæmə/) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 23rd-most populous of the 50 United States. Alabama ranks second in the area of its inland waterways.
From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and technology. In addition, the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, added to state jobs.
wn.com/Alabama -
Alaska
Alaska (i/əˈlæskə/) is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Alaska is the 4th least populous and the least densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately half of Alaska's 722,718 residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area.
Alaska was purchased from Russia on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($120 million in today's[when?] dollars) at approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km²). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized (or incorporated) territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.
The name "Alaska" (Аляска) was already introduced in the Russian colonial period, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed". It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.
wn.com/Alaska -
Altamont School
The Altamont School, located in Birmingham, Alabama atop Red Mountain, is a college preparatory day school with coeducational enrollment of grades 5-12. In 2005-2006, The Altamont School enrolled 425 students, with 188 in the Lower School and 237 in the Upper School. Most of the students live in Birmingham and the surrounding communities.
Altamont was established in 1975 as a merger between the Brooke Hill School, a college preparatory school for girls founded in 1940, and the Birmingham University School, a boys' school founded in 1922 by Basil M. Parks.
Following the merger Edna Earle Mullins of Brooke Hill became headmistress of the new school and Bill Haver of B.U.S. became assistant headmaster. One year later, Edna Mullins retired and Bill Haver became headmaster. Prominent roles were also played by Margaret Gage of Brooke Hill and Martin Hames of B.U.S.
In November 2007, long time Altamont teacher Sarah Whiteside took over as headmistress.
Altamont's main campus is located on 28 acres (110,000 m2) on the crest of Red Mountain just south of downtown Birmingham. The main school building houses 40 classrooms, two science wings, a fine arts center, a student center, an art gallery and sculpture garden, a computer lab, a 20,000-volume library, and special studios for chorus, art, photography, orchestra. An audio-visual recording studio was recently added to the fine arts suite. The athletic facilities include two gymnasiums with two basketball courts, three volleyball courts and a weight room. The main campus offers six tennis courts, a soccer field and a track. A second campus provides another gymnasium as well as soccer, baseball, and softball fields.
wn.com/Altamont_School -
American Samoa
American Samoa (/əˈmɛrɨkən səˈmoʊ.ə/ (
listen); Samoan: Amerika Sāmoa, IPA: [aˈmɛɾika ˌsaːˈmoa]; also Amelika Sāmoa or Sāmoa Amelika) is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Independent State of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa). The main (largest and most populous) island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory.
American Samoa is part of the Samoan Islands chain, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles (500 km) south of Tokelau. To the west are the islands of the Wallis and Futuna group.
The 2010 census showed a total population of 55,519 people. The total land area is 76.1 square miles (197.1 km2), slightly more than Washington, D.C. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States.
Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen (1659–1729), a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811), who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving.
wn.com/American_Samoa -
Area code 205
205 is the North American telephone area code for western and central Alabama, including the cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Until 1995, this was the only area code serving Alabama; 205 then split to form area code 334, and later split again to form area code 256. Area code 659 is scheduled to provide numbering relief for the 205 area but no implementation date has been announced.
Coordinates: 33°34′N 87°18′W / 33.567°N 87.3°W / 33.567; -87.3
wn.com/Area_code_205 -
Arizona
Arizona (i/ɛrɪˈzoʊnə/; /ærɪˈzoʊnə/) (Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo; O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak) is a state of the United States, located in the southwestern region of the country. Arizona is also part of the Western United States and of the Mountain West states. Arizona is the sixth most extensive and the 16th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in population by eight cities of the Phoenix metropolitan area: Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Tempe, Peoria, and Surprise.
Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, and it achieved statehood on February 14, 1912. Arizona is noted for its desert climate in its southern half, where there are very hot summers and quite mild winters. The northern half of Arizona also features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees, a very large, high plateau (the Colorado Plateau) and some mountain ranges—such as the San Francisco Mountains—as well as large, deep canyons, where there is much more moderate weather for three seasons of the year, plus significant snowfalls. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff and Alpine.
wn.com/Arizona -
Arkansas
Arkansas (i/ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw) is a state located in the Southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states (N: Missouri; E: Tennessee, Mississippi; S: Louisiana; SW: Texas; W: Oklahoma), and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.
The name “Arkansas” derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word “Arkansas” itself is a French pronunciation (“Arcansas”) of a Quapaw (a related “Kaw” tribe) word, akakaze, meaning “land of downriver people” or the Sioux word akakaze meaning “people of the south wind”. The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881, after a dispute between two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name /ɑrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs and the other wanted /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw.
wn.com/Arkansas -
Atlanta
Atlanta (
/ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city." With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.
wn.com/Atlanta -
Baltimore
Baltimore ( /ˈbɒltɨmɔr/, colloquially /ˈbɔl.mɔr/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is located in the central area of the state along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. The independent city is often referred to as Baltimore City to distinguish it from surrounding Baltimore County.
Founded in 1729, Baltimore is the largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic United States and is situated closer to Midwestern markets than any other major seaport on the East Coast. Baltimore's Inner Harbor was once the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States and a major manufacturing center. After a decline in manufacturing, Baltimore shifted to a service-oriented economy.
At 620,961 residents in 2010, Baltimore's population has decreased by one-third since its peak in 1950. The Baltimore Metropolitan Area has grown steadily to approximately 2.7 million residents in 2010; the 20th largest in the country. Baltimore is also a principal city in the larger Baltimore–Washington combined statistical area of approximately 8.4 million residents.
wn.com/Baltimore -
Birmingham
Birmingham (i/ˈbɜrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm, locally /ˈbɜrmɪŋɡəm/ BUR-ming-gəm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 (2010 estimate), and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census). Birmingham's metropolitan area is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.
A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and economic organisation, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly-skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation and provided a diverse and resilient economic base for industrial prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. Its resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of broad-based political radicalism, that under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy.
wn.com/Birmingham -
Birmingham District
The Birmingham District is a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama where the raw materials for making steel, limestone, iron ore, and coal are found together in abundance. The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and the Warrior and Cahaba coal fields in Central Alabama.
The industrial development of these resources began, in limited fashion, before the American Civil War (attracting the attention of Wilson's Raiders in the course of that conflict).
Beginning in 1871 with the founding of the City of Birmingham and the construction of the first blast furnaces, the development of the district enjoyed explosive growth, slowed only by a deficit of skilled labor and investment capital. This boom earned for Birmingham the nickname "The Magic City" and also spurred the growth of several independent industrial cities and dozens of company towns.
As the steel-making industry has diminished in its economic importance to the district, many of the sites have been abandoned or dismantled. Preservationists are attempting to document and preserve the physical evidence of Birmingham's industrial history. In the spring of 1993 a large-scale survey was undertaken for the Birmingham Historical Society and the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. The results of that survey were published in the book Birmingham Bound.
wn.com/Birmingham_District -
Boston
Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).
wn.com/Boston -
Brisbane
Brisbane ( /ˈbrɪzbən/) is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of approximately 2.1 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, approximately 23 km (14 mi) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River valley between the bay and the Great Dividing Range. While the metropolitan area is governed by several municipalities, a large portion of central Brisbane is governed by the Brisbane City Council, which is by far Australia's largest Local Government Area by population. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.
Brisbane is named after the river on which it sits, which, in turn, was named after Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The first European settlement in Queensland was a penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of the Brisbane central business district, in 1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859.
wn.com/Brisbane -
California
California (pronouncedi/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.
wn.com/California -
Central Alabama
Central Alabama is the region in the state of Alabama that stretches approximately 170 miles (270 km) from the western border with Mississippi to eastern border with Georgia and 136 miles (219 km) from the northern border of Cullman County to the Alabama River in southern Autauga County. With a population 1,870,970 as of 2008. The Birmingham television market also is generally confined to this similar sized area.
The main foothills of the Appalachians such as ridges as Red Mountain, Sand Mountain, Beaver Creek Mountain, Shades Mountain, and Coldwater Mountain are co-located in this region primarily around Greater Birmingham, Gadsden, and Anniston. The easternmost portions of Central Alabama around Anniston is the most ridged and elevated of the region. Coldwater Mountain and Mount Cheaha makes up the highest of the mountain ridges that are located in the eastern portion of the region. The Coosa River divides the easternmost portion of the region from the central portion with the Birmingham area. The westernmost portion of Central Alabama is relatively a flat region with very fertile black soil, i.e. "The Black Belt". The Black Warrior River and its tributaries contribute to the very fertile land of the area, and also serve as a demarcation line between the western and the central portions of the region. The central portion of Central Alabama is mainly the region that varies from rugged to the east to flat to the west. There are numerous valleys that are scattered throughout this region between the mountain ridges including Jones Valley and Shades Valley. Jones and Shades Valley are the largest and the most densely populated of the valleys that are scattered around Central Alabama. Though the central portion is more rugged compared to the westernmost portion of Central Alabama, it is actually the most flood-prone. Urban sprawl has exacerbated the risk of flooding in this area of alternating ridges and valleys.
wn.com/Central_Alabama -
Chicago
Chicago (
i/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.
wn.com/Chicago -
China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
wn.com/China -
Cobán
The city of Cobán is the capital of the department of Alta Verapaz in central Guatemala. It also serves as the administrative center for the surrounding Cobán municipality. It is located 219 km from Guatemala City.
In 2005 the city's estimated population was 86,202. The population of the municipality, which covers a total terrain of 1312 km², was 94,000 people. Cobán, at a height of 1320 m above sea level, is located at the center of a major coffee-growing area.
The city was founded by Dominican friars in 1543. It received the title of an imperial city by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The name Cobán originates from the Q'eqchi', the town's second language. There are several interpretations, one of which is Cob An (foggy place). In 1599 Cobán became bishop's see. The Ferrocarril Verapaz, a railway which connected Cobán with Lake Izabal, operated from 1895 until 1963 and was a symbol for the wealth in this coffee-growing region those days.
The city was developed by German coffee growers towards the end of the 19th century and was operated as a largely independent dominion until WWII[citation needed]. In 1888 a German club was founded. [2] and in 1935 a German school opened its doors in Cobán. Until 1930, about 2000 Germans populated the city [3]. In 1941, all Germans were expelled by the Guatemalan government, led at the time by Jorge Ubico. Some say the reason was pressure from the United States. It has been suggested Ubico's motivation was to seize control of the vast amounts of land Germans owned in the area. Whatever the case may be, it is a fact that many of the Alta Verapaz Germans sympathized with the German Nazi movement[citation needed]. Many ended up in internment camps in Texas and were later traded for American POW's held in Germany. A sizable resident German population persists though most having been completely assimilated into the Guatemalan culture through intermarriage. Multiple German architectonic elements can still be appreciated throughout Cobán.
wn.com/Cobán -
Colorado
Colorado (i/kɒləˈrædoʊ/ or /kɒləˈrɒdoʊ/) is the US state that encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, and the Mountain States. Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 22nd most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,116,796 on July 1, 2011, an increase of +1.74% since the 2010 United States Census.
The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the red colored (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains. On August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it was admitted to the Union in 1876, the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.
wn.com/Colorado -
Connecticut
Connecticut (i/kəˈnɛtɨkət/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. Its capital city is Hartford. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
Connecticut is the 3rd least extensive, the 29th most populous, and 4th most densely populated of the 50 United States. Called the Constitution State, Nutmeg State, and "The Land of Steady Habits", Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
wn.com/Connecticut -
Cumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia [2]. The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the dissected plateau lands lying west of the main Appalachian Mountains. The terms stem from historical usage rather than geological difference, so there is no strict dividing line between the two. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau.
The Cumberland Plateau is a deeply dissected plateau, with topographic relief commonly of about four hundred feet (120 meters), and frequent sandstone outcroppings and bluffs.
At Kentucky's Pottsville Escarpment, which is the transition from the Cumberland Plateau to the Bluegrass in the north and the Pennyrile in the south, there are many spectacular cliffs, gorges, rockhouses, natural bridges, and waterfalls. In Tennessee, the Cumberland Plateau's western border is the Highland Rim east of the Nashville Basin, and its eastern edge is marked by Walden Ridge, which continues south into Alabama as Sand Mountain. Walden Ridge and Sand Mountain are separated from the main portion of the Cumberland Plateau by the Sequatchie Valley, which extends into central Alabama under other names.
wn.com/Cumberland_Plateau -
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.
wn.com/Czech_Republic -
Daniel Building
The Daniel Building is a 20 story, 238 foot (86 m) office building located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Built in 1970, the building originally served as a regional office for the engineering and construction company Daniel International. It also served as the corporate headquarters for Daniel International's real estate division, Daniel Realty, which today is known as Daniel Corporation.
In 1993 Compass Bancshares bought the building from Daniel Corporation. After completing an extensive renovation, Compass moved its corporate headquarters into the building from its old headquarters, which had been sold to UAB for expanded administrative offices. The building has served as the coporate headquarters of Compass Bancshares, and continues to serve as the corporate headquarters of it parent company BBVA Compass. The banks main branch is located in the building.
It is the tallest building in downtown Birmingham that does not directly lie within the Central Business District.
On July 5, 2010, a two-alarm electrical fire broke out in the basement of the Daniel Building. There was severe damage to the basement, with water damage to the first floor and smoke damage extending several floors into the building. Employees were relocated to other facilities while the building was repaired.
wn.com/Daniel_Building -
Delaware
Delaware (i/ˈdɛləwɛər/ DEL-ə-wair) is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, and to the north by Pennsylvania. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom what is now called Cape Henlopen was originally named.
Delaware is located in the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second least extensive, the sixth least populous, but the sixth most densely populated of the 50 United States. Delaware is divided into three counties. From north to south, these three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized.
The history of the state's economic and industrial development is closely tied to the impact of the Du Pont family, founders and scions of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, one of the world’s largest chemical companies.
wn.com/Delaware -
Denver
Denver ( /ˈdɛnvər/) (Arapaho: Niinéniiniicíihéhe' ) is the largest city and the capital of the U.S. state of Colorado. As Denver County, it is the second most populous county in Colorado after El Paso County, which surpassed Denver County as of the 2010 Census. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (1.6 km) or 5,280 feet (1,609.344 m) above sea level, which is defined by the elevation of the spot of a benchmark on the steps of the State Capital building. The elevation of the entire city ranges from 5,130 to 5,680 feet. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station and is the temporal reference for the Mountain Time Zone.
wn.com/Denver -
Detroit
Detroit ( /diˈtrɔɪt/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and the seat of Wayne County. It is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people, and serves as a major port on the Detroit River connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the French explorer, adventurer, and nobleman Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and ranked as the 18th most populous city in the United States. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area with a population of 4,296,250 for the six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, the United States' eleventh-largest, and a population of 5,218,852 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2010 Census. The Detroit–Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000.
Known as the world's traditional automotive center, "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry and an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport,The D, D-Town, Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings), Rock City (after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"), and The 313 (its telephone area code) Detroit became known as the "great arsenal of democracy" for its support of the U.S. role among the Allied powers during World War II.
wn.com/Detroit -
Florida
Florida (i/ˈflɒrɪdə/) is a state in the southeastern United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state capital is Tallahassee, its largest city is Jacksonville, and the South Florida metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S.
Much of Florida is situated on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. Its geography is marked by a coastline, by the omnipresence of water and the threat of hurricanes. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state to border both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and its terrain is characterized by sedimentary soils. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. Its symbolic animals like the American alligator, Florida panther and the manatee, can be found in the Everglades, one of the most famous national parks in the world.
wn.com/Florida -
Ghana
Ghanai/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.
wn.com/Ghana -
Guam
Guam (i/ˈɡwɑːm/; Chamorro: Guåhån) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of sixteen Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations. The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agaña). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism. Discovered by Ferdinand Magellan during a Spanish expedition on March 6, 1521, the first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. For more than two centuries Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons that crossed the Pacific annually. The island was controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States during the Spanish-American War and later formally ceded as part of the Treaty of Paris.
wn.com/Guam -
Guatemala
Guatemala (i/ˌɡwɑːtəˈmɑːlə/ GWAH-tə-MAH-lə), officially the Republic of Guatemala (Spanish: República de Guatemala [reˈpuβlika ðe ɣwateˈmala]), is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its area is 108,890 km2 (42,043 mi2) with an estimated population of 13,276,517.
A representative democracy, its capital is Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City. Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The former Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization, which continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. The Mayas live in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, the southern part of Mexico and northern parts of El Salvador.
Guatemala became independent from Spain in 1821, joining the Mexican Empire. After it became an independent country in its own right, it was ruled by a series of dictators, assisted by the United Fruit Company. The late 20th century saw Guatemala embroiled in a 36-year-long civil war. Following the war, Guatemala has witnessed both economic growth and successful democratic elections. In the most recent election, held in 2011, Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party, won the presidency.
wn.com/Guatemala -
Guédiawaye
Guédiawaye is a town and département of the Dakar Region of Senegal. Lying on the Atlantic Ocean to the north east of Dakar city centre, in 2005 it had a population of 280,353. Until the mid-2000s, the département was part of Pikine.
The town was founded in the 1950s as a planned commuter town for the city of Dakar. It has a large covered market. A further, informal, community grew up adjacent to it from the 1960s.
Notable people from the town include the football goalkeeper Tony Sylva.
Guédiawaye is twinned with:
Coordinates: 14°47′N 17°24′W / 14.783°N 17.4°W / 14.783; -17.4
wn.com/Guédiawaye -
Gweru
Gweru (formerly Gwelo until 1982) is a city near the centre of Zimbabwe at 19°25′S 29°50′E / 19.417°S 29.833°E / -19.417; 29.833. It has a population of about 146,073 (2009), making it the fifth largest city in the nation. Gweru is the capital of Midlands Province. Gweru was founded in 1894 by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson. The first bank opened in Gweru in 1896, and the stock exchange in 1898. The railway arrived in 1902. It became a municipality in 1914 and achieved city status in 1971. The name changed from Gwelo to Gweru in 1982.
It is also home to Thornhill Air Base, an airforce garrison, the Zimbabwe Military Museum and the Antelope Game Park. The Nalatale and Danangombe archaeological enclosures lie nearby, the first known for its patterned brickwork, the second for its Portuguese remains.
In 1928 Gweru resident and pioneer widow Mrs Jean Boggie erected a memorial clock tower in memory of her late husband. The Boggie Clock Tower has become a landmark in Gweru.
Industries include Zimbabwe Alloys, a chrome smelting plant, Bata Shoe Company (established in 1939) and Anchor Yeast the sole manufacturer of yeast (established in 1952). Both are leading employers in Gweru. Gweru is situated in one of Zimbabwe's finest cattle rearing areas: the surrounding agricultural activity revolves around the cattle industry (both beef and dairy). Bata has its own tanning plant for cattle hides and the Cold Storage Commission CSC has an abattoir in Gweru. Flowers are also grown in the area for the export market, and Zimbabwe's largest distiller, Afdis, has extensive vineyards in Gweru for the production of wine. Mining is also prevalent: mainly chromite ore from rich deposits along the Great Dyke to the east of Gweru.
wn.com/Gweru -
Hawaii
Coordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°47′47″W / 21.31139°N 157.79639°W / 21.31139; -157.79639
Hawaii (i/həˈwaɪ.iː/ or /həˈwaɪʔiː/; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi Hawaiian pronunciation: [hɐˈvɐiʔi]) is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.
The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest and is often called "The Big Island" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.
wn.com/Hawaii -
Homewood High School
Homewood High School (HHS) is a public high school, serving grades 9-12, in Homewood, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the only high school in the Homewood City School System. The student enrollment for the 2009-2010 academic year was approximately 1,000. The current principal is Dr. Kevin Maddox. Assistant principals are John Finlay, Eddie Cunningham, Dr. Desiree Smith, and Tyler Burgess. Before coming to Homewood High School, Dr. Maddox served as the principal of Homewood Middle School. In the summer of 2007, the front of the school was remodeled, and a new building, Pathways Alternative School, was constructed in the upper level of the student parking lot. The front office and lobby were also remodeled in the summer of 2008.
Homewood's colors are red, white, and blue and all competitive teams are known as the Patriots. Homewood High School also has a heated rivalry in academics and sports with local high schools Hoover High School, Vestavia Hills High School, and Mountain Brook High School.
wn.com/Homewood_High_School -
Honolulu
Honolulu /hoʊnoʊˈluːluː/ is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as Honolulu County which covers the entire island. For statistical purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau recognizes the urban part of Honolulu as a census-designated place. Honolulu is a major financial center of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The population of the census-designated place was 337,256 at the 2010 census, while the population of the city and county was 953,207. Honolulu is the most populous state capital relative to state population.
In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means "sheltered bay" or "place of shelter". The old name is said to be Kou, a district roughly encompassing the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street and from Hotel Street to Queen Street which is the heart of the present downtown district. The city has been the capital of the Hawaiian islands since 1845 and gained historical recognition following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor near the city on December 7, 1941, and as the birthplace of Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States.
wn.com/Honolulu -
Houston
Houston ( /ˈhjuːstən/) (Alibamu: Yosti ) is the largest city in the state of Texas, and the fourth-largest city in the United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km2). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, which is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 6.08 million people as of July 1st, 2011.
Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It was incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837, and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston—who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.
wn.com/Houston -
Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
wn.com/Hungary -
Idaho
Idaho (i/ˈaɪdəhoʊ/) is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. Idaho is the 14th most expansive, the 39th most populous, and the 7th least densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state.
Idaho is a mountainous state with an area larger than that of all of New England. It is landlocked, surrounded by the states of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and the Canadian province of British Columbia. However, the network of dams and locks on the Columbia River and Snake River make the city of Lewiston the farthest inland seaport on the Pacific coast of the contiguous United States.
Idaho's nickname is the Gem State, because nearly every known type of gemstone has been found there. In addition, Idaho is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found (the other is the Himalaya Mountains, in India)[citation needed], and is the only place six-pointed star garnets have been found[citation needed]. Additionally Idaho is sometimes called the Potato State owing to its popular crop. The state motto is Esto Perpetua (Latin for "Let it be forever").
wn.com/Idaho -
Illinois
Illinois (i/ˌɪlɨˈnɔɪ/ IL-i-NOY) is the 25th most extensive and the 5th most populous of the 50 United States, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base. Illinois is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean; as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.
Although the state's largest population centers today are in northern Illinois, originally the state's population grew from south to north, with settlers arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan. Railroads and John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars. The Great Migration established a large community of African Americans in Chicago that created the city's famous jazz and blues cultures.
wn.com/Illinois -
Indiana
Indiana (i/ɪndiˈænə/) is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populous of the 50 United States. Indiana is the least extensive state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis, the second largest of any state capital and largest state capital east of the Mississippi River.
Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mound sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana near Evansville. Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosiers. The etymology of the word is disputed, but the leading theory as advanced by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society has "Hoosier" originating from the upland South region of the U.S. as a derogatory slang term for a rough countryman, a country bumpkin.
wn.com/Indiana -
Indianapolis
Indianapolis /ˌɪndiəˈnæpɵlɨs/ (abbreviated Indy /ˈɪndi/) is the capital of the US state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 829,718. It is Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S. Census, is the 12th largest city in the U.S., the second largest city in the Midwest (behind Chicago), the second most populous state capital (after Phoenix, Arizona), and the most populous state capital east of the Mississippi River. Indianapolis is also one of the fastest growing regions in the United States.
For much of its history, Indianapolis has oriented itself around government and industry, particularly manufacturing. Today, Indianapolis has a much more diversified economy, contributing to the fields of education, health care, and finance. Tourism is also a vital part of the economy of Indianapolis, and the city plays host to numerous conventions and sporting events. Of these, perhaps the most well known is the annual Indianapolis 500 and the NHRA U.S. Nationals. Other major sporting events include the Brickyard 400 and the Men's and Women's NCAA Basketball Tournaments. 2012 marked the first time Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLVI was played at Lucas Oil Stadium, on February 5, 2012 in Downtown Indianapolis. Also held in Lucas Oil Stadium is the Drum Corps International World Championships, and the Music for All Bands of America Grand National Championships.
wn.com/Indianapolis -
Iowa
Iowa (i/ˈaɪ.əwə/) is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is often known as the "Food Capital of the World".
In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states to live in.
Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east; the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west; the northern boundary is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along approximately 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War.
wn.com/Iowa -
Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
wn.com/Israel -
Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
wn.com/Italy -
Japan
Japani/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
wn.com/Japan -
Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
wn.com/Jordan -
Kansas
Kansas (i/ˈkænzəs/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."
For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers. Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States.
wn.com/Kansas -
Kelly Ingram Park
Kelly Ingram Park, formerly West Park, is a four acre (16,000 m²) park located in Birmingham, Alabama. It is bounded by 16th and 17th Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues North in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. The park, just outside the doors of the 16th Street Baptist Church, served as a central staging ground for large-scale demonstrations during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Reverends Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference directed the organized boycotts and protests of 1963 which centered on Kelly Ingram Park. It was here, during the first week of May 1963, that Birmingham police and firemen, under orders from Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor, confronted demonstrators, many of them children, first with mass arrests and then with police dogs and firehoses. Images from those confrontations, broadcast nationwide, spurred a public outcry which turned the nation's attention to the struggle for racial equality. The demonstrations in Birmingham brought city leaders to agree to an end of public segregation. In addition, they helped ensure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Civil Rights laws.
wn.com/Kelly_Ingram_Park -
Kentucky
Kentucky (i/kɨnˈtʌki/), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the Upper South of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth (the others being Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts). Originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States.
Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on the fact that bluegrass is present in many of the pastures throughout the state, because of the fertile soil. It made possible the breeding of high-quality livestock, especially thoroughbred racing horses. It is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world's longest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park; the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the contiguous United States; and the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River. It is also home to the highest per capita number of deer and turkey in the United States, the largest free-ranging elk herd east of Montana, and the nation's most productive coalfield. Kentucky is also known for horse racing, bourbon distilleries, bluegrass music, automobile manufacturing, tobacco and college basketball.
wn.com/Kentucky -
Los Angeles
Los Angeles (i/lɒs ˈændʒələs/ loss-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], which is written Los Ángeles; British pronounciation /lɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ loss-AN-jə-leez) with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of 468.67 square miles (1,213.8 km2), and is located in Southern California. Often known by its initials L.A., the city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 12,828,837 and nearly 18 million people respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world and the second largest in the United States. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation's largest cities. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos".
wn.com/Los_Angeles -
Louisiana
Louisiana (i/luːˌiːziˈænə/ or i/ˌluːziˈænə/; French: État de Louisiane, [lwizjan] ( listen); Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish.
Much of the state was formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibis and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a natural process in the landscape, and has produced extensive areas of longleaf pine forest and wet savannas. These support an exceptionally large number of plant species including many species of orchids and carnivorus plants.
wn.com/Louisiana -
Lower Alabama
Lower Alabama is a term used to describe various parts of southern Alabama. Its usage does not however reflect a formally defined geographic region. Three areas generally are known to use the Lower Alabama name.
Coordinates: 31°37′31.16″N 86°32′21.5″W / 31.6253222°N 86.539306°W / 31.6253222; -86.539306
wn.com/Lower_Alabama -
Maine
Maine (i/ˈmeɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the only inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European encounter, several Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the area. The first European settlement in Maine was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and conflict with the local peoples caused many to fail over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements survived. Patriot and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the 50 United States.
wn.com/Maine -
Maryland
Maryland (i/ˈmɛrɨlənd/) is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. Maryland was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution, and three nicknames for it (the Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State) are occasionally used. Maryland is the 9th smallest state by area, but the 19th most populous and the 5th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's most populated city is Baltimore. Its capital is Annapolis. It was named after Queen Henrietta Maria.
Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles (32,133.2 km2) and is comparable in overall area with the European country of Belgium (11,787 square miles (30,530 km2)). It is the 42nd largest/9th smallest state, and is closest in size to Hawaii (10,930.98 square miles (28,311.1 km2)), the next smallest state. The next largest state, Maryland's neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland (24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km2)).
wn.com/Maryland -
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (i/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts is the 7th least extensive, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state features two separate metropolitan areas – the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area – the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River – and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.
wn.com/Massachusetts -
Michigan
Michigan (i/ˈmɪʃɨɡən/) is a state located in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan is the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and the largest city is Detroit. Michigan was admitted into the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.
Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.
Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The Upper Peninsula is economically important due to its status as a tourist destination. There is also a variety of natural resources to be found there, including a sizable amount of iron ore.
wn.com/Michigan -
Miles College
Miles College is a historically black college founded in 1898. It is located in Fairfield, Alabama, which is six miles (10 km) west of Birmingham, Alabama. It is a private liberal arts institution of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME Church). Miles College is also a member of the United Negro College Fund.
Miles College began organization efforts in 1893 and was founded in 1898 by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. It was chartered as Miles Memorial College, in honor of Bishop William H. Miles. In 1941 the name was changed to Miles College.
Miles is also accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (for the awarding of baccalaureate degrees), the Alabama State Department of Education, and the Council of Social Work Education. Miles College offers 25 bachelor degrees in the following divisions: Business and Accounting, Communications, Education, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences. Also Miles College is one of 16 schools in the Nation with a Center of Academic Excellence under the office of the Director of National Intelligence.
wn.com/Miles_College -
Milwaukee
Milwaukee /mɪlˈwɔːkiː/ is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States, and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the City of Milwaukee has a population of 594,833. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Racine–Waukesha Metropolitan Area with a population of 1,751,316 as of 2010. Milwaukee is also the regional center of the seven county Greater Milwaukee Area, with an estimated population of 2,014,032 as of 2008.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and fur traders. In 1818, the French-Canadian explorer Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in 1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the following decades.
wn.com/Milwaukee -
Minneapolis
Minneapolis (pronunciation:i/ˌmɪniːˈæpəlɪs/), nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City", is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States. Its name is attributed to the city's first schoolteacher, who combined mni, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city.
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the city of Minneapolis is 382,578. Minneapolis lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities, Minneapolis-Saint Paul is the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with approximately 3.3 million residents. The city is abundantly rich in water, with over twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi river, creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Among cities of similar densities, Minneapolis has the most dedicated parkland. It was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub for timber, and today is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper containing the fifth highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. It has cultural organizations that draw creative people and audiences to the city for theater, visual art, writing, and music. The community's diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support through progressive public social programs and VOLAGs, as well as private and corporate philanthropy.
wn.com/Minneapolis -
Minnesota
Minnesota (i/mɪnɨˈsoʊtə/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858. Known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". Those waters, together with forests, parks, and wilderness areas, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.
Minnesota is the 12th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the U.S. states. Nearly 60% of its residents live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area (known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry and education and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.
wn.com/Minnesota -
Mississippi
Mississippi (i/ˌmɪsɨˈsɪpi/) is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.
Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.
In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The largest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.
wn.com/Mississippi -
Missouri
Missouri (i/mɨˈzʊəri/) (nickname The Show Me State) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 21st most extensive and the 18th most populous of the 50 United States. Missouri comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The land that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.
Missouri generally mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of America and has long been considered a political bellwether state. With the exceptions of the Presidential elections of 1956 and 2008, Missouri's results have accurately predicted the next President of the United States in every election since 1904. It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a transition between the Eastern and Western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most Eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most Western city". Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains (a dissected plateau), with the Missouri River dividing the two. The state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of North America, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. The starting points of the Pony Express Trail and Oregon Trail were both in Missouri. The mean center of United States population as of the 2010 Census is at the town of Plato in Texas County, Missouri.
wn.com/Missouri -
Mobile Bay
Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the bay, making it an estuary. Several smaller rivers also empty into the bay: Dog River, Deer River, and Fowl River on the western side of the bay, and Fish River on the eastern side. Mobile Bay is the fourth largest estuary in the United States with a discharge of 62,000 cubic feet (1,800 m3) of water per second.
Mobile Bay is 413 square miles (1,070 km2) in area. It is 31 miles (50 km) long by a maximum width of 24 miles (39 km). The deepest areas of the bay are located within the shipping channel, sometimes in excess of 75 feet (23 m) deep, but the average depth of the bay is 10 feet (3 m).
Spanish explorers were sailing into the area of Mobile Bay as early as 1500, with the bay being marked on early maps as the Bahía del Espíritu Santo (Bay of the Holy Spirit). The area was explored in more detail in 1516 by Diego de Miruelo and in 1519 by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda. In 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez travelled through what was likely the Mobile Bay area, encountering Native Americans who fled and burned their towns at the approach of the expedition. This response was a prelude to the journeys of Hernando de Soto, more than eleven years later.
wn.com/Mobile_Bay -
Montana
Montana (i/mɒnˈtænə/) is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Montana has several nicknames, none official, including: "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently, "The Last Best Place". Montana is the 4th-most extensive, but the 7th-least populous and the 3rd-least densely populated of the 50 United States. The economy is primarily based on services, with ranching, wheat farming, oil and coal mining in the east, and lumber, tourism, and hard rock mining in the west. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park.
wn.com/Montana -
Nebraska
Nebraska (i/nəˈbræskə/) is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. Its state capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River.
The state is crossed by many historic trails, but it was the California Gold Rush that first brought large numbers here, and it became a state in 1867. Certain landmarks still compete for the notional distinction 'Where the West Begins'.
There are wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes are common. The state is characterized by treeless prairie, ideal for cattle-grazing, and it is a major producer of beef, as well as pork, maize and soybeans. Nebraska is overwhelmingly rural, as the 8th least-densely populated state of the United States.
Ethnically, the largest group are German-Americans, and the state has the biggest Czech-American population per head. During the Great Migration, many African Americans came to Omaha, and they continue to campaign for improved conditions. More recently, Native American activism has increased, with a drive for self-determination in a climate of co-operation with state officials on regional issues. It is traditionally a Republican-voting state.
wn.com/Nebraska -
Nevada
Nevada (i/nəˈvædə/ or /nəˈvɒdə/) is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 35th most populous, and the 9th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in one single county, Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, where the state's three largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada's capital is Carson City.
Nevada is largely desert and semiarid, with much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountains lie on the western edge. Approximately 86% of the state's land is owned by the US government under various jurisdictions, both civilian and military.
The name Nevada is derived from the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, which means "snow-capped mountain range" in Spanish. The land comprising the modern state was inhabited by Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe tribes prior to European contact. It was subsequently claimed by Spain as a part of Alta California until the Mexican War of Independence brought it under Mexican control. The United States gained the territory in 1848 following its victory in the Mexican-American War and the area was eventually incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a population boom that was an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864.
wn.com/Nevada -
New Hampshire
New Hampshire (i/njuːˈhæmpʃər/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. New Hampshire is the 5th least extensive and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States.
It became the first post-colonial sovereign nation in the Americas when it broke off from Great Britain in January 1776, and six months later was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America. In June 1788, it became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, bringing that document into effect. New Hampshire was the first U.S. state to have its own state constitution.
It is known internationally for the New Hampshire primary, the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle. Concord is the state capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state. It has no general sales tax, nor is personal income (other than interest and dividends) taxed at either the state or local level.
wn.com/New_Hampshire -
New Jersey
New Jersey (i/nuː ˈdʒɜrzi/) is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the U.S. state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, and on the southwest by Delaware. New Jersey is the 4th least extensive, but the 11th most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies mostly within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York City and Philadelphia. It is also the third wealthiest by 2009–2010 median household income.
The area was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The British later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey. It was granted as a colony to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton. At this time, it was named after the largest of the British Channel Islands, Jersey, Carteret's birthplace. New Jersey was the site of several decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War.
wn.com/New_Jersey -
New Mexico
New Mexico (i/nuː ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/) is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is the 5th most extensive, the 36th most populous, and the 6th least densely populated of the 50 United States.
Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, New Mexico has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, including descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It also has the second-highest percentage of Native Americans, after Alaska, and the fourth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The tribes in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Hispanic and Native American influences. The flag of New Mexico is represented by the red and gold colors, which represent Spain, as well as the Zia symbol, an ancient Native American symbol for the sun.
wn.com/New_Mexico -
New Orleans
New Orleans ( /nuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally /nuː ˈɔrlənz/ or /ˈnɔrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city proper was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,214,932.
The city is named after Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is well known for its distinct French Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in America.
wn.com/New_Orleans -
New York
New York (/njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally IPA: [nɪu ˈjɔək] or [nuː ˈjɔɹk] (
listen)) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the 3rd most populous, and the 7th most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
New York City, with a population of over 8.1 million, is the most populous city in the United States. Alone, it makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state. It is known for its status as a center for finance and culture and for its status as the largest gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York City is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.
wn.com/New_York -
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. As a global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world.
Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km2), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km2), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census.
wn.com/New_York_City -
North Alabama
Coordinates: 34°53′13.41″N 86°19′25.32″W / 34.8870583°N 86.3237°W / 34.8870583; -86.3237
North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama, generally considered to include 12 counties: Cherokee, Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, and Winston, with a combined population of 1,000,985, or 20.94% of the state's population as of 2010 Census.
The anchor city of the region is Huntsville, but other cities of notable size include (in order of population): Decatur, Florence (along with its sister cities Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia), Madison, and Athens.
Decatur and Florence share the designation of anchor city for Northwestern Alabama because they are the largest economic centers north of Birmingham and west of Huntsville. Most corporations use Decatur as a regional hub for the Northwest Alabama region because Huntsville is located further east. However, historically Florence has been the main cultural center of the NW.
wn.com/North_Alabama -
North Carolina
North Carolina (i/ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 10th most populous of the 50 United States.
North Carolina is comprised of 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from heavy reliance upon tobacco and furniture making to a more diversified economy with engineering, biotechnology, and finance sectors.
North Carolina has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern US. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.
wn.com/North_Carolina -
North Dakota
North Dakota (i/ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th most extensive, but the 3rd least populous and the 4th least densely populated of the 50 United States. North Dakota was created from the northern portion of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with South Dakota.
The state capital is Bismarck and the largest city is Fargo. The primary public universities are located in Grand Forks and Fargo. The U.S. Air Force operates air bases at Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB.
For more than a decade, the state has had a strong economy, with unemployment lower than the national average, job and population growth, and low housing vacancies. Much of the growth has been based on development of the Bakken oil shale fields in the western part of the state, but it has also had growth in the technology and service sectors. Flooding in June 2011 has caused extensive damage to Minot and threatened Bismarck, the capital city.
wn.com/North_Dakota -
Ohio
Ohio (i/oʊˈhaɪ.oʊ/) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Ohio is the 34th most extensive, the 7th most populous, and the 10th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
The name "Ohio" originated from Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning "great river". The state, originally partitioned from the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the Union as the 17th state (and the first under the Northwest Ordinance) on March 1, 1803. Although there are conflicting narratives regarding the origin of the nickname, Ohio is historically known as the "Buckeye State" (relating to the Ohio buckeye tree) and Ohioans are also known as "Buckeyes".
The government of Ohio is composed of the executive branch, led by the Governor; the legislative branch, which comprises the Ohio General Assembly; and the judicial branch, which is led by the Supreme Court. Currently, Ohio occupies 18 seats in the United States House of Representatives. Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections.
wn.com/Ohio -
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (i/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/) (Pawnee: Uukuhuúwa , Cayuga: Gahnawiyoˀgeh ) is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Oklahoma is the 20th most extensive and the 28th most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people", and it is known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State. Formed by the combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans or, informally "Okies", and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
A major producer of natural gas, oil, and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's primary economic anchors, with nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans living in their metropolitan statistical areas.
wn.com/Oklahoma -
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (Pawnee: Uukuhuuwasiri ) is the capital and the largest city in the US state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,322,249 residents. Oklahoma City's city limits extend into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties, though much of those areas outside of the core Oklahoma County area are suburban or rural (watershed). The city ranks as the eighth-largest city in the United States by land area (including consolidated city-counties; it is the largest city in the United States by land area whose government is not consolidated with that of a county).
Oklahoma City features one of the largest livestock markets in the world. Oil, natural gas, petroleum products and related industries are the largest sector of the local economy. The city is situated in the middle of an active oil field and oil derricks dot the capitol grounds. The federal government employs large numbers of workers at Tinker Air Force Base and the United States Department of Transportation's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. (These two sites house several offices of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department's Enterprise Service Center, respectively.)
wn.com/Oklahoma_City -
Oregon
Oregon (i/ˈɔrɨɡən/ ORR-ə-gən) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859.
Oregon is the 9th most extensive and the 27th most populous of the 50 United States. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 29th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 583,776 (2010 US Census) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area. The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the state's most densely populated area and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.
wn.com/Oregon -
Pago Pago
Pago Pago ( /ˈpɑːŋɡoʊˈpɑːŋɡoʊ/; Samoan: [ˈpaŋo ˈpaŋo]) is the capital of American Samoa. In 2000, its population was 11,500. The city is served by Pago Pago International Airport. Tourism, entertainment, food, and tuna canning are its primary industries.
From 1878 to 1951, the area was the site of a coaling and repair station for the U.S. Navy, known then as United States Naval Station Tutuila.
In January 1942 Pago Pago Harbor was shelled by a Japanese submarine, but this remained the only battle action on the islands during World War II.[citation needed]
On September 29, 2009, an earthquake struck in the South Pacific, near Samoa and American Samoa, sending a tsunami into Pago Pago and surrounding areas. The tsunami caused moderate to severe damage to villages, buildings and vehicles and caused an unknown number of deaths.
The village is located in Pago Pago Harbor, on the island of Tutuila. Pago Pago is one of the several villages in the Urban agglomeration of Pago Pago along the shore of Pago Pago Harbor located at the very eastern part (inside) of the embayment. The area includes a number of villages, among them Fagatogo, the legislative and judicial area, and Utulei, the executive area.
wn.com/Pago_Pago -
Pelham Civic Center
Pelham Civic Complex is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Pelham, Alabama. It features two NHL size ice skating rinks with a holding capacity of 500 skaters, a skating school, ice skating birthday party rooms, and a multi-purpose banquet area. Its hockey capacity is 3,500; the arena has 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) of floor space.
It is the only public ice skating rink in the Birmingham, Alabama area. It also houses several other functions, such as corporate events, conventions, sporting contests and trade shows.
It was home to the Alabama Slammers ice hockey team. It is now the home of the University of Alabama's club hockey team. It is also home to the Pelham Youth Hockey League, (PYHL), and hosts the Birmingham area youth travel hockey program, (BYHL).
It is also the venue in the Birmingham area for the annual visit of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Coordinates: 33°19′44″N 86°47′20″W / 33.329°N 86.789°W / 33.329; -86.789
wn.com/Pelham_Civic_Center -
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (i/ˌpɛnsɨlˈveɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a US state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, and the Great Lakes Region. The state borders Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Ontario, Canada to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.
Pennsylvania is the 33rd most extensive, the 6th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of shoreline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
Pennsylvania is 170 miles (274 km) north to south and 283 miles (455 km) east to west. Of a total 46,055 square miles (119,282 km2), 44,817 square miles (116,075 km2) are land, 490 square miles (1,269 km2) are inland waters, and 749 square miles (1,940 km2) are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States. Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
wn.com/Pennsylvania -
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( /ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə/) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,526,006 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. Philadelphia is also the commercial, cultural, and educational center of the Delaware Valley, home to 6 million people and the country's fifth-largest metropolitan area. The Philadelphia metropolitan division consists of five counties in Pennsylvania and has a population of 4,008,994. Popular nicknames for Philadelphia are Philly and The City of Brotherly Love, the latter of which comes from the literal meaning of the city's name in Greek (Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια ([pʰilaˈdelpʰeːa], Modern Greek: [filaˈðelfia]) "brotherly love", compounded from philos (φίλος) "loving", and adelphos (ἀδελφός) "brother").
wn.com/Philadelphia -
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( /ˈpɪtsbərɡ/, PITS-burg) is the second largest city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of both Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley. Nationally, it is the 22nd largest urban area in the United States. The population of the city in 2010 was 305,704, while that of the seven-county metropolitan area stood at 2,356,285.Downtown Pittsburgh retains substantial economic influence, ranking at 25th in the nation for jobs within the urban core and 6th in job density. The characteristic shape of Pittsburgh's central business district is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River. The city features 151 high-rise buildings, 446 bridges, two inclined railways, and a pre-revolutionary fortification. Pittsburgh is known colloquially as "the City of Bridges" and "the Steel City" for its many bridges and former steel manufacturing base.
wn.com/Pittsburgh -
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (/ˌpɔrtə ˈriːkoʊ/ or /ˌpwɛərtə ˈriːkoʊ/), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, [esˈtaðo ˈlibɾe asoˈsjaðo ðe ˈpweɾto ˈriko]—literally, "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
Puerto Rico (Spanish for "rich port") comprises an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area of the Greater Antilles. However, it ranks third in population amongst that group of four islands, which also include Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Jamaica. Due to its location, Puerto Rico enjoys a tropical climate and also experiences the Atlantic hurricane season.
Originally populated for centuries by indigenous aboriginal peoples known as Taínos, the island was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage to the Americas on November 19, 1493. Under Spanish rule, the island was colonized and the indigenous population was forced into slavery and nearly wiped out due to, among other things, European infectious diseases. The remaining population was emancipated by King Charles I in 1520. Spain possessed Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British. The Spanish Crown, in an attempt to keep Puerto Rico from gaining its independence, revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. The decree was printed in three languages — Spanish, English and French — and it fostered the immigration of hundreds of non-Spanish European families.
wn.com/Puerto_Rico -
Railroad Park
Coordinates: 33°30′34.17″N 86°48′36.52″W / 33.5094917°N 86.8101444°W / 33.5094917; -86.8101444
Railroad Park is a 19-acre park in Birmingham, Alabama, that opened in the fall of 2010. It was designed by landscape architect Tom Leader and built by Birmingham-based Brasfield & Gorrie. The park lies immediately south of the Norfolk Southern and CSX rail lines through downtown Birmingham. It stretches from 14th Street to 18th Street along First Avenue South. UAB Hospital and Children's Hospital of Alabama are several blocks south of the park. The park is a public facility owned by the City of Birmingham and managed by the non-profit Railroad Park Foundation.
Railroad Park, downtown Birmingham's new patch of green, has grand opening - Birmingham News, September 17, 2010
Hundreds enjoy urban greenery as Birmingham's Railroad Park opens - Birmingham News, September 18, 2010
So far, so good as people enjoy Birmingham's new park - WBRC Fox 6, October 6, 2010
Getting on board with greenways - Birmingham Business Journal, October 17, 2010
wn.com/Railroad_Park -
Regions Center
The Regions Center (formerly the AmSouth Center, before that the AmSouth-Sonat Tower, and originally the First National-Southern Natural Building) is a 119 meter (390 foot) tall, 30 story office tower located at northwest corner of 20th Street and 5th Avenue North in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. It served as the corporate headquarters for AmSouth Bancorporation from 1972 until 2006 and Sonat, Inc. and its subsidiaries from 1972 until 2007 when it relocated to the Colonial Brookwood Center. The building now serves as the corporate headquarters for Regions Financial Corporation.
Completed in 1972, the modernist-style skyscraper was designed by Welton Becket & Associates of Houston with Charles H. McCauley Associates serving as the local associated firm. Built as a partnership between First National Bank and Southern Natural Gas Corporation, its original name was the First National-Southern Natural Building. First National changed its name to AmSouth Bancorporation later in 1972, with Southern Natural Gas changing its name to Sonat, Inc. in the early 1980s, and the building was then given its most familiar name the AmSouth-Sonat Tower.
wn.com/Regions_Center -
Regions Park
Regions Park, formerly known as Hoover Metropolitan Stadium or The Hoover Met, is a minor league baseball park located in the Birmingham, Alabama, USA, suburb of Hoover. It has been the home of the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League since 1988, replacing historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham. The stadium also serves as the home for the SEC Baseball Tournament. Regions Park is located in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area near Interstate 459 at Exit 10 just off Alabama State Route 150. The stadium is located three miles from the Riverchase Galleria, one of the south's largest shopping centers.
The seating capacity is 10,800 for baseball and can accommodate up to 16,000 when the patio, banquet, and grassy side areas are used. The stadium also houses 12 suites and state-of-the-art dressing and training rooms. The stadium also features a meeting/banquet room named for Michael Jordan, who played for the Barons during his brief foray into professional baseball, during which time the stadium experienced its largest crowds.
wn.com/Regions_Park -
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (i/ˌroʊd ˈaɪlɨnd/ or /rɵˈdaɪlɨnd/), officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the 8th least populous, but the 2nd most densely populated of the 50 United States. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west and Massachusetts to the north and east, and it shares a water boundary with New York's Long Island to the southwest.
Rhode Island was the first of the 13 original colonies to declare independence from British rule, declaring itself independent on May 4, 1776, two months before any other state in the whole U.S. and the convention. The state was also the last to ratify the United States Constitution.
Rhode Island's official nickname is "The Ocean State", a reference to the state's geography, since Rhode Island has several large bays and inlets that amount to about 14% of its total area. Its land area is 1,045 square miles (2706 km2), but its total area is significantly larger.
wn.com/Rhode_Island -
Rosh Haayin
Rosh HaAyin (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הָעָיִן Hebrew pronunciation: [ˌroʃ häˈʔä.in], lit. Fountainhead) is a city in the Center District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek (Migdal Tzedek). As of 2009, the population of Rosh HaAyin was 38,500.
Rosh HaAyin was founded in the 1950s near the site of ancient Antipatris, on the grounds of a Palestinian village Majdal Sadek, also known as Majdal Yaba (means the tower of Jaffa). Palestinian residents were forced to leave in July 1948, after the establishment of the state of Israel. Many of the Jewish residents after 1950 were Yemenite Jews airlifted to Israel in 1949 and 1950 in Operation Magic Carpet.
For decades Rosh HaAyin was known as "a Yemenite town". However, in the 1990's extensive new neighborhoods were built, constituting in effect a whole new town, which drew a considerable number of Israelis of other origins. The town still has, however, a large Yemenite population - concentrated in the older neighborhoods.
wn.com/Rosh_Haayin -
Saint Rose Academy
Coordinates: 33°29′55.31″N 86°47′16.28″W / 33.4986972°N 86.7878556°W / 33.4986972; -86.7878556
Saint Rose Academy, located in Birmingham, Alabama atop Red Mountain, is a private, co-educational Catholic elementary school run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.
Saint Rose Academy was established in 1956. The school was originally the home of Terrance Mackin who gave his home to the Dominican sisters of Nashville so that a school could be created. His sister Sister Aloysius Mackin helped with the creation of the school. In 1962 more classrooms were added to the Mackin house. A few years later it was the first private school in Birmingham to desegregate. In 1993 the gym building was built which contains three classrooms as well as a multipurpose sport court and music room. A few years later the school bought the Discovery Place building.
Saint Rose Academy's campus is located just above the Red Mountain Expressway Cut. The school has three buildings on its campus - The Mackin House, a gymnasium that also houses classrooms and the primary building that was formerly part of the Discovery Place. The school is in the process of raising funds for major building renovations.
wn.com/Saint_Rose_Academy -
Saipan
Saipan ( /saɪˈpæn/) is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a chain of fifteen tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean (15°10’51”N, 145°45’21”E) with a total area of 44.55 sq mi (115.4 km2). According to the 2010 United States Census, Saipan's population was 48,220, a drop of 22.7% from the 2000 US Census; the population decrease is largely attributed to working immigrants and their families either returning to their home countries after the collapse of the garment industry or moving to other locations with economic opportunities such as Guam and the United States.
The Commonwealth's center of government is located in the village of Capital Hill on the island. As the entire island is organized as a single municipality, most publications term "Saipan" as the Commonwealth's capital.
Located at latitude of 15.25° north and longitude of 145.75° east, about 120 mi (190 km) north of Guam, Saipan is about 12 mi (19 km) long and 5.6 mi (9.0 km) wide. It is a popular tourist destination in the Pacific.
wn.com/Saipan -
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,145,905. Salt Lake City is further situated in a larger urban area known as the Wasatch Front, which has a population of 2,328,299. It is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin (the other being Reno, Nevada), and the largest in the Intermountain West.
The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young and his Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named "Great Salt Lake City"—the word "great" was dropped from the official name in 1868. Although Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church today.
wn.com/Salt_Lake_City -
Samford University
Samford University, founded as Howard College, is a private, coeducational university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention, it includes the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing, and Beeson Divinity School. In the 2011 report, Samford was ranked 104 out of 191 top-tier doctoral universities by U.S. News & World Report.
Samford was founded in 1841 at Marion, Alabama, when members of Siloam Baptist Church acquired land in the town and invited the Alabama Baptist Convention to build a new Baptist school there. They named it Howard College in honor of John Howard, known for his work in prison reform in England. Among the charter trustees in 1841 was lawyer William Parish Chilton of Talladega. The new college opened its doors to students on January 3, 1842. In 1887 the school relocated to the East Lake community of Birmingham.
wn.com/Samford_University -
Seattle
Seattle (pronounced /siːˈætɫ̩/ ( listen) see-AT-əl or /siːˈæɾɫ̩/) is the county seat of King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country. The city is a major coastal seaport situated on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 114 miles (183 km) south of the Canada–United States border. In 2010, Seattle was the sixth busiest port in the United States, serving as a major gateway for trade with Asia.
The Seattle area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent white settlers.Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to its current site and renamed "Seattle" in 1853, after Chief Seattle of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.
wn.com/Seattle -
Senegal
Senegali/ˌsɛnɨˈɡɔːl/ (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal (République du Sénégal, IPA: [ʁepyblik dy seneɡal]), is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north. Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia, namely on the north, east and south, exempting Gambia's short Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi), and has an estimated population of about 13 million. The climate is tropical with two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.
Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is located at the westernmost tip of the country on the Cap-Vert peninsula. About 500 kilometres (300 mi) off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, lie the Cape Verde Islands. During the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous trading posts, belonging to various colonial empires, were established along the coast. The town of St. Louis became the capital of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) before it was moved to Dakar in 1902. Dakar later became its capital in 1960 at the time of independence from France.
wn.com/Senegal -
Sheraton Birmingham
The Sheraton Birmingham is Alabama's largest convention hotel, featuring 757 rooms and suites adjacent to the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC) in downtown Birmingham, Alabama (USA).
The 17-story hotel was built in two phases. The first opened in 1975 as the Hyatt House Birmingham Hotel, and along with the Parliament House, it was one of Birmingham's premier hotels of the Jet age, featuring 380 rooms, a luxurious[citation needed] rooftop restaurant, and a sumptious[citation needed] Presidential suite.
In 1991, the BJCC began an ambitious expansion plan for the complex, which included a modern 398-room addition, complete with an atrium and a skywalk to the main exhibition hall in the convention center, along with a new 1,000-space parking deck behind the hotel. During the renovation and expansion, the hotel operated as a Ramada. It officially opened its doors as a Sheraton in early 1992. The expansion featured two new restaurants, an indoor pool and exercise area constructed above the porte-cochere, additional meeting/reception space, and three new Presidential suites. Other changes included the shuttering of the rooftop restaurant and original Presidential suite, which remain unused to this day.
wn.com/Sheraton_Birmingham -
South Alabama
South Alabama is a term used to describe various parts of southern Alabama. Its usage does not however reflect a strictly defined geographic region. The most general description of the area would be all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt.
However, the largest population center of Mobile, Alabama, often makes the argument that South Alabama refers only to the extreme southernmost parts of Alabama. This is reflected in the name of the University of South Alabama, located in Mobile.
Following that usage, South Alabama is properly applied only to the two counties which border the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay: Baldwin County and Mobile County. The area is characterized by extensive wetlands, but also by long, sandy beaches which are very conducive to tourism. Many deluxe golf courses have been developed in the area in recent decades.
Because Mobile and Baldwin Counties tend to use South Alabama with exclusivity, other parts of southern Alabama, particularly the Florida-border counties from Escambia County over to Houston County often humorously prefer to be called Lower Alabama if a regional name must be given. Traditionally, the south central and southeastern parts of the state have less in common with the Mobile area than they have in common with Southwest Georgia and the Black Belt region. Alternative names include South Central Alabama, Southeast Alabama, and the Wiregrass.
wn.com/South_Alabama -
South Carolina
South Carolina (i/ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina; to the south and west by Georgia, located across the Savannah River; and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was originally named by King Charles II of England in honor of his father Charles I (Carolus being Latin for Charles). South Carolina was the 8th state to ratify the US Constitution and become a state which it did on May 23, 1788. South Carolina later became the first state to vote to secede from the Union which it did on December 20, 1860. It was readmitted to the United States on June 25, 1868.
South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 24th most populous of the 50 United States. South Carolina comprises 46 counties. The capital and largest city of the state is Columbia.
wn.com/South_Carolina -
South Dakota
South Dakota (i/ˌsaʊθ dəˈkoʊtə/) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota is the 17th most extensive, but the 5th least populous and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Once the southern portion of the Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of nearly 160,000, is South Dakota's largest city.
South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state's population, and fertile soil in this area is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending.
wn.com/South_Dakota -
Southwest Airlines
Coordinates: 32°50′48″N 96°51′40″W / 32.846666666667°N 96.861°W / 32.846666666667; -96.861 (Southwest Airlines Headquarters)
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), operating as Southwest Airlines, is the largest low-cost carrier in the U.S. headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The airline was established in 1967 adopting its current name in 1971, and as of June 5, 2011 (2011 -06-05)[update] is the largest airline in the United States based upon domestic passengers carried.
Although it operated Boeing 727 aircraft for a short time during the 1970s and 1980s, between that time and 2012 the airline operated only Boeing 737 aircraft, and as of September 30, 2011 (2011 -09-30)[update] was the largest operator of the 737 worldwide with over 550 of these aircraft in service, each operating an average of six flights per day.
In May 2011 the airline acquired Orlando-based AirTran Airways, with full integration of the carriers taking place over several years, and on March 1, 2012, the company was issued a single operating certificate meaning that from a technical standpoint, Southwest and AirTran became one airline. As a result, following the merger, Southwest also began operating the Boeing 717.
wn.com/Southwest_Airlines -
Székesfehérvár
Székesfehérvár (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈseːkɛʃfɛˈheːrvaːr] ( listen)) is a city in central Hungary and is the 9th largest in the country. Located around 65 km (40 mi) southwest of Budapest. It is inhabited by 101,973 people (2010), with 136,995 in the Székesfehérvár Subregion. The city is the centre of Fejér county and the regional centre of Central Transdanubia. In the Middle Ages the city was a royal residence and was one of the most important cities of Hungary. In the Székesfehérvár Basilica, 37 kings and 39 queens consort were crowned, 15 rulers have been buried here, the diets were held and the crown jewels were kept here.
The name Székesfehérvár means "seat of the white castle" or "white castle with the seat" and the city is known by translations of this in other languages (Latin: Alba Regia, German: Stuhlweißenburg, Slovak: Stoličný Belehrad, Serbian: Столни Београд, Stolni Beograd, Croatian: Stolni Biograd, Slovene: Stolni Belograd, Czech: Stoličný Bělehrad, Polish: Białogród Stołeczny or Białogród Królewski, Turkish: İstolni Belgrad). In Hungarian, the city is known colloquially as Fehérvár.
wn.com/Székesfehérvár -
Tennessee
Tennessee (i/tɛnɨˈsiː/) (Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ) is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. Tennessee is the 36th most extensive and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 626,144.Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 670,902.
The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, and the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war.
wn.com/Tennessee -
Texas
Texas (i/ˈtɛksəs/) (Alibamu: Teksi ) is the second most populous and the second most extensive of the 50 United States, and the most extensive state of the 48 contiguous United States. The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas. Located in the South Central United States, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south, and borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.
During the Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Antonio Margil de Jesús was known to be the first person to use the name in a letter to the Viceroy of Mexico in July 20, 1716. The name was not popularly used in daily speech but often appeared in legal documents until the end of the 1800s.
wn.com/Texas -
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. The university is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts. The university emphasizes active citizenship and public service in all of its disciplines more than any peer school and is well known for its internationalism and study abroad programs. Among its schools is the United States' oldest graduate school of international relations, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
In 1852, Tufts College was founded by Christian Universalists who worked for years to open a non-sectarian institution of higher learning.Charles Tufts donated the land for the campus on Walnut Hill, the highest point in Medford, saying that he wanted to set a "light on the hill." The name was changed to Tufts University in 1954, although the corporate name remains "the Trustees of Tufts College." After more than a century, Tufts was a small New England liberal arts college. The French-American nutritionist Jean Mayer became president of Tufts in the late 1970s and, through a series of mergers with other institutions, transformed the school into an internationally renowned research university. It consistently ranks among the country's best colleges.
wn.com/Tufts_University -
Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
wn.com/Ukraine -
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
wn.com/United_Kingdom -
United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
wn.com/United_States -
Utah
Utah (/ˈjuːtɔː/ ori/ˈjuːtɑː/) (Arapaho: Wo'tééneihí' ) is a state in the Western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-most extensive, the 34th-most populous, and the 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,817,222 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the name of the Ute tribe and means "people of the mountains" in the Ute language. Utah is bordered by Arizona on the south, Colorado on the east, Wyoming on the northeast, Idaho on the north and Nevada on the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico.
Utah is the most religiously homogeneous state in the Union. It is home to the Salt Lake Temple, and approximately 60% of Utahns are reported to be members of LDS Church which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life.
wn.com/Utah -
Vermont
Vermonti/vɜrˈmɒnt/ is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Vermont is the 6th least extensive and the 2nd least populous of the 50 United States. It is the only New England state not bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermont's western border, which it shares with the state of New York. The Green Mountains are within the state. Vermont is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.
Originally inhabited by two major Native American tribes (the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and the Iroquois), much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France during its early colonial period. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years' War (also called the French and Indian War). For many years, the nearby colonies, especially New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area (then called the New Hampshire Grants). Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, the republic lasted for fourteen years. Vermont is one of seventeen U.S. states (along with Texas, Hawaii, the brief California Republic, and each of the original Thirteen Colonies) to have had a sovereign government in the past. In 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the 14th state, the first outside the original 13 Colonies. It abolished slavery while still independent, and upon joining the Union became the first state to have done so.
wn.com/Vermont -
Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia (Ukrainian: Ві́нниця, pronounced [ˈwinːɪt͡sʲɑ]; also known by other names) is a city located on the banks of the Southern Bug, in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast.
Vinnytsia is also known by a variety of other names, such as Vinnytsya, Vinnitsa (Russian: Ви́нница), Vinnica (Polish: Winnica), German: Winniza, and Romanian: Vinniţa. All of the variations of the city's name originate with the Slavic word for Vineyards, ultimately derived from Latin vīnea for the word vine. Some of these reflect names in foreign languages that have had historical influences on the city.
Vinnytsia is located about 260 km (160 mi) from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, 429 km (267 mi) from the port city Odesa, and 369 km (229 mi) from L’viv.
It is the administrative center of the Vinnytsia Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Vinnytskyi Raion (district) within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, and rests in the historic region of Podillia.
wn.com/Vinnytsia -
Virginia
Virginia (i/vərˈdʒɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.
The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.
wn.com/Virginia -
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or signifying New York-based financial interests. It is the home of the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies. Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including NASDAQ, the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange. Anchored by Wall Street, New York City is one of the world's principal financial centers.
There are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named "de Waal Straat" got its name. A generally accepted version is that the name of the street name was derived from an earthen wall on the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement, perhaps to protect against English colonial encroachment or incursions by native Americans. A conflicting explanation is that Wall Street was named after Walloons -- possibly a Dutch abbreviation for Walloon being Waal. Among the first settlers that embarked on the ship "Nieu Nederlandt" in 1624 were 30 Walloon families.
wn.com/Wall_Street -
West Virginia
West Virginia (i/ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/) is a state in the Appalachian region of the Eastern United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east. West Virginia is the 41st most extensive and the 37th most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and largest city is Charleston.
West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions and broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. The new state was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state. West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state, and was one of two states formed during the American Civil War (the other one being Nevada, which separated from Utah Territory).
The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the South. The northern panhandle extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio, with the West Virginia cities of Wheeling and Weirton just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, while Bluefield is less than 70 miles (110 km) from North Carolina. Huntington in the southwest is close to the states of Ohio and Kentucky, while Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Panhandle region are considered to be a part of the Washington metropolitan area, in between the states of Maryland and Virginia. The unique position of West Virginia means that it is often included in several geographical regions, including the Mid-Atlantic, the Upland South, and the Southeastern United States. Notably, it is the only state that is entirely within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission; the area is commonly defined as "Appalachia".
wn.com/West_Virginia -
Winneba
Winneba, traditionally known as Simpa, also (informally) known as the Land of the Gharteys because its royals and many of its inhabitants bear this name, is an historic fishing town in Ghana, lying on the south coast, 35 miles (56 km) west of Accra and 90 miles (140 km) east of Cape Coast. The town is the thirty-fourth most populous in Ghana in terms of population, with a population of 58,750 people. Its inhabitants are known as Simpafo or Effutufo. It is the capital of the Awutu/Effutu/Senya District in Central Region.
The main industries of Winneba are fishing and pottery. It is known for the Aboakyer deer-hunting festival of the Effutu people and its New Year fancy dress carnival/mascarading festival. The town has a rich musical tradition and currently boasts of several renowned musical groups in the country, including the Winneba Youth Choir, the Osimpam Ompeh group[citation needed]. The University of Education, Winneba is one of the educational institutions in Ghana[citation needed]. Until 1966 it was the Kwame Nkrumah Institute of Ideology.
wn.com/Winneba -
Wisconsin
Wisconsin (i/wɨsˈkɒnsɨn/) is a US state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd most extensive and the 20th most populous of the 50 United States. Wisconsin's capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee. The state is divided into 72 counties.
The word Wisconsin originates from the name given to the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian speaking American Indian groups living in the region at the time of European contact. French explorer Jacques Marquette was the first European to reach the Wisconsin River and record its name, arriving in 1673 and calling the river Meskousing in his journal. This spelling was later corrupted to Ouisconsin by other French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th century. The current spelling was made official by the legislature of Wisconsin Territory in 1845.
wn.com/Wisconsin -
Wyoming
Wyoming (i/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/) is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. Wyoming is the 10th most extensive, but the least populous and the 2nd least densely populated of the 50 States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city of Wyoming with a population of nearly 60,000 people within its city proper.
As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W (27° W and 34° W of the Washington Meridian), making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to half of a mile (.8 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the ninth largest state in the United States in total area, containing 97,818 square miles (253,350 km2) and is made up of 23 counties. From the north border to the south border it is 276 miles (444 km); and from the east to the west border is 365 miles (587 km) at its south end and 342 miles (550 km) at the north end.
wn.com/Wyoming -
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ/ zim-BAHB-way; officially the Republic of Zimbabwe) is a landlocked country of southern Africa. It shares a 125-mile (200-kilometre) border on the south with the Republic of South Africa and is bounded on the southwest and west by Botswana, on the north by Zambia, and on the northeast and east by Mozambique. The capital is Harare (formerly called Salisbury). Zimbabwe achieved majority rule and internationally recognised independence in April 1980 following a long period of colonial rule and a 15-year period of white-dominated minority rule, instituted after the minority regime’s so-called Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965.
Zimbabwe has three official languages: English, Shona and Ndebele. Zimbabwe began as the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, created from land held by the British South Africa Company. President Robert Mugabe is the head of State and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Morgan Tsvangirai is the Prime Minister. Mugabe has been in power since the country's internationally recognised independence in 1980.
wn.com/Zimbabwe
-
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.
wn.com/African_American -
Bull Connor
Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (July 11, 1897 – March 10, 1973) was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. His office gave him responsibility for administrative oversight of the Birmingham Fire Department and the Birmingham Police Department, which had their own chiefs.
Through his covert actions to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to African American citizens, especially during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Birmingham Campaign of 1963, Connor became an international symbol of bigotry. Connor infamously directed the use of fire hoses, and police attack dogs against peaceful demonstrators, including children. His aggressive tactics backfired when the spectacle of the brutality being broadcast on national television served as one of the catalysts for major social and legal change in the southern United States and helped in large measure to assure the passage by the United States Congress of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
wn.com/Bull_Connor -
Dudley Randall
Dudley Randall (January 14, 1914 - August 5, 2000) was an African American poet and poetry publisher from Detroit, Michigan. He founded a pioneering publishing company called Broadside Press in 1965, which published many leading African American writers, among them Melvin Tolson, Sonia Sanchez, Audre Lorde, Gwendolyn Brooks, Etheridge Knight, Margaret Walker, and others. Randall's most famous poem is "The Ballad of Birmingham", written in response to the 1963 bombing of the Baptist church that Martin Luther King, Jr belonged to in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four girls were killed. Randall's poetry is characterized by simplicity and realism. Other well-known poems of his include "A Poet is not a Jukebox", "Booker T. and W.E.B.", and "The Profile on the Pillow".
Randall was born on January 14, 1914 in Washington D.C., the son of Arthur George Clyde (a Congressional Minister) and Ada Viola (a teacher) Randall. His family moved to Detroit in 1920, and he married Ruby Hudson in 1935, however, this marriage dissolved. Randall married Mildred Pinckney in 1942, but this marriage did not last either. In 1957, he married Vivian Spencer.
wn.com/Dudley_Randall -
Fred Shuttlesworth
Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth (March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011), born Freddie Lee Robinson, was a U.S. civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961. He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007. He helped Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, and was given an acceptance award to visit Dr. King anytime during the movement.
The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport was named in his honor in 2008.
Born in Mount Meigs, Alabama, Shuttlesworth became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953 and was Membership Chairman of the Alabama state chapter of the NAACP in 1956, when the State of Alabama formally outlawed it from operating within the state. In May 1956 Shuttlesworth and Ed Gardner established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to take up the work formerly done by the NAACP.
wn.com/Fred_Shuttlesworth -
James Bevel
James L. Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was an American minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, and the 1966 Chicago Open Housing Movement. James Bevel also called for and initially organized the 1963 March on Washington and initiated and strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, SCLC's two main public gatherings of the era. For his work in the 1960s he has been referred to as the "Father of Voting Rights", the "Strategist and Architect of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement", and as half of the Bevel/King team that formulated and communicated the actions, issues, and dialogues which created the historical changes of the era.
Prior to his time with SCLC, Bevel worked in the Nashville Student Movement, where he participated in the 1960 Nashville Sit-In movement, directed the 1961 Open Theater Movement, chose the riders for the 1961 Nashville Student Movement continuation of the Freedom Rides, and initiated and directed the Mississippi Voting Rights Movement. Later, in 1967, he took a leave from SCLC to direct the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, and in 1995 co-initiated the Day of Atonement/Million Man March.
wn.com/James_Bevel -
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz. He organized at least fifty recording sessions as a leader during his recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk.
As his career progressed, Coltrane and his music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. His second wife was pianist Alice Coltrane, and their son Ravi Coltrane is also a saxophonist. Coltrane influenced innumerable musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history. He received many posthumous awards and recognitions, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church as Saint John William Coltrane. In 2007, Coltrane was awarded the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his "masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz."
wn.com/John_Coltrane -
Larry Langford
Larry Paul Langford (born March 17, 1948) is the former mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served on the Jefferson County, Alabama, Commission, including four years as the first African American commission president. He also served as mayor of Fairfield, Alabama, and served one term on the Birmingham City Council. Prior to entering politics, Langford was a well-known television personality, having worked for then-local ABC affiliate, WBRC TV as the community's first African American TV news reporter. In 2010, Langford began serving a 15 year federal felony sentence, the result of a highly-publicized public corruption trial in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Langford raised money and generated public interest and support for Visionland Theme Park (now known as Alabama Adventure Theme Park), located near Bessemer. The park was built largely by bond issues backed by a consortium of municipalities in the western part of the county, as well as the city of Birmingham and the county government. The park later declared bankruptcy, and was sold to Southland Entertainment Group for just over $5 million at auction.
wn.com/Larry_Langford -
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander (or Pacific person; pl: Pacific people; also Oceanic person/people(s) or Oceanians), is a geographic phrase to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands, consist of:
Polynesia: The islands scattered across a tangle covering the east-central region of the Pacific Ocean. The triangle is bounded by the Hawaiian islands in the north, New Zealand in the west, and Easter Island in the east. The rest of Polynesia comprises Samoan islands (American Samoa and Samoa), the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (Tahiti and The Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago), Niue Island, Tokelau and Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn Island.
Melanesia: The island of New Guinea, the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagos, the Admiralty Islands, and Bougainville Island (which make up the independent state of Maluku, Papua New Guinea), the Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands (part of the Solomon Islands), New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides), Fiji, Norfolk Island, and various smaller islands.
wn.com/Pacific_Islander -
Paul Finebaum
Paul Finebaum is an American sports author, television and radio personality and former columnist based in Birmingham, Alabama. His primary focus is sports, particularly those in the Southeast. Finebaum was born in Memphis, Tennessee and attended the University of Tennessee, where he received a liberal arts degree in Political Science. He currently serves as host of the Paul Finebaum Radio Network, whose flagship station is on WJOX from 2:05-6pm CST. The show is syndicated in Alabama (27 stations), Mississippi (2 stations), Tennessee (3) and on single stations in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The show can also be watched live internet stream at MyFoxFinebaum.com. It can also be heard daily on Sirius XM Radio (Channel 91). On March 12, the Finebaum began its third year on Sirius/XM.
Paul Finebaum arrived in Birmingham in 1980 and became a columnist and investigative reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald. Finebaum's work has earned him over 250 national, regional and area sports writing awards, including his investigative stories on the recruitment of Alabama basketball player Buck Johnson. He also in 1993 broke the story of Antonio Langham, a University of Alabama football player who signed a contract with a sports agent while playing for the school, which led to NCAA probation for the school. He was also first to report the firing of Auburn University coach Terry Bowden in 1998. Finebaum joined the Mobile Press Register in 2001 where he wrote a twice-weekly (later weekly) column with the column syndicated to other newspapers. Finebaum discontinued the column in December 2010. On Sept. 1, Finebaum returned to writing with his first column for Sports Illustrated. His weekly column appears every Thursday at SI.com. His Christmas Eve column on a radio caller from Iowa suffering from cerebral palsy was among the most critically acclaimed stories of his career.
wn.com/Paul_Finebaum -
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter,arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant (and often satirical) pop songs and for film scores.
Newman often writes lyrics from the perspective of a character far removed from his own experiences, sometimes using the point of view of an unreliable narrator. For example, the 1972 song "Sail Away" is written as a slave trader's sales pitch to attract slaves, while the narrator of "Political Science" is a U.S. nationalist who complains of worldwide ingratitude toward America and proposes a brutally ironic final solution. One of his biggest hits, "Short People" was written from the perspective of "a lunatic" who hates short people. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. His film scores include Ragtime, Awakenings, The Natural, Leatherheads, James and the Giant Peach, Meet the Parents, Cold Turkey, Seabiscuit and The Princess and the Frog. He has scored six Disney-Pixar films: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars and most recently Toy Story 3.
wn.com/Randy_Newman -
Rick and Bubba
Rick Burgess (born October 3, 1964 in Oxford, Alabama) and Bill "Bubba" Bussey (born March 27, 1964 in Jacksonville, Alabama) are cohosts of The Rick & Bubba Show—a syndicated comedic radio program based in Birmingham, Alabama. and authors of several books.
The Rick and Bubba Show is heard each weekday morning on their flagship station WZZK and on over 50 radio stations in 15 states - mostly in the Southern United States. As of March 2009 The Rick and Bubba Show can be heard on XM Radio channel 158. The show can also be heard during afternoon drive in various radio markets around the United states. The show also airs on weekends on select Stations.
Rick and Bubba call themselves "The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive." Their jokes about their weight problems were also evidenced in their annual "Big Fat Lotto" cash giveaway contests sponsored by WYSF. They often refer to their Christian faith and beliefs on air and have been regarded as a family-safe alternative to "shock jocks" often associated with morning radio.
wn.com/Rick_and_Bubba -
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop. She has won nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
She has performed with The Rolling Stones and has sung duets with Mick Jagger,Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, Michelle Branch, and Sting among others. She has performed backing vocals for Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Don Henley and Belinda Carlisle. She also sang as part of the back up vocals for the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary celebrating Dylan's 30 years as a recording artist. Crow has released seven studio albums, two compilations, and a live album, and has contributed to film soundtracks. She has sold 16 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide and her newest album, 100 Miles from Memphis, was released on July 20, 2010. Recently she appeared on NBC's 30 Rock, ABC's GCB and Cougar Town, Disney Channel's Hannah Montana Forever, and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
wn.com/Sheryl_Crow -
Tommy Battle
Tommy Battle is the mayor of Huntsville, Alabama. His term began November 3, 2008.
Battle served one term on the Huntsville City Council from 1984-1988. He made an unsuccessful run for mayor in 1988. Battle moved to Huntsville in 1980 to operate Britling's Buffet, which he sold in 1989. Battle owns or is managing partner in several firms in the retail and real estate sectors. He is married to Eula Battle and has one adult son, Drew. Battle is a graduate of the University of Alabama, from which he holds a B.S. degree in business.
Battle announced his candidacy against incumbent Mayor Loretta Spencer on March 26, 2008. In his campaign, he sharply attacked Spencer on several issues. Among these were cost overruns and delays on a city jail constructed in Spencer's term; the city's controversial involvement in the relocation of a downtown rescue mission into a residential neighborhood; and what Battle claimed was inequitable treatment of some city neighborhoods, particularly minority areas. Prior to the first round of voting, Spencer was endorsed by The Huntsville Times. The Committee of 100, a prominent group of business leaders, issued a joint endorsement of Battle and Spencer.
wn.com/Tommy_Battle -
Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. Amos originally served as the lead singer of 1980s synthpop group Y Kant Tori Read, and as a solo artist was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s. She was also noteworthy early in her solo career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument. Some of her charting singles include "Crucify", "Silent All These Years", "God", "Cornflake Girl", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Professional Widow", "Spark", "1000 Oceans", and "A Sorta Fairytale", her most commercially successful single in the U.S. to date.
As of 2005, Amos had sold 12 million albums worldwide. She has been nominated for 8 Grammy Awards. Amos was also named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1996.
Amos was born in Newton, North Carolina. When she was two, her family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she began to play the piano. By age five, she had begun composing instrumental pieces on piano and, while living in Rockville, Maryland, she won a full scholarship to the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Her scholarship was discontinued at age 11 and she was asked to leave. Amos has asserted that she lost the scholarship because of her interest in rock and popular music, coupled with her dislike for reading from sheet music. In 1972, The Amos family moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where her father, Reverend Edison Amos, became pastor of the Good Shepherd United Methodist church. At the age of 13 she began playing at gay bars and piano bars, chaperoned by her father.
wn.com/Tori_Amos
Send this Playlist by SMS
Email this Page
Birmingham, AL: East-West Downtown Street Tour
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:01
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
A collection of clips featuring streets/avenues going east-west across downtown Birmingham showing historical landmarks along the way.
http://wn.com/Birmingham,_AL_East-West_Downtown_Street_Tour
A collection of clips featuring streets/avenues going east-west across downtown Birmingham showing historical landmarks along the way.
Birmingham Alabama 1 Of The Livest & Crunkest City.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Updated: 06 Jan 2013
BUY NOW!!! Birmingham Crunk & Live DVD Vol 1 www.paypal.com
http://wn.com/Birmingham_Alabama_1_Of_The_Livest_Crunkest_City
BUY NOW!!! Birmingham Crunk & Live DVD Vol 1 www.paypal.com
- published: 14 Feb 2007
- views: 170939
- author: HoodzoneProductions
Driving North through Birmingham, Alabama
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:38
- Updated: 01 Jan 2013
Following Interstate 65 to Interstate 59 through downtown Birmingham
http://wn.com/Driving_North_through_Birmingham,_Alabama
Following Interstate 65 to Interstate 59 through downtown Birmingham
- published: 23 Jun 2011
- views: 14016
- author: cochrab
Birmingham, Alabama
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:24
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Rolling Interstate 20 West through Birmingham, Alabama Taken from the BigRigTravels.com Video Vault
http://wn.com/Birmingham,_Alabama
Rolling Interstate 20 West through Birmingham, Alabama Taken from the BigRigTravels.com Video Vault
- published: 29 Nov 2012
- views: 174
- author: BigRigTravels
Yamaha WR450F Supermoto Ride - Birmingham, Alabama
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:35
- Updated: 02 Jan 2013
This is my 2006 Yamaha WR450F supermoto ("WR450X") that I bought last October. It's mechanically stock besides the significantly restrictive emissions crap being removed and the carb being rejetted accordingly. Of course, it also has a brake light, turn signals, a horn, and Excel Takasago wheels (17x3.5" in front, 17x5" in rear) to make it a street-legal motard. My friend motorizedcam2 (who makes a brief appearance at 5:58) let me borrow his GoPro HD to film some of the roads I ride south of Birmingham, Alabama. I actually hit one of the roads a second time in the video (later in the day)...I'm pretty sure it was created with supermotos in mind! Anyway, enjoy the footage!
http://wn.com/Yamaha_WR450F_Supermoto_Ride_Birmingham,_Alabama
This is my 2006 Yamaha WR450F supermoto ("WR450X") that I bought last October. It's mechanically stock besides the significantly restrictive emissions crap being removed and the carb being rejetted accordingly. Of course, it also has a brake light, turn signals, a horn, and Excel Takasago wheels (17x3.5" in front, 17x5" in rear) to make it a street-legal motard. My friend motorizedcam2 (who makes a brief appearance at 5:58) let me borrow his GoPro HD to film some of the roads I ride south of Birmingham, Alabama. I actually hit one of the roads a second time in the video (later in the day)...I'm pretty sure it was created with supermotos in mind! Anyway, enjoy the footage!
- published: 04 Jun 2012
- views: 7812
- author: NFSGamerUSA
Gun Show Line - Birmingham AL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:44
- Updated: 06 Jan 2013
Atleast we know Illinois will never over throw Alabama
http://wn.com/Gun_Show_Line_Birmingham_AL
Atleast we know Illinois will never over throw Alabama
- published: 05 Jan 2013
- views: 56
- author: lmsellers1
Lake Forest - Birmingham AL home sales update JAN 2013
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:34
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
If you're looking for a home for sale in the Birmingham, Alabama area, or if you're thinking of selling, here's a close up look at sales in Lake Forest, a very desirable Shelby Co. neighborhood in the Birmingham, Alabama, area. Got questions? Give us a call; we'll be glad to help... Colleen and David Black, Realtors Keller Williams Realty Metro South Specializing in Birmingham, AL/Shelby Co. area home sales 205-356-5412 www.theblackeam.com E-mail: info@theblackteam.com
http://wn.com/Lake_Forest_Birmingham_AL_home_sales_update_JAN_2013
If you're looking for a home for sale in the Birmingham, Alabama area, or if you're thinking of selling, here's a close up look at sales in Lake Forest, a very desirable Shelby Co. neighborhood in the Birmingham, Alabama, area. Got questions? Give us a call; we'll be glad to help... Colleen and David Black, Realtors Keller Williams Realty Metro South Specializing in Birmingham, AL/Shelby Co. area home sales 205-356-5412 www.theblackeam.com E-mail: info@theblackteam.com
- published: 08 Jan 2013
- views: 6
- author: mynexthouse
With MB - Birmingham, AL 12-16-12
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 17:23
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
@partyrockinhard @thentaysaid_ IG - hahayourphotostho taylorrthecreatorr Follow us ya bisssssssssh!!!
http://wn.com/With_MB_Birmingham,_AL_12-16-12
@partyrockinhard @thentaysaid_ IG - hahayourphotostho taylorrthecreatorr Follow us ya bisssssssssh!!!
- published: 18 Dec 2012
- views: 11298
- author: LMFAOcrazyhunniibunn
Priestly and Diaconate Ordinations for Birmingham, Alabama, USA - 2012-06-02
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 161:13
- Updated: 04 Jan 2013
Ordination of Br. John Paul Mary of Divine Mercy and Br. Paschal Mary of the Nativity to the Sacred Order of Deacons and the Ordination of Br. Leonard Mary of the Holy Spirit and Br. Patrick Mary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
http://wn.com/Priestly_and_Diaconate_Ordinations_for_Birmingham,_Alabama,_USA_2012-06-02
Ordination of Br. John Paul Mary of Divine Mercy and Br. Paschal Mary of the Nativity to the Sacred Order of Deacons and the Ordination of Br. Leonard Mary of the Holy Spirit and Br. Patrick Mary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
- published: 05 Jun 2012
- views: 8181
- author: EWTN
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "Danko/Manuel" WorkPlay Birmingham, AL August 17, 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:56
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "Danko/Manuel" from "Live From Alabama" to be released on November 19th on Lightning Rod Records. Pre-order the record and get a download of this track sent immediately. www.jasonisbell.portmerch.com
http://wn.com/Jason_Isbell_and_the_400_Unit_Danko_Manuel_WorkPlay_Birmingham,_AL_August_17,_2012
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "Danko/Manuel" from "Live From Alabama" to be released on November 19th on Lightning Rod Records. Pre-order the record and get a download of this track sent immediately. www.jasonisbell.portmerch.com
- published: 19 Oct 2012
- views: 9273
- author: Jason Isbell
Birmingham Alabama
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:27
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
architectural and attraction images around Birmingham, Alabama
http://wn.com/Birmingham_Alabama
architectural and attraction images around Birmingham, Alabama
- published: 21 Jul 2007
- views: 10250
- author: newotto56
4873 Fulmar Drive, Birmingham, Alabama
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:43
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
This video is about 4873 Fulmar Drive. Check back soon for more information! Call Collier Swecker, RE/MAX Advantage, at (205) 249-3535 www.MegaAgents.com Photography by http
http://wn.com/4873_Fulmar_Drive,_Birmingham,_Alabama
This video is about 4873 Fulmar Drive. Check back soon for more information! Call Collier Swecker, RE/MAX Advantage, at (205) 249-3535 www.MegaAgents.com Photography by http
- published: 09 Jan 2013
- author: cyberhometour
Alabama Solar Panels in Alabama - Solar
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:59
- Updated: 06 Jan 2013
WindEnergy7.com - Alabama Solar Panels in Alabama - Solar. Looking for alabama power solar panels, alabama solar power incentives, gulf south solar, solar panels for your home, solar panels cost, birmingham alabama solar power, solar panels alabama power, solar electricity alabama, solar...
http://wn.com/Alabama_Solar_Panels_in_Alabama_Solar
WindEnergy7.com - Alabama Solar Panels in Alabama - Solar. Looking for alabama power solar panels, alabama solar power incentives, gulf south solar, solar panels for your home, solar panels cost, birmingham alabama solar power, solar panels alabama power, solar electricity alabama, solar...
- published: 27 Oct 2012
- views: 11732
- author: RoofTopWindTurbine
Trey Songz visits home of Birmingham Video Contest Winner with 95.7 Jamz
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:16
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
Trey Songz visits the home of Video Contest winner with Dwight Stone x 95.7 Jamz promotions. Could you imagine being visited by the R&B; superstar?!? Be sure to visit 95.7 Jamz for more videos!! Subscribe to the CHANNEL!!! WBHJ Birmingham Al 95.7 Jamz!!! Provided by 95.7 Jamz Promotions directed by KENXL [@KENXL007 on Twitter!]
http://wn.com/Trey_Songz_visits_home_of_Birmingham_Video_Contest_Winner_with_957_Jamz
Trey Songz visits the home of Video Contest winner with Dwight Stone x 95.7 Jamz promotions. Could you imagine being visited by the R&B; superstar?!? Be sure to visit 95.7 Jamz for more videos!! Subscribe to the CHANNEL!!! WBHJ Birmingham Al 95.7 Jamz!!! Provided by 95.7 Jamz Promotions directed by KENXL [@KENXL007 on Twitter!]
- published: 30 Dec 2012
- views: 6624
- author: 957jamzvideos
The Weather Channel Coverage of the Birmingham, AL Tornado
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:33
- Updated: 06 Jan 2013
Coverage of the April 27, 2011 Birmingham, Alabama tornado as it happened on The Weather Channel.
http://wn.com/The_Weather_Channel_Coverage_of_the_Birmingham,_AL_Tornado
Coverage of the April 27, 2011 Birmingham, Alabama tornado as it happened on The Weather Channel.
- published: 29 Apr 2011
- views: 32280
- author: TheWeatherChannel
Fred Weaver vs Robert Thompson Strike hard MMA Fight - Birmingham, Alabama December 8, 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 19:27
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/Fred_Weaver_vs_Robert_Thompson_Strike_hard_MMA_Fight_Birmingham,_Alabama_December_8,_2012
Kim Burrell Watch Me Praise HIm
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:19
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
Kim Burrell at AIM Birmingham Alabama 2012 Freestylin' and looking BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Hope you Enjoy as much as I did!
http://wn.com/Kim_Burrell_Watch_Me_Praise_HIm
Kim Burrell at AIM Birmingham Alabama 2012 Freestylin' and looking BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Hope you Enjoy as much as I did!
- published: 08 Jul 2012
- views: 89174
- author: Corvious Scott
2013 Nissan Maxima Birmingham AL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:14
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 31064 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn 3.5 SV Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Crimson Black Metallic Int. Color: Charcoal Engine: 3.5 V6 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: NI13221 VIN: 1N4AA5AP7DC811685
http://wn.com/2013_Nissan_Maxima_Birmingham_AL
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 31064 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn 3.5 SV Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Crimson Black Metallic Int. Color: Charcoal Engine: 3.5 V6 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: NI13221 VIN: 1N4AA5AP7DC811685
- published: 08 Dec 2012
- views: 9
- author: jimburkeauto
2013 Nissan Altima Birmingham AL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:00
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 23094 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn I4 2.5 SV Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Java Metallic Int. Color: Beige Engine: 2.5 4 Cyl. Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: NI13274 VIN: 1N4AL3AP2DN488357
http://wn.com/2013_Nissan_Altima_Birmingham_AL
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 23094 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn I4 2.5 SV Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Java Metallic Int. Color: Beige Engine: 2.5 4 Cyl. Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: NI13274 VIN: 1N4AL3AP2DN488357
- published: 29 Dec 2012
- views: 2
- author: jimburkeauto
2013 Hyundai Elantra Birmingham AL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:07
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 16912 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn Alabama Plant) Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Desert Bronze Int. Color: Engine: 4 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: HY13526 VIN: 5NPDH4AE1DH266860
http://wn.com/2013_Hyundai_Elantra_Birmingham_AL
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 16912 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn Alabama Plant) Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Desert Bronze Int. Color: Engine: 4 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: HY13526 VIN: 5NPDH4AE1DH266860
- published: 29 Dec 2012
- views: 1
- author: jimburkeauto
2013 Hyundai Elantra Birmingham AL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:14
- Updated: 03 Jan 2013
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 21592 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn Alabama Plant) Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Desert Bronze Int. Color: Engine: 4 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: HY13534 VIN: 5NPDH4AEXDH269837
http://wn.com/2013_Hyundai_Elantra_Birmingham_AL
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 21592 Mileage: 5 Trim: 4 door Sdn Alabama Plant) Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Desert Bronze Int. Color: Engine: 4 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: HY13534 VIN: 5NPDH4AEXDH269837
- published: 03 Jan 2013
- author: jimburkeauto
2013 Nissan Altima Birmingham AL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:14
- Updated: 22 Dec 2012
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 26901 Mileage: 0 Trim: 4 door Sdn V6 3.5 SV Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Metallic Slate Int. Color: Engine: 3.5 V6 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: NI13157 VIN: 1N4BL3AP1DN455838
http://wn.com/2013_Nissan_Altima_Birmingham_AL
jimburkeauto.utubeautos.com 866-754-7698. Jim Burke Automotive Price $ 26901 Mileage: 0 Trim: 4 door Sdn V6 3.5 SV Body Style: 4 door Car Ext. Color: Metallic Slate Int. Color: Engine: 3.5 V6 Drive Type: Fuel Type: Doors: Stock No.: NI13157 VIN: 1N4BL3AP1DN455838
- published: 17 Nov 2012
- views: 7
- author: jimburkeauto
photo: AP / Menahem Kahana
08 Jan 2013
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - It's Bibi against the world on a campaign trail that took the combative Israeli prime minister to a Jewish settlement on Tuesday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem December 9, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad ... Tweaking his message to match the locality, Netanyahu said ... The danger comes from Iran, which is building nuclear weapons." ... CHEMICAL WEAPONS ... ....(size: 3.8Kb)
photo: AP / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
08 Jan 2013
MOSCOW, January 8 (RIA Novosti) – At least 17 billion Earth-size planets may inhabit the Milky Way galaxy, SPACE.com reported citing a new study by US astronomers ... That translates to a minimum of 17 billion planets as there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way ... Over a hundred of candidates have been confirmed as planets so far, NASA said....(size: 1.7Kb)
photo: AP / Channi Anand
09 Jan 2013
JAMMU, India (Reuters) - India slammed arch-rival Pakistan on Wednesday over a fire fight in the disputed territory of Kashmir in which two of its soldiers were killed, and said the mutilation of one of the bodies was "inhuman". India's Defence Minister A.K. Antony waits to speak at a plenary session of the 11th International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit ... REUTERS/Tim Chong ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: AP / Richard Drew
09 Jan 2013
A commuter ferry has crashed into the dockside in Lower Manhattan in New York during the morning rush hour, injuring between 30 and 50 people.. The Seastreak Ferry, which provides daily services from Atlantic Highlands in New Jersey, struck Pier 11 in the East River not far from Wall Street at about 8.45am ET (1.45pm GMT).. Officials say at least two of the passengers were in a critical condition, one with confirmed head injuries. ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: US Army / Sgt. Christopher Bonebrake
07 Jan 2013
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. When Congress granted President Lyndon B. Johnson absolute powers to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression," Congress could have also included "all necessary vanities." The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which greatly escalated a foreign imperial war in Vietnam, added fuel to the bonfires of vanity....(size: 5.2Kb)
noodls
10 Jan 2013
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) invites undergraduate and graduate students postdoctoral fellows ... This noodl was issued by The University of Alabama at Birmingham and was initially posted at www.uab.edu....(size: 1.7Kb)
noodls
10 Jan 2013
The University of Alabama System) ... The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) College of Arts and Sciences has issued a call for team proposals as part of its focus on promoting interdisciplinary innovation ... the Birmingham Business Alliance ... This noodl was issued by The University of Alabama at Birmingham and was initially posted at www.uab.edu....(size: 2.6Kb)
The Business Review
10 Jan 2013
Birmingham Business Journal by Ryan Poe, Reporter ... Reporter- Birmingham Business Journal . . . , the Birmingham restaurateur who was boycotted in 2011 after speaking out against Alabama's strict immigration law, is selling Max's Delicatessen, according to a report ... Chung, who also owns Bellissimo Pizza & Wings and two Charley’s Grilled Subs franchises in Birmingham, plans to keep the Max's name, the report said....(size: 7.7Kb)
noodls
10 Jan 2013
(Source. The University of Alabama System) ... Doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) encourage staying on top of those resolutions until they become habit in order to make this year and every year the best yet ... But, Whitt warned, day four is where many new actions begin to wear off ... By day four, it can drop off ... This noodl was issued by The University of Alabama at Birmingham and was initially posted at www.uab.edu ... (noodl....(size: 4.4Kb)
The Business Review
10 Jan 2013
Birmingham Business Journal by Ryan Poe, Reporter ... Reporter- Birmingham Business Journal . . ... Birmingham-based restaurant chain, which is owned by and wife Andrea, plans to open its newest location in April in the former Fire restaurant space in Crestline Village, according to a release ... Ryan Poe covers real estate, retail and manufacturing for the Birmingham Business Journal ... Birmingham, AL Vaco Financial ....(size: 7.9Kb)
MSNBC
10 Jan 2013
Birmingham — BY DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer The Marine Corps has advised its legal staff that ......(size: 0.7Kb)
BBC News
10 Jan 2013
... £6m-rated England keeper Jack Butland, 19, says he will only leave Birmingham City for first-team football - not to be a reserve ... Birmingham City's supporters trust has criticised the club's governance after City's 2011-12 accounts revealed a bizarre sponsorship arrangement, the club still owing £14m to Carson Yeung who is awaiting trial for money-laundering, and an unnamed director being paid £687,611 ... print ... ....(size: 13.9Kb)
Irish Times
10 Jan 2013
AMERICAN FOOTBALL. On Tuesday morning, commentary on the broadcast of the Bowl Championship Series national title game between Alabama and Notre Dame included words like “creepy,” “awkward,” “uncomfortable” and “heteronormative” ... Musburger, 73, then said, “If you’re a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it around the back yard with Pop.”....(size: 4.4Kb)
The Guardian
10 Jan 2013
As the Benjamin Britten centenary approaches, tenor Ian Bostridge picks his 10 favourite works – including one he has vowed never to perform again. Vast endeavours ... Benjamin Britten, left, with tenor Peter Pears in 1946. Photograph. Gerti Deutsch/Getty. Click to enlarge. 1 ... Serenade ... • Ian Bostridge performs Winter Words at Birmingham Town Hall, 16 January, as part of A Boy Was Born. Celebrating the Britten Anniversary in Birmingham ... ....(size: 8.9Kb)
Hartford Courant
10 Jan 2013
has apologized for Brent Musburger's comments about Katherine Webb during the game between Alabama and , even though the beauty queen apparently did not find his words ... During the game's broadcast, the 73-year-old Musburger gave Webb, who is dating Alabama quarterback a lot of attention. ....(size: 1.7Kb)
Austin American Statesman
10 Jan 2013
15 in New Mexico, with an incredible comeback by Arizona, and mercifully ended Monday night in Miami with a dud of a BCS title game as Alabama ended all suspense in the first quarter ... blame Alabama and Florida State....(size: 1.1Kb)
The Oklahoman
10 Jan 2013
. FROM STAFF REPORTS .. email. A person was struck and killed by a vehicle Wednesday evening on the northbound Interstate 35 service road in southeast Oklahoma City, police said.. email. NewsOK has disabled the comments for this article ... Ads by Yahoo! ... W ... 18 photos ... Alabama quarterback's girlfriend in spotlight after game ... ... Alabama quarterback's girlfriend in spotlight after game ... Alabama's Barrett Jones stands up for linemen everywhere ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)
The Guardian
10 Jan 2013
Monochrome still preferred despite turn-off of last analogue TV signal last year – but licence fee almost £100 cheaper. Black and white television is still the No1 choice for more than 13,000 homes in the UK. Photograph. Peter Trulock/Getty Images ... The penchant for monochrome prevails despite the switch to digital with the turn-off of the last analogue TV signal, in Northern Ireland, on 24 October last year ... 1 ... 2. Birmingham – 574. 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6 ... ....(size: 5.4Kb)
This article is about the U.S. city. For the city in England, see Birmingham. For other uses, see Birmingham (disambiguation).
| Birmingham, Alabama | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City — | |||
 |
|||
|
|||
| Nickname(s): "The Magic City", "Pittsburgh of the South" | |||
 |
|||
 Birmingham, Alabama
|
|||
| Coordinates: 33°39′12″N 86°48′32″W / 33.65333°N 86.80889°W / 33.65333; -86.80889 | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Alabama | ||
| Counties | Jefferson, Shelby | ||
| Incorporated | December 19, 1871 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Mayor – Council | ||
| • Mayor | William A. Bell | ||
| Area | |||
| • City | 151.9 sq mi (393 km2) | ||
| • Land | 149.9 sq mi (388 km2) | ||
| • Water | 2.0 sq mi (5 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 644 ft (196 m) | ||
| Population (2010)[1] | |||
| • City | 212,237 | ||
| • Density | 1,415.85/sq mi (546.66/km2) | ||
| • Metro | 1,128,047 | ||
| Demonym | Birminghamian | ||
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) | ||
| Area code(s) | 205 | ||
| Interstates | I-20, I-22, I-59 I-65, and I-459 | ||
| Airports | Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport | ||
| FIPS code | 01-07000 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 015817 | ||
| Website | http://www.birminghamal.gov | ||
Birmingham ( /ˈbɜrmɪŋhæm/ BUR-ming-ham) is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237.[2] The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one-quarter of Alabama's population.
Birmingham was founded in 1871, just after the American Civil War, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, one of the major industrial cities of the United Kingdom. Most of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry.[3] The city was planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast.[4]
From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South. The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City and The Pittsburgh of the South. Much like Pittsburgh, Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. In the field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in the Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the United States. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company: Regions Financial. Five Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Birmingham.
In the field of college and university education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (formerly known as the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry since 1947, and since that time, it has also become provided with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (founded circa 1969), one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama, and also with the private Birmingham-Southern College. Between these two universities and Samford University, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. Birmingham is home to three of the state's five law schools: Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, one of the major United States collegiate athletic conferences.
Contents |
History[link]
Founding and early growth[link]
Birmingham was founded on June 1, 1871, by the Elyton Land Company whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads including land formerly a part of the Benjamin P. Worthington Plantation. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre & Allen. The site of the railroad crossing was notable for the nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity.[5] From the start the new city was planned as a great center of industry. The founders, organized as the Elyton Land Company, borrowed the name of Birmingham, one of England's main industrial cities, to advertise that point. The growth of the planned city was impeded by an outbreak of cholera and a Wall Street crash in 1873. However, it began to grow shortly afterward at an explosive rate.
The town of Elyton, Alabama, and several other surrounding towns were absorbed into Birmingham in 1911.
The turn of the century brought the substantial growth that gave Birmingham the nickname "The Magic City" as the downtown area developed from a low-rise commercial and residential district into a busy grid of neoclassical mid-rise and high-rise buildings and busy streetcar lines. Between 1902 and 1912 four large office buildings were constructed at the intersection of 20th Street, the central north–south spine of the city, and 1st Avenue North, which connected the warehouses and industrial facilities stretching along the east–west railroad corridor. This impressive group of early skyscrapers was nicknamed "The Heaviest Corner on Earth".
The Great Depression hit Birmingham especially hard as sources of capital that were fueling the city's growth rapidly dried up at the same time that farm laborers, driven off the land, made their way to the city in search of work. New Deal programs made important contributions to the city's infrastructure and artistic legacy, including such key improvements as Vulcan's tower and Oak Mountain State Park.
The wartime demand for steel and the post-war building boom gave Birmingham a rapid return to prosperity. Manufacturing diversified beyond the production of raw materials and major civic institutions such as schools, parks and museums, were able to expand their scope.[6]
Birmingham civil rights movement[link]
Main article: Birmingham campaign
In the 1950s and 1960s Birmingham received national and international attention as a center of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans. Locally the movement's activists were led by Fred Shuttlesworth, a fiery preacher who became legendary for his fearlessness in the face of violence, notably a string of racially motivated bombings that earned Birmingham the derisive nickname "Bombingham".[7]
A watershed in the civil rights movement occurred in 1963 when Shuttlesworth requested that Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which Shuttlesworth had co-founded, come to Birmingham, where King had once been a pastor, to help end segregation.[8] Together they launched "Project C" (for "Confrontation"), a massive assault on the Jim Crow system. During April and May daily sit-ins and mass marches organized and led by movement leader James Bevel were met with police repression, tear gas, attack dogs, fire hoses, and arrests. More than 3,000 people were arrested during these protests, almost all of them high-school age children. These protests were ultimately successful, leading not only to desegregation of public accommodations in Birmingham but also the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[9]
While imprisoned for having taken part in a nonviolent protest, Dr. King wrote the now famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, a defining treatise in his cause against segregation. Birmingham is also known for a bombing which occurred later that year, in which four black girls were killed by a bomb planted at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The event would inspire the African-American poet Dudley Randall's opus, "The Ballad of Birmingham", as well as jazz musician John Coltrane's song "Alabama".
In 1998 the Birmingham Pledge, written by local attorney James Rotch, was introduced at the Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast. As a grassroots community commitment to combating racism and prejudice, it has since then been used for programs in all fifty states and in more than twenty countries.[10] In 2011, the Highland Park neighborhood of Birmingham was named as a 2011 America's Great Place by the American Planning Association.[11]
Recent history[link]
In the 1970s urban-renewal efforts focused around the development of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which developed into a major medical and research center. In 1971 Birmingham celebrated its centennial with a round of public-works improvements, including the upgrading of Vulcan Park. Birmingham's banking institutions enjoyed considerable growth as well and new skyscrapers started to appear in the city center for the first time since the 1920s. These projects helped the city's economy to diversify, but did not prevent the exodus of many of the city's residents to independent suburbs. In 1979 Birmingham elected Dr. Richard Arrington Jr. as its first African-American mayor.
The population inside Birmingham's city limits has fallen over the past few decades, due in large part to "white flight" from the city of Birmingham proper to surrounding suburbs. The city's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white,[12] has declined from 57.4 percent in 1970 to 21.1 percent in 2010.[13] From 340,887 in 1960, the population was down to 242,820 in 2000, a loss of about 29 percent. By 2009 Census estimates placed Birmingham's population at 230,650. That same period saw a corresponding rise in the populations of the suburban communities of Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Alabaster, and Gardendale, none of which were incorporated as municipalities until after 1950.
Today, Birmingham has begun to experience something of a rebirth. Money has been invested in reconstructing the downtown area into a 24-hour mixed-use district. The market for downtown lofts and condominiums has mushroomed while restaurant, retail and cultural options are beginning to sprout up. In 2006 the visitors bureau selected "the diverse city" as a new tag line for the city.[14]
Geography and climate[link]
Geography[link]
Birmingham occupies Jones Valley, flanked by long parallel mountain ridges (the tailing ends of the Appalachian foothills – see Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians) running from north-east to south-west. The valley is drained by small creeks (Village Creek, Valley Creek) which flow into the Black Warrior River. The valley was bisected by the principal railroad corridor, along which most of the early manufacturing operations began.
Red Mountain lies immediately south of downtown. Many of Birmingham's television and radio broadcast towers are lined up along this prominent ridge. The "Over the Mountain" area, including Shades Valley, Shades Mountain and beyond, was largely shielded from the industrial smoke and rough streets of the industrial city. This is the setting for Birmingham's more affluent suburbs of Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, and Hoover. South of Shades Valley is the Cahaba River basin, one of the most diverse river ecosystems in the United States.
Sand Mountain, a smaller ridge, flanks the city to the north and divides Jones Valley from much more rugged land to the north. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (now CSX Transportation) enters the valley through Boyles Gap, a prominent gap in the long low ridge.
Ruffner Mountain, located due east of the heart of the city, is home to Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, one of the largest urban nature reserves in the United States.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 151.9 square miles (393 km2), of which, 149.9 square miles (388 km2) of it is land and 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2) of it (1.34%) is water.
Climate[link]
Birmingham has a humid subtropical climate, characterized by hot summers, mild winters, and abundant rainfall. January sees average highs in the low to mid 50s °F (10-13 °C), with lows just above freezing, falling to that point on 55 nights per year.[15] In July temperatures are in the low 90s °F (32-34 °C), with lows averaging around 70 °F (21.1 °C); highs exceed 90 °F (32.2 °C) on 58 days per year and 100 °F (37.8 °C) on 2 or 3.[15] Precipitation is relatively well-distributed throughout the year, sometimes falling in the form of snow during winter; however, 10.3 inches (26.2 cm) fell on March 13, 1993, during the 1993 Storm of the Century, which left the highest one-storm and daily snowfall total.
The spring and fall months are pleasant but variable as cold fronts frequently bring strong to severe thunderstorms and occasional tornadoes to the region. The fall season features less rainfall and fewer storms, as well as lower humidity than the spring, but it is also a secondary severe weather season. Birmingham is located on the heart of a Tornado Alley known as the Dixie Alley due to the frequency of tornadoes in Central Alabama. The greater Birmingham area has been hit by two F5 tornadoes; one in Birmingham's northern suburbs in 1977, and second in the western suburbs in 1998. The area has been hit by an EF4 tornado in 2011. In late summer and fall months, Birmingham experiences occasional tropical storms and hurricanes due to its proximity to the Central Gulf Coast.
The record high temperature is 107 °F (41.7 °C), set on July 29, 1930,[16] and the record low is −6 °F (−21.1 °C), set on January 21, 1985.[17]
| Climate data for Birmingham, Alabama (Birmingham Int'l), 1981-2010 normals | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 81 (27) |
83 (28) |
90 (32) |
92 (33) |
99 (37) |
106 (41) |
107 (42) |
105 (41) |
106 (41) |
94 (34) |
85 (29) |
80 (27) |
107 (42) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 53.8 (12.1) |
58.4 (14.7) |
66.7 (19.3) |
74.4 (23.6) |
81.5 (27.5) |
87.8 (31.0) |
90.8 (32.7) |
90.7 (32.6) |
85.1 (29.5) |
75.3 (24.1) |
65.4 (18.6) |
55.9 (13.3) |
73.82 (23.23) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 33.1 (0.6) |
36.5 (2.5) |
43.1 (6.2) |
49.9 (9.9) |
59.2 (15.1) |
66.9 (19.4) |
70.7 (21.5) |
70.1 (21.2) |
63.6 (17.6) |
52.2 (11.2) |
42.8 (6.0) |
35.7 (2.1) |
51.98 (11.10) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −6 (−21) |
2 (−17) |
2 (−17) |
26 (−3) |
36 (2) |
42 (6) |
51 (11) |
51 (11) |
37 (3) |
27 (−3) |
5 (−15) |
1 (−17) |
−6 (−21) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 4.83 (122.7) |
4.53 (115.1) |
5.23 (132.8) |
4.38 (111.3) |
4.98 (126.5) |
4.38 (111.3) |
4.79 (121.7) |
3.93 (99.8) |
3.90 (99.1) |
3.44 (87.4) |
4.85 (123.2) |
4.45 (113) |
53.69 (1,363.7) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | .7 (1.8) |
.2 (0.5) |
.6 (1.5) |
.2 (0.5) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
.1 (0.3) |
1.7 (4.3) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 10.4 | 10.0 | 10.2 | 9.1 | 10.2 | 11.0 | 11.7 | 9.6 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 9.1 | 10.4 | 116.7 |
| Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 149.8 | 159.8 | 219.1 | 247.6 | 282.6 | 280.7 | 264.3 | 260.7 | 223.8 | 231.9 | 166.3 | 154.4 | 2,641.0 |
| Source no. 1: NOAA [18][19] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: Weather.com (extremes)[20] | |||||||||||||
Government[link]
| District | Representative | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LaShunda Scales | |
| 2 | Kim Rafferty | |
| 3 | Valerie A. Abbott | |
| 4 | Maxine Parker | |
| 5 | Johnathan Austin | |
| 6 | Carole Smitherman | |
| 7 | James E. Roberson, Jr. | |
| 8 | Steven Hoyt | President Pro-Tem |
| 9 | Roderick Royal | President |
Birmingham has a strong-mayor variant mayor-council form of government, led by a mayor and a nine-member city council. The current system replaced the previous city commission government in 1962 (primarily as a way to remove Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor from power).[21]
By Alabama law, an issue before a city council must be approved by a two-thirds majority vote (Act No. 452, Ala. Acts 1955, as supplemented by Act No. 294, Ala. Acts 1965.). Executive powers are held entirely by the Mayor's Office. Birmingham's current Mayor is William A. Bell. Mayor Bell, who previously served as interim Mayor in 1999, won a special election on January 19, 2010, to fill the unexpired term of former Mayor Larry Langford. Langford was removed from office after being convicted of federal corruption charges on October 28, 2009.[22][23]
In 1974 Birmingham established a structured network of neighborhood associations and community advisory committees to insure public participation in governmental issues that affect neighborhoods. Neighborhood associations are routinely consulted on matters related to zoning changes, liquor licenses, economic development, policing and other city services. Neighborhoods are also granted discretionary funds from the city's budget to use for capital improvements. Each neighborhood's officers meet with their peers to form Community Advisory Committees which are granted broader powers over city departments. The presidents of these committees, in turn, form the Citizen's Advisory Board, which meets regularly with the mayor, council, and department heads. Birmingham is divided into a total of 23 communities, and again into a total of 99 individual neighborhoods with individual neighborhood associations.[24]
State and federal representation[link]
The United States Postal Service operates post offices in Birmingham. The main post office is located at 351 24th Street North in Downtown Birmingham.[25] Birmingham is also the home of the Social Security Administration's Southeastern Program Service Center. This center is one of only seven in the United States that process Social Security entitlement claims and payments. In addition, Birmingham is the home of a branch bank of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.
Economy[link]
From Birmingham's early days onward, the steel industry has always played a crucial role in the local economy. Though the steel industry no longer has the same prominence it once held in Birmingham, steel production and processing continue to play a key role in the economy. Steel products manufacturers American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO) and McWane are based in the city. Several of the nation's largest steelmakers, including CMC Steel, U.S. Steel, and Nucor, also have a major presence in Birmingham. In recent years, local steel companies have announced about $100 million worth of investment in expansions and new plants in and around the city. Vulcan Materials Company, a major provider of crushed stone, sand, and gravel used in construction, is also based in Birmingham.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Birmingham's economy was transformed by investments in bio-technology and medical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its adjacent hospital. The UAB Hospital is a Level I trauma center providing health care and breakthrough medical research. UAB is now the area's largest employer and the second largest in Alabama with a workforce of about 18,750 as of 2011.[26] Health care services provider HealthSouth, Surgical Care Affiliates and Diagnostic Health Corporation are also headquartered in the city.Caremark Rx was also founded in the city.
Birmingham is also a leading banking center, serving as home to two major banks: Regions Financial Corporation and BBVA Compass. SouthTrust, another large bank headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004. The city still has major operations as one of the regional headquarters of Wachovia, which itself is now part of Wells Fargo Bank. In November 2006, Regions Financial merged with AmSouth Bancorporation, which was also headquartered in Birmingham. They formed the 8th largest U.S. bank (by total assets). Nearly a dozen smaller banks are also headquartered in the Magic City, such as Superior Bank and (until its failure in 2009 and reformation as Birmingham-based Cadence Bank) New South Federal Savings Bank. As of 2009, the finance & banking sector in Birmingham employed 1,870 financial managers, 1,530 loan officers, 680 securities commodities and financial services sales agents, 380 financial analysts, 310 financial examiners, 220 credit analysts, and 130 loan counselors.[27]
The telephone company that is now owned by AT&T, which was formerly BellSouth and before that South Central Bell, which had its headquarters in Birmingham, has a major nexus in Birmingham, supported by a skyscraper downtown.
The insurance companies Protective Life, Infinity Property & Casualty, ProAssurance, and Liberty National have their headquarters in Birmingham, and these employ a large number of people in Greater Birmingham.
Birmingham is also a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies, including BE&K, Brasfield & Gorrie and B.L. Harbert International which routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design and international construction firms.[28][29]
Two of the largest soft-drink bottlers in the United States, each with more than $500 million in sales per year, are located in Birmingham. The Buffalo Rock Company, founded in 1901, was formerly a maker of just ginger ale, but now it is a major bottler for the Pepsi Cola Company, and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, United, founded in 1902, is the third-largest bottler of Coca-Cola products in the United States.
The Birmingham metropolitan area has consistently been rated as one of America's best places to work and earn a living based on the area's competitive salary rates and relatively low living expenses. One study published in 2006 at the Web site Salary.com determined that Birmingham was second in the nation for building personal net worth, based on local salary rates, living expenses, and unemployment rates.[30]
A 2006 study by web site bizjournals.com[31] calculated Birmingham's "combined personal income" (the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a year) at $48.1 billion.[32]
Birmingham's sales tax, which also applies fully to groceries, stands at 10 percent and is the highest tax rate of the nation's 100 largest cities.[33][34]
Although Jefferson County's bankruptcy filing was the largest government bankruptcy in United States history, Birmingham remains solvent.[35]
Metropolitan infrastructure[link]
Education[link]
The city of Birmingham is served by the Birmingham City Schools system. It is run by the Birmingham Board of Education with a current active enrollment of 30,500 in 67 schools: seven high schools, 13 middle schools, 33 elementary schools, and nine kindergarten-eighth-grade primary schools.
The Birmingham Public Library with 21 branches serves the entire community to provide education and entertainment for all ages.[36]
The greater-Birmingham metropolitan area is the home of numerous independent school systems, because there has a been a great deal of fragmentation of educational systems in Alabama, and especially in Jefferson County. Some of these "school systems" only have three to five schools. The metropolitan area's three largest school systems are the Jefferson County School System, Birmingham City Schools, and the Shelby County School System. However, there are many, many smaller school systems.
The Birmingham area is reputed to be the home of some of Alabama's best high schools, colleges, and universities. In 2005, the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in Irondale, an eastern suburb of Birmingham, was rated as the #1 high school in America by Newsweek, a national publication. The school remains among the nation's top 5 high schools. Mountain Brook High School placed 250th on the list. Other local schools that have been rated among America's best in various publications include Homewood High School, Vestavia Hills High School and the Alabama School of Fine Arts located downtown. The metro area also has three highly regarded preparatory schools: Saint Rose Academy located in Birmingham proper The Altamont School, also located in Birmingham proper, and Indian Springs School in north Shelby County near Pelham.
Noteworthy institutions of higher education in greater Birmingham include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Samford University (includes the Cumberland School of Law), Birmingham School of Law, Miles College, the independent Miles Law School, Jefferson State Community College, Birmingham-Southern College, University of Montevallo (in Shelby County), Lawson State Community College, and Virginia College in Birmingham, the largest career college based in Birmingham.
Urban planning in Birmingham[link]
Before the first structure was built in Birmingham, the plan of the city was laid out over a total of 1,160 acres (4.7 km2) by the directors of the Elyton Land Co. The streets were numbered from west to east, leaving Twentieth Street to form the central spine of downtown, anchored on the north by Capital Park and stretching into the slopes of Red Mountain to the south. A "railroad reservation" was granted through the center of the city, running east to west and zoned solely for industrial uses. As the city grew, bridges and underpasses separated the streets from the railroad bed, lending this central reservation some of the impact of a river (without the pleasant associations of a waterfront). From the start, Birmingham's streets and avenues were unusually wide at 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m), purportedly to help evacuate unhealthy smoke.
File:RR park.jpg
Railroad Park near downtown
In the early 20th century professional planners helped lay out many of the new industrial settlements and company towns in the Birmingham District, including Corey (now Fairfield) which was developed for the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (subsequently purchased by U. S. Steel). At the same time, a movement to consolidate several neighboring cities gained momentum. Although local referendums indicated mixed feelings about annexation, the Alabama legislature enacted an expansion of Birmingham's corporate limits that became effective on January 1, 1910.
The Robert Jemison company developed many residential neighborhoods to the south and west of Birmingham which are still renowned for their aesthetic quality.
A 1924 plan for a system of parks, commissioned from the Olmsted Brothers is seeing renewed interest with several significant new parks and greenways under development. Birmingham officials have approved a City Center Master Plan developed by Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh, which advocates strongly for more residential development in the downtown area. The plan also called for a major park over several blocks of the central railroad reservation: Railroad Park, which opened in 2010. Along with Ruffner Mountain Park, and the proposed Red Mountain Park, Birmingham would rank first in the United States for public green space per resident.
Notable buildings[link]
| Name | Stories | Height |
|---|---|---|
| Wells Fargo Tower | 34 | 454 ft (138 m) |
| Regions-Harbert Plaza | 32 | 437 ft (133 m) |
| AT&T City Center | 30 | 390 ft (119 m) |
| Regions Center | 30 | 390 ft (119 m) |
| City Federal Building | 27 | 325 ft (99 m) |
| Alabama Power Headquarters Building | 18 | 322 ft (98 m) |
| Leer Tower | 20 | 287 ft (87 m) |
| John Hand Building | 20 | 284 ft (87 m) |
| Daniel Building | 20 | 283 ft (86 m) |
Transportation[link]
Birmingham has one of the most extensive networks of highways and roadways in the Southeast. The city is served by four Interstate Highways, Interstate 20, Interstate 65, Interstate 59, and Interstate 22, as well as a southern bypass expressway Interstate 459, which connects with I-20/59 to the southwest, with I-65 the south, I-20 to the east, and I-59 to the northeast. Beginning in downtown Birmingham is the "Elton B. Stephens Expressway" -- the Red Mountain Expressway to the southeast—which carries both U.S. Highway 31 and U.S. Highway 280 to, through, and over Red Mountain. Interstate 22 is on the verge of completion between Birmingham and Memphis, Tennessee, lacking only the final three to four miles that will connect it with I-65 just north of the Birmingham city limits. There have been proposals and plans for the construction of a Northern Beltline Highway on the opposite side of Birmingham from Interstate 459.
In the area of metropolitan public transportation, Birmingham is served by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority through the Metro Area Express (MAX) bus system.[37] Also MAX has provided a service within the college called "D A R T".
Birmingham is served by the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. This airport serves more than 3 million passengers every year. With more than 160 flights daily, the airport offers flights to 37 cities across the United States. Commercial passenger service through Birmingham is provided by United Express, Delta Air Lines/Delta Connection, American Airlines/American Eagle, US Airways/US Airways Express, and Southwest Airlines.
Birmingham is served by three major railroad freight companies: the Norfolk Southern Company, CSX Transportation, and the BNSF Railway. All three of these have major railroad yards in the metro area. Smaller regional railroads such as the Alabama Warrior Railway and the Birmingham Southern Railroad also freight customers in Birmingham. Amtrak's Crescent connects Birmingham with the cities and towns of Washington, D.C. (and points northeast and northwest of that), Greensboro, NC, Charlotte, N.C., Greenville, SC, Atlanta, Anniston, Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Meridian, Mississippi, Hattiesburg, and New Orleans. For the past several decades, the only passenger railroad service in Birmingham has been the Amtrak Crescent, with one train eastbound and one train westbound daily from the Birmingham Station.
Utilities[link]
The water for Birmingham and the intermediate urbanized area is served by the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB). A public authority that was established in 1951, the BWWB serves all of Jefferson, northern Shelby, western St. Clair counties. The largest reservoir for BWWB is Lake Purdy, which is located on the Jefferson and Shelby County line, but has several other reservoirs including Bayview Lake in western Jefferson County. There are plans to pipeline water from Inland Lake in Blount County and Lake Logan Martin, but those plans are on hold indefinitely.
Jefferson County Environmental Services serves the Birmingham metro area with sanitary sewer service. Sewer rates have increased in recent years[38] after citizens concerned with pollution in area waterways filed a lawsuit that resulted in a federal consent decree to repair an aging sewer system. Because the estimated cost of the consent decree was approximately three times more than the original estimate, many blame the increased rates on corruption of several Jefferson County officials.[38] One major reason for the higher cost was that Jefferson County had to buy the sewers from many smaller municipalities in the area to ensure that these sewers were being maintained in a fashion that would meet EPA approval to avoid massive fines for failure to comply with the consent decree.[citation needed] The sewer construction and bond-swap agreements continue to be a controversial topic in the area.[38]
Electric power is provided primarily by Southern Company-subsidiary, Alabama Power. However, some of the surrounding area such as Bessemer and Cullman are provided by TVA. Bessemer also operates its own water and sewer system.[39] Natural gas is provided by Alagasco, although some metro area cities operate their own natural gas services. The local telecommunications are provided by AT&T. Cable television service is provided by Bright House Networks within the cities of Birmingham and Irondale, and Charter Communications in the rest of metro area.
People and culture[link]
Demographics[link]
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 3,086 |
|
|
| 1890 | 26,178 | 748.3% | |
| 1900 | 38,415 | 46.7% | |
| 1910 | 132,685 | 245.4% | |
| 1920 | 178,806 | 34.8% | |
| 1930 | 259,678 | 45.2% | |
| 1940 | 267,583 | 3.0% | |
| 1950 | 326,037 | 21.8% | |
| 1960 | 340,887 | 4.6% | |
| 1970 | 300,910 | −11.7% | |
| 1980 | 284,413 | −5.5% | |
| 1990 | 265,968 | −6.5% | |
| 2000 | 242,840 | −8.7% | |
| 2010 | 212,237 | −12.6% | |
- 2000
Based on 2000 census, there were 242,820 people, 98,782 households, and 59,269 families residing in the city.[40] The population density was 1,619.7 people per square mile (625.4/km2). There were 111,927 housing units at an average density of 746.6 per square mile (288.3/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 62.46% Black, 35.07% White, 0.17% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.62% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races. 1.55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 98,782 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.1% were married couples living together, 24.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.09.[citation needed]
In the city, the population is spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.4 males.[citation needed]
The median income for a household in the city was $26,735, and the median income for a family was $31,851. Males had a median income of $28,184 versus $23,641 for females. The city's per capita income was $15,663. About 20.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.4% of those under age 18 and 18.5% of those age 65 or over.[citation needed]
- 2010
According to the 2010 U.S. Census:[12]
- 22.3% White
- 73.4% Black
- 0.2% Native American
- 1.0% Asian
- 0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
- 1.0% Two or more races
- 2.1% Other races
- 3.6% Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Surrounding suburbs[link]
Suburbs are listed in order of population.
|
|
|
Crime[link]
Birmingham has the tenth-highest crime rate in the country.[41] Although homicide rates have remained above national averages for several years,[42] the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) crime statistics are much lower. According to statistics reported to the FBI, Birmingham has the seventh highest murder rate among U.S. cities and is ranked eighteenth in violent crime, but again this is for Birmingham proper only and does not include the various sub-cities which make up the 1.2 million Birmingham MSA. In fact, the Birmingham MSA crime rate is in line with several low-crime southern MSAs such as Jacksonville, FL, and Charlotte, NC.[43] Recently the A&E series, "The First 48" has filmed episodes with some of the city's homicide detectives.
The downtown district, relatively free from crime, is patrolled by City Action Partnership (CAP), formed in 1995 to increase the perception of safety. Funded by a downtown improvement association, the organization reports a 62% decline in criminal activity within its 109-block area.
Culture[link]
Birmingham is the cultural and entertainment capital of Alabama with its numerous art galleries in the area and home to Birmingham Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the Southeast. Birmingham is also home to the state's major ballet, opera, and symphony orchestra companies such the Alabama Ballet, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Ballet, Birmingham Concert Chorale, and Opera Birmingham.
- The historic Alabama Theatre hosts film screenings, concerts and performances.
- The Alys Stephens Center for the Performing Arts is home to Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Opera Birmingham as well as several series of concerts and lectures. It is located on the University of Alabama at Birmingham campus.
- The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC), houses a theater, concert hall, exhibition halls, and a sports and concert arena. The BJCC is home to the Birmingham Children's Theatre,[44] one of the oldest and largest children's theatres in the country, and hosts major concert tours and sporting events. Adjacent to the BJCC is the Sheraton Birmingham, the largest hotel in the state. A Westin Hotel is currently being constructed in the entertainment district of downtown Birmingham and is scheduled to open January 2013.[45]
- The historic Carver Theatre, home of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, offers concerts, plays, jazz classes (free to any resident of the state of Alabama) and many other events in the Historic 4th Avenue District, near the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
- The Birmingham Public Library presents programs for children and adults.
- Boutwell Auditorium (formerly Municipal Auditorium) is located at Linn Park.
- The Verizon Wireless Music Center, formerly Oak Mountain Amphitheater, is a large outdoor venue with two stages. It is located in Pelham.
Other entertainment venues in the area include:
- Fair Park Arena, on the west side of town, hosts sporting events, local concerts and community programs.
- Workplay[46] located in Southside, is a multi-purpose facility with offices, audio and film production space, a lounge, and a theater and concert stage for visiting artists and film screenings.
- Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, a celebration of new independent cinema in downtown Birmingham, was named one of TIME magazines "Film Festivals for the Rest of Us" in their June 5, 2006 issue.
- The Wright Center Concert Hall at Samford University is home to the Birmingham Ballet
Birmingham's nightlife is primarily clustered around Five Points South and Lakeview, but an additional $55-million entertainment district has been approved for an area adjacent to the BJCC.
The Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham[47] maintains Birmingham365.org,[48] "a one-stop source for finding out what's going on where around" Birmingham.
See also: List of songs about Birmingham, Alabama
Attractions, events, and recreation[link]
Museums[link]
Birmingham is home to several museums. The largest is the Birmingham Museum of Art, which is also the largest municipal art museum in the Southeast. The area's history museums includes Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which houses a detailed and emotionally-charged narrative exhibit putting Birmingham's history into the context of the U. S. Civil Rights Movement. It is located on Kelly Ingram Park adjacent to the 16th Street Baptist Church.
Other history museums include the Southern Museum of Flight, Bessemer Hall of History[49] Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, Alabama Museum of Health Sciences, and the Arlington Home.
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame is housed in the historic Carver Theatre, and offers exhibits about the numerous notable jazz musicians from the state of Alabama.
The McWane Science Center is a regional science museum with hands-on science exhibits, temporary exhibitions, and an IMAX dome theater. The center also houses a major collection of fossil specimens for use by researchers. Other unique museums include the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, with the largest collection of motorcycles in the world, the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near McCalla, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, and the Talladega Superspeedway International Motorsports Hall of Fame museum.
South of downtown on Red Mountain, Vulcan Park features the world's largest cast iron statue, depicting Vulcan at his forge. It was cast for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and erected at Vulcan Park in 1938.
Festivals[link]
Birmingham is home to numerous cultural festivals showcasing music, films, and regional heritage. Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival brings filmmakers from all over the world to Birmingham to have their films viewed and judged. This festival usually is scheduled on the last weekend in September at eight venues around downtown. Screenings are concentrated at the Alabama Theatre.
Another musical festival is the Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival, presented at the end of September each year, concurrent with the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. This all day festival features national and local jazz acts. In 2007, the festival drew an estimated 6,000 people. The Birmingham Folk Festival is an annual event held since 2006. It moved to Avondale Park in 2008. In 2009 the festival featured nine local bands and three touring "headliner bands."[50]
The Southern Heritage Festival began in the 1960s as a music, arts, and entertainment festival for the African-American community to attract mostly younger demographics. Do Dah Day is an annual pet parade held around the end of May. The Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil, an annual music festival event held in May to benefit local charities, always includes an all-star cast of talent. It typically draws more than 30,000 spectators for the annual two-day event. The annual Greek Festival, a celebration of Greek heritage, culture, and especially cuisine, is a charity fundraiser hosted by the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity - Holy Cross Cathedral. The Greek Festival draws 20,000 patrons annually.[51] The Lebanese Food Festival is held at St. Elias Maronite Church. Magic City Brewfest is an annual festival benefiting local grassroots organization, Free the Hops, and focusing on craft beer. Alabama Bound is an annual book and author fair that celebrates Alabama authors and publishers. Hosted by the Birmingham Public Library, it is an occasion when fans may meet their favorite authors, buy their books, and hear them read from and talk about their work. Book signings follow each presentation.
Other attractions[link]
Railroad Park opened in 2010 in downtown Birmingham's Railroad Reservation District. Kelly Ingram Park, site of notable civil rights protests and adjacent to historic 16th Street Baptist Church. Oak Mountain State Park is about 10 miles (16 km) South of Birmingham. It is one of the southernmost wrinkles in the Appalachian chain, and a scenic drive to the top provides views reminiscent of the Great Smoky Mountains further north. To the west of the city is located Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, a 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) Civil War site which includes the well-preserved ruins of the Tannehill Iron Furnaces and the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill. The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a 67 acre (270,000 m²) park displaying a wide variety of plants in interpretive gardens, including formal rose gardens, tropical greenhouses, and a large Japanese Garden. The facility also includes a white-tablecloth restaurant, meeting rooms, and an extensive reference library. It is complemented by Hoover's 30-acre (120,000 m2) Aldridge Botanical Gardens, an ambitious project open since 2002. Still under development, Aldridge is currently more valuable to locals looking for a place to stroll than to tourists, but promises unique displays in coming years. The Birmingham Zoo is a large regional zoo with more than 700 animals and a recently opened interactive children's zoo. Alabama Adventure Theme Park (formerly Visionland) is an amusement park with two independent sections: Splash Beach Water Park and Magic Adventure Theme Park,. The theme park has 25 different thrill rides including The Rampage wooden roller coaster and Zoomerang, a steel roller coaster purchased in 2004 from the Brisbane expo. (The park was renamed at the start of the 2006 season, and major expansion plans were announced at that time.) The Summit is an upscale lifestyle center with many stores and restaurants. It is located in Southeast Birmingham off of U.S. Highway 280, parallel to Interstate 459. Its anchor tenants are Belk and Saks Fifth Avenue. Vulcan statue is a cast iron replica of the Greek/Roman god of fire, iron, and blacksmiths that is the symbol of Birmingham. The statue stands high above the city looking down from a tower at the top of Red Mountain (Birmingham). Open to visitors, the tower offers views of the city below.
Sports[link]
- Birmingham has no major professional sport franchises. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB Blazers) has a popular basketball program and a young football program which is growing in popularity. The Birmingham area is home to the Birmingham Barons, the AA minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, which plays at Regions Park, in Hoover. The Regions Park is also home to the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament which drew more than 108,000 spectators in 2006. There is also an amateur soccer association, known as La Liga. The Birmingham area also plays host to the Alabama Alliance basketball team.
- March 6–8, 2009 Birmingham hosted the U.S.A vs. Switzerland first round tie of the Davis Cup. In which, U.S. won 4-1.
- Birmingham was home to the Black Barons, a very successful Negro League team. The Black Barons played home games at Rickwood Field, which is still standing in the Rising-West Princeton neighborhood, and is verified as being the oldest baseball field in America.
- The city is notable for having multiple pro football franchises with all of the football franchises from Birmingham folding. This included a two-time champion WFL franchise, the Birmingham Americans/Birmingham Vulcans—before the league folded. A USFL franchise, the Birmingham Stallions–once again the league folded. A WLAF franchise, the Birmingham Fire–the WLAF was renamed NFL Europa and the franchise became the Rhein Fire before the league folded altogether in 2007. A CFL franchise, the Birmingham Barracudas— would play one season and then fold as the league ended its American franchise experiment. An XFL franchise, the Birmingham Thunderbolts–another instance where the league folded.
- Birmingham's Legion Field has hosted several college football postseason bowl games, including the Dixie Bowl (1948–49), the Hall of Fame Classic (1977–85), the All-American Bowl (1986–90), the SEC Championship Game (1992–93), the SWAC Championship Game (1999–present), and, most recently, the BBVA Compass Bowl (formerly the papajohns.com Bowl 2006–present).
- The Southeastern Conference, Southwestern Athletic Conference and Gulf South Conference are headquartered in Birmingham.
- In 1996 Legion Field hosted early rounds of Olympic soccer where it drew record crowds. The field has also hosted men's and women's World Cup qualifiers and friendlies. A recent switch from natural grass to an artificial surface has left the stadium's role as a soccer venue in doubt.
- Motorsports are very popular in the Birmingham area and across the state, and the area is home to numerous annual motorsport races. the Aaron's 499 & AMP Energy 500 are NASCAR Sprint Cup races that occur in April and October at the Talladega Superspeedway. The Indy Grand Prix of Alabama shares the Barber Motorsports Park road course with Superbike and sports car GrandAm races.[52]
- The PGA Champions Tour has had a regular stop in the Birmingham area since 1992, with the founding of the Bruno's Memorial Classic, later renamed the Regions Charity Classic. In 2011 the tournament will be replaced by The Tradition, one of the Champions Tour's five "major" tour events.
- Birmingham was also a home of professional ice hockey teams. The Birmingham Bulls were a professional ice hockey team based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. They played in the World Hockey Association from 1976 to 1979 and the Central Hockey League from 1979 to 1981. The Bulls played their home games at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. In 1992, another Birmingham hockey franchise was founded that used the Bulls name, the Birmingham Bulls of the East Coast Hockey League. This franchise was later sold to Atlantic City, NJ.
- Recreational fishing is also immensely popular in the Birmingham area. Fish have been caught in 14 separate Alabama lakes which would be state records in 35 other states. Recently, Birmingham was named "Bass Capital of the World" by ESPN and Bassmaster magazine. Over the last several years, Birmingham has been home to numerous major fishing tournaments, including the Bass Masters Classic. Some of the more popular recreational lakes around Birmingham include: Smith Lake, Lay Lake, Lake Neely Henry, Lake Logan Martin, Lake Purdy, and Bankhead Reservoir.
- The U.S. Paralympic Training Facility is located in Birmingham and was a primary filming location for the 2005 documentary film Murderball, about wheelchair rugby players.[53]
- Road running events such as the Vulcan 10K Run[54] and Mercedes Marathon/Half Marathon are popular for both locals and out-of-state runners.
- Cycling (both mountain biking and road) is popular in the area. Nearby Oak Mountain State Park annually hosts the Bump N' Grind mountain bike (1995–present) race[55] and the Xterra Southeast Championship triathlon as well as other endurance competitions.
Minor League baseball teams[link]
| Club | Sport | Founded | League | Venue |
| Birmingham Barons | Baseball | 1885 | Southern League: South Division | Regions Park |
Venues[link]
- BJCC Arena
- Bartow Arena
- Boutwell Auditorium
- Legion Field
- Pelham Civic Center
- Rickwood Field
- Fair Park Arena
Media[link]
Birmingham is served by one daily newspaper, The Birmingham News (circulation 150,346), which in 2007 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, the newspaper's second Pulitzer. The Birmingham News' Wednesday edition features six sub regional sections named East, Hoover, North, Shelby, South, and West that cover news stories from those areas. The Birmingham Post-Herald, the city's second daily, published its last issue in 2006. Other local publications include The North Jefferson News, The Leeds News, The Western Star (Bessemer) and The Western Tribune (Bessemer).
Weld for Birmingham, Birmingham Weekly, Birmingham Free Press[56] and Black & White (published biweekly) are Birmingham's free alternative publications. The Birmingham Times, a historic African-American newspaper, also is published weekly.
Birmingham is served by the city magazine of the Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham magazine.
Birmingham is part of the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa television market, which is the nation's 40th largest. The major television affiliates, most of which have their transmitters and studios located on Red Mountain in Birmingham, are WBRC 6 (Fox), WBIQ 10 (PBS), WVTM 13 (NBC), WTTO 21 (CW), WBMA 33/40 (ABC), WIAT 42 (CBS), WPXH 44 (ION), and WABM 68 (MyNetworkTV).
Over 45 radio stations serve the Birmingham market, which is the nation's 56th largest radio market. Major broadcasting companies who own stations in the Birmingham market include Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, and Crawford Broadcasting. The Rick and Bubba show, which is syndicated to over 25 stations primarily in the Southeast, originates from Birmingham's WZZK-FM. The Paul Finebaum sports-talk show, also syndicated and carried nationwide on Sirius digital radio, originates from WJOX.
Birmingham is home to EWTN, the world's largest Catholic media outlet and largest religious network of any kind broadcasting to approximately 118 million homes worldwide.
- See also List of television stations in Alabama
- See also List of radio stations in Alabama
Other[link]
Notable natives[link]
Main article: List of people from Birmingham, Alabama
Sister cities[link]
Birmingham's Sister Cities program is overseen by the Birmingham Sister Cities Commission.[57]
|
|
Cultural references[link]
The song "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd contains the line "In Birmingham they love the governor".
Randy Newman wrote a song, titled "Birmingham", about a man living in this city. It was released as a track on his 1974 album Good Old Boys.
Birmingham is mentioned in "Playboy Mommy" by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos as well as in "Run, baby, run" by American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow.
References[link]
- ^ "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Alabama's 2010 Census Population Totals, Including First Look at Race and Hispanic Origin Data for Legislative Redistricting". http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn47.html.
- ^ U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Alabama's 2010 Census Population Totals, 2010.census.gov
- ^ Pickett's History of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi from the earliest period, page 391
- ^ The Most Segregated City in America: City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920-1980, page 14
- ^ Lewis, David. "Birmingham Iron and Steel companies". Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1597. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ Atkins, Leah Rawls (1981). The Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham & Jefferson County. Windsor Publications. ISBN 978-0-89781-031-9.
- ^ Cohen, Adam (July 21, 1997). "Back to "Bombingham"". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986714,00.html. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
- ^ Clayborne Carson "King Maker," American Heritage, Winter 2010.
- ^ Civil Rights Movement Veterans. "The Birmingham Campaign". http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm#1963bham.
- ^ encyclopediaofalabama.org
- ^ "Highland Park in Birmingham". http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/streets/2011/index.htm. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Birmingham (city), Alabama". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/01/0107000.html. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ "Alabama - Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990". U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ Dugan, Kelli M. (July 14, 2006). "Big ideas". Birmingham Business Journal. http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/07/17/smallb1.html?jst=s_cn_hl. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
- ^ a b "Climatography of the United States No. 20 (1971–2000)" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. July 2011. http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/climatenormals/clim20/al/010831.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
- ^ "July Daily Averages for Birmingham, AL (35209)". weather.com. http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/wxclimatology/daily/35209?climoMonth=7. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
- ^ "January Daily Averages for Birmingham, AL (35209)". weather.com. http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/wxclimatology/daily/35209?climoMonth=1. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
- ^ "NowData - NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=bmx. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
- ^ "NOAA". NOAA. ftp://dossier.ogp.noaa.gov/GCOS/WMO-Normals/RA-IV/US/GROUP1/00010829.TXT.
- ^ "Average Weather for Birmingham, AL - Temperature and Precipitation". The Weather Channel. http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/35209. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
- ^ Nunnelley, William A. (1991) Bull Connor. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0495-9
- ^ "Langford elected mayor". The Birmingham News. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/10/langford_elected_mayor.html.
- ^ Bryant, Joseph D. (2009-11-24). "Roderick Royal elected Birmingham Council president, and will serve as interim mayor". The Birmingham News. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/11/roderick_royal_elected_birming.html.
- ^ Thomson, Ken (1988) "Birmingham Participation". Citizen Participation Project at the Lincoln Filene Center at Tufts University. CPN.org - accessed May 5, 2009
- ^ "Post Office Location - Birmingham." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on May 4, 2009.
- ^ Aneesa McMillan. "Top of the List: Alabama's largest employers" (April 22, 2011). Birmingham Business Journal.
- ^ "Birmingham, Hoover Career, Salary & Employment Info". http://www.collegedegreereport.com/cities/birmingham-hoover.
- ^ McGraw-Hill Construction Engineering News-Record; 2008 Top Design Firms
- ^ McGraw-Hill Construction Engineering News-Record; 2007 Top International Contractors
- ^ Malachowski, Dan. "Salary.com's Salary Value Index". Salary.com. http://aol.salary.com/careersandwork/salary/articles/atcl_careeradvice.asp?atc=569. Retrieved November 9, 2006.
- ^ bizjournals.com
- ^ "Birmingham is wealthy enough for pro sports team, study shows". Birmingham Business Journal. February 14, 2006. http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/02/13/daily12.html?jst=b_ln_hl. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
- ^ http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/28117.html
- ^ http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
- ^ Wright, Barnett (November 10, 2011). "Jefferson County files for largest bankruptcy in U.S. history". The Birmingham News on al.com. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/11/jefferson_county_files_for_lar.html. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ Birmingham Public Library
- ^ Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority
- ^ a b c Brian Wheeler (14 December 2011). "The scandal of the Alabama poor cut off from water". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16037798. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
- ^ bessemeral.org
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ os.cqpress.com
- ^ Birmingham Weekly Whitmire, Kyle. Making a Mayor: Birmingham Crime. Birmingham Weekly blog; September 7, 2007
- ^ FBI statistics suggest the need for new crime-fighting strategies and technologies for Birmingham. The Birmingham News via AL.com, January 10, 2008.
- ^ bct123.org
- ^ http://www.cbs42.com/content/localnews/story/Work-kicks-up-at-Westin-Hotel/vTTv6MfqykeZ4lZljljlgw.cspx?rss=1659
- ^ workplay.com
- ^ cultural-alliance.com
- ^ birmingham365.org
- ^ bhamrails.info
- ^ The Birmingham Folk Festival
- ^ holytrinity-holycross.org
- ^ Tomberlin, Michael (July 27, 2009). "It's official: 3 Indy car races coming to Barber Motorsports Park". The Birmingham News.
- ^ lakeshore.org
- ^ vulcanrun.com
- ^ bumpngrindrace.com
- ^ birminghamfreepress.com
- ^ birminghamsistercities.com
Further reading[link]
- Arrington, Richard. There’s Hope for the World: The Memoir of Birmingham, Alabama’s First African American Mayor, University of Alabama Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8173-1623-5
- Fazio, Michael W. Landscape of Transformations: Architecture and Birmingham, Alabama. University of Tennessee Press, 2010; examines Birmingham's architecture and society in the city's rise as an industrial center.
- Bennett, James R. "Historic Birmingham and Jefferson County", Historical Publishing Network, second ed, 2010. ISBN 978-1-935377-18-4.
External links[link]
| Find more about Birmingham, Alabama on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
 |
Definitions and translations from Wiktionary |
 |
Images and media from Commons |
 |
Learning resources from Wikiversity |
 |
News stories from Wikinews |
 |
Quotations from Wikiquote |
 |
Source texts from Wikisource |
 |
Textbooks from Wikibooks |
- National Weather Service - Birmingham
- Official Site for the City of Birmingham, Alabama
- Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Bhamwiki, a city wiki covering the Birmingham District
- Birmingham travel guide from Wikitravel
- Birmingham History - About Birmingham - Greater Birmingham ...
- History of professional sports in Birmingham
- History of Railroads and Industries in Birmingham
- Birmingham article, Encyclopedia of Alabama
- Birmingham Recreation Trails
- Sports of Birmingham
- Birmingham media:
- The Birmingham News – daily newspaper of record
- The Birmingham Times – African-American community news
- Birmingham Weekly – alternative news – weekly
- The Black and White – alternative news – biweekly
- Birmingham Business Journal – business news weekly
- The Birmingham Free Press - Indie Newspaper
Coordinates: 33°31′29″N 86°48′46″W / 33.524755°N 86.81274°W / 33.524755; -86.81274
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
http://wn.com/Birmingham,_Alabama
Related pages:
http://it.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://cs.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://id.wn.com/Birmingham, Alabama
http://es.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://ru.wn.com/Бирмингем (Алабама)
http://nl.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://pl.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://fr.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://de.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
http://pt.wn.com/Birmingham (Alabama)
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham,_Alabama
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the city in England. For the U.S. city named after it, see Birmingham, Alabama. For other uses, see Birmingham (disambiguation).
| City of Birmingham | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City and Metropolitan borough — | |||
 |
|||
|
|||
| Nickname(s): "Brum", "The Second City", "City of a thousand trades", "Workshop of the World" |
|||
| Motto: Forward | |||
 |
|||
| Coordinates: 52°28′59″N 1°53′37″W / 52.48306°N 1.89361°W / 52.48306; -1.89361 | |||
| Sovereign state |  United Kingdom |
||
| Constituent country |  England |
||
| Region | West Midlands | ||
| Ceremonial county | West Midlands | ||
| Admin HQ | The Council House | ||
| Founded | 7th century | ||
| Municipal borough | 1838 | ||
| City | 1889 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Metropolitan borough | ||
| • Body | Birmingham City Council | ||
| • Lord Mayor | Anita Ward (L) | ||
| • Council Leader | Sir Albert Bore, (L) | ||
| • Council Control | Labour | ||
| • MPs | Richard Burden (L) Liam Byrne (L) Jack Dromey (L) Roger Godsiff (L) John Hemming (LD) Khalid Mahmood (L) Shabana Mahmood (L) Steve McCabe (L) Andrew Mitchell (C) Gisela Stuart (L) |
||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 103.39 sq mi (267.77 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 460 ft (140 m) | ||
| Population (2010 est.) | |||
| • Total | 1,036,900 (Ranked 1st) | ||
| • Density | 9,680/sq mi (3,739/km2) | ||
| • Conurbation | 2,284,093 | ||
| • Ethnicity (2009 estimates[1]) |
68.0% White (63.3% White British) 19.7% South Asian 6.6% Black 3.1% Mixed Race 1.1% Chinese 1.5% Other |
||
| Time zone | GMT (UTC+0) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | BST (UTC+1) | ||
| Postcode | B | ||
| Area code(s) | 0121 | ||
| ISO 3166 code | GB-BIR | ||
| ONS code | 00CN | ||
| OS grid reference | SP066868 | ||
| NUTS 3 | UKG31 | ||
| Website | birmingham.gov.uk | ||
Birmingham (i/ˈbɜrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm, locally /ˈbɜrmɪŋɡəm/ BUR-ming-gəm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 (2010 estimate),[2] and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census).[3] Birmingham's metropolitan area is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.[4]
A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and economic organisation, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society.[5] By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world".[6] Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly-skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation and provided a diverse and resilient economic base for industrial prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century.[7] Its resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of broad-based political radicalism, that under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy.[8]
Today Birmingham is a major international commercial centre, ranked as a beta− world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network;[9] and an important transport, retail, events and conference hub. With a GDP of $90bn (2008 estimate, PPP), the economy of the urban agglomeration is the second largest in the UK and the 72nd largest in the world.[10] Birmingham's three universities and two university colleges make it the largest centre of higher education in the United Kingdom outside London,[11] and its major cultural institutions, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, enjoy international reputations.[12] The Big City Plan is a large redevelopment plan currently underway in the city centre with the aim of making Birmingham one of the top 20 most liveable cities in the world within 20 years.[13]
People from Birmingham are called 'Brummies', a term derived from the city's nickname of 'Brum'. This originates from the city's dialect name, Brummagem,[14] which may in turn have been derived from one of the city's earlier names, 'Bromwicham'.[15] There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect.
Contents |
History[link]
Main articles: History of Birmingham, Economic history of Birmingham, and Timeline of Birmingham history
Pre-history and medieval[link]
Birmingham's early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. Birmingham lay between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the densely wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden.[16]
There is evidence of hominid activity in the Birmingham area dating back 500,000 years,[17] with stone age artifacts suggesting seasonal settlements, overnight hunting parties and woodland activities such as tree felling.[18] The many burnt mounds that can still be seen around the city indicate that modern humans first intensively settled and cultivated the area during the bronze age, when a substantial but short-lived influx of population occurred between 1700BC and 1000BC, possibly caused by conflict or immigration in the surrounding area.[19] Further evidence of subsequent iron age settlement can be found at Berry Mound, a hill fort located in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire, near Shirley.[20] During the 1st century Roman conquest of Britain the forested country of the Birmingham Plateau formed a barrier to the advancing Roman legions,[21] who built the large Metchley Fort in the area of modern-day Edgbaston in AD48,[22] and made it the focus of a network of Roman Roads.[23]
Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era. The city's name comes from the Old English Beormingahām, meaning the home or settlement of the Beormingas – suggesting that Birmingham was established in the 6th or early 7th century as the primary settlement of an Anglian tribal grouping of that name.[24] By the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, however, the manor was one of the poorest and least populated in Warwickshire, valued at only 20 shillings,[25] with the area of the modern city divided between the counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire.[26]
Birmingham's development into a significant urban and commercial centre began in 1166, when the Lord of the Manor Peter de Birmingham obtained a charter to hold a market at his castle and followed this with the deliberate creation of a planned market town within his demesne or manorial estate, around the site that became the Bull Ring.[27] This established Birmingham as the primary commercial centre for the Birmingham Plateau at a time when the area's economy was expanding rapidly, with population growth nationally leading to the clearance, cultivation and settlement of previously marginal land.[28] Within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. Within another fifty years it was the third largest town in Warwickshire.[29]
Early modern[link]
File:Westley---East-Prospect-of-Birmingham-1732.jpg
Birmingham in 1732.
The de Birmingham family continued to be Lords of Birmingham until the 1530s when Edward de Birmingham was cheated out of its lordship by John Dudley.[30]
As early as the 16th century, Birmingham's access to supplies of iron ore and coal meant that metalworking industries became established.[31] By the time of the English Civil War in the 17th century, Birmingham had become an important manufacturing town with a reputation for producing small arms. Arms manufacture in Birmingham became a staple trade and was concentrated in the area known as the Gun Quarter. During the 18th century, Birmingham was home to the Lunar Society, an important gathering of local thinkers and industrialists.[32][33]
The industrial revolution, innovation, science, and invention[link]
Main article: Science and invention in Birmingham
Birmingham's explosive industrial expansion started earlier than that of the textile-manufacturing towns of the North of England,[34] and was driven by different factors. Instead of the economies of scale of a low-paid, unskilled workforce producing bulk commodities such as cotton in increasingly large, mechanised units of production, Birmingham's industrial development was built on the adaptability and creativity of a highly-paid workforce, practicing a broad range of skilled specialist trades with a strong division of labour, in a highly entrepreneurial economy of small, often self-owned workshops.[35]
Birmingham has been the location for some of the most important inventions and scientific breakthroughs. Levels of inventiveness were exceptional: between 1760 and 1850 – the core years of the English industrial revolution – Birmingham residents registered over three times as many patents as those of any other British town or city.[36]
Innovation in 18th century Birmingham often took the form of incremental series of small-scale improvements to existing products or processes,[37] but also included major developments that lay at the heart of the emergence of industrial society.[5] In 1709 the Birmingham-trained Abraham Darby I moved to Coalbrookdale in Shropshire and built the first blast furnace to successfully smelt iron ore with coke, transforming the quality, volume and scale on which it was possible to produce cast iron.[38] In 1732 Lewis Paul and John Wyatt invented roller spinning, the "one novel idea of the first importance" in the development of the mechanised cotton industry.[39] In 1741 they opened the world's first cotton mill in Birmingham's Upper Priory.[40]
In 1765 Matthew Boulton opened the Soho Manufactory, pioneering the combination and mechanisation under one roof of previously separate manufacturing activities through a system known as "rational manufacture".[41] As the largest manufacturing unit in Europe this come to symbolise the emergence of the factory system.[42]
In 1746 John Roebuck invented of the lead chamber process, enabling the large-scale manufacture of sulphuric acid,[43] and in 1780 James Keir developed a process for the bulk manufacture of alkali[44] – together these marked the birth of the modern chemical industry.[45]
Most significant, however, was the development in 1776 of the industrial steam engine by James Watt and Matthew Boulton.[46] Freeing for the first time the manufacturing capacity of human society from the limited availability of hand, water and animal power, this was arguably the pivotal moment of the entire industrial revolution and a key factor in the worldwide increases in productivity that would follow over the following century.[47]
Other local inventions and notable firsts include for gas lighting, custard powder, Brylcreem, and the magnetron, Other notable scientists and inventors include for Sir Francis Galton, originator of eugenics and important techniques in statistics, and Joseph Priestley, chemist and radical.
File:Birmingham - Reform Act Map 1831.png
Birmingham Reform Act map from 1831
Regency and Victorian[link]
Birmingham rose to national political prominence in the campaign for political reform in the early nineteenth century, with Thomas Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union bringing the country to the brink of civil war during the Days of May that preceded the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832.[48] The Union's meetings on Newhall Hill in 1831 and 1832 were the largest political assemblies Britain had ever seen.[49] Lord Durham, who drafted the act, wrote that "the country owed Reform to Birmingham, and its salvation from revolution".[50] This reputation for having "shaken the fabric of privilege to its base" in 1832 led John Bright to make Birmingham the platform for his successful campaign for the Second Reform Act of 1867, which extended voting rights to the urban working class.[51]
File:Benjamin Haydon - Meeting of the Birmingham Political Union.jpg
Thomas Attwood addressing a 200,000-strong meeting of the Birmingham Political Union during the Days of May, 1832
By the 1820s, an extensive canal system had been constructed, giving greater access to natural resources to fuel to industries. Railways arrived in Birmingham in 1837 with the arrival of the Grand Junction Railway and, a year later, the London and Birmingham Railway. During the Victorian era, the population of Birmingham grew rapidly to well over half a million[52] and Birmingham became the second largest population centre in England. Birmingham was granted city status in 1889 by Queen Victoria.[53] Joseph Chamberlain, who was once mayor of Birmingham and later became an MP and his son Neville Chamberlain, who was Lord Mayor of Birmingham and later the British Prime Minister, are two of the most well-known political figures who have lived in Birmingham. The city established its own university in 1900.[54]
Twentieth century and contemporary[link]
Birmingham suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II's "Birmingham Blitz" and the city was extensively redeveloped during the 1950s and 1960s.[55] This included the construction of large tower block estates, such as Castle Vale. The Bull Ring was reconstructed and New Street station was redeveloped.
In the decades following World War II, the ethnic makeup of Birmingham changed significantly, as it received waves of immigration from the Commonwealth of Nations and beyond.[56] The city's population peaked in 1951 at 1,113,000 residents.[52]
Birmingham remained by far Britain's most prosperous provincial city as late as the 1970s,[57] with household incomes exceeding even those of London and the South East,[58] but its economic diversity and capacity for regeneration declined in the decades that followed World War II as Central Government sought to restrict the city's growth and disperse industry and population to the stagnating areas of Scotland, Wales and Northern England.[59] These measures hindered "the natural self-regeneration of businesses in Birmingham, leaving it top-heavy with the old and infirm",[60] and the city became increasingly dependent on the motor industry. The recession of the early 1980s saw Birmingham's economy collapse, with unprecedented levels of unemployment and outbreaks of social unrest in inner-city districts.[61]
In recent years, Birmingham has been transformed, with the construction of new squares like Centenary Square and Millennium Place. Old streets, buildings and canals have been restored, the pedestrian subways have been removed and the Bull Ring shopping centre[62] has been completely redeveloped. These were the first steps in the ambitious plans of Birmingham City Council for the redevelopment of Birmingham, which has become known as the Big City Plan.[63]
Government[link]
Main article: Government of Birmingham
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe[64] with 120 councillors representing 40 wards.[65] Its headquarters are at the Council House in Victoria Square. The council currently has a Labour Party majority and is led by Sir Albert Bore, replacing the previous Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition at the May 2012 elections.
Birmingham's ten parliamentary constituencies are represented in the House of Commons by one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat and eight Labour MPs.[66] In the European Parliament the city forms part of the West Midlands European Parliament constituency, which elects six Members of the European Parliament.[67]
Birmingham was originally part of Warwickshire, but expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, absorbing parts of Worcestershire to the south and Staffordshire to the north and west. The city absorbed Sutton Coldfield in 1974 and became a metropolitan borough in the new West Midlands county. Up until 1986, the West Midlands County Council was based in Birmingham City Centre.
Geography[link]
See also Constituent areas of Birmingham Birmingham is located in the centre of the West Midlands region of England on the Birmingham Plateau – an area of relatively high ground, ranging around 500 to 1,000 feet (150–300 m) above sea level and crossed by Britain's main north-south watershed between the basins of the Rivers Severn and Trent. To the south west of the city lie the Lickey Hills,[68] Clent Hills and Walton Hill, which reach 1,033 feet (315 m) and have extensive views over the city. Other than its canals, Birmingham is only served by minor rivers and brooks, such as the River Cole, and the River Rea.
The City of Birmingham forms a conurbation with the largely residential borough of Solihull to the south east, and with the city of Wolverhampton and the industrial towns of the Black Country to the north west, which form the West Midlands Urban Area covering 59,972 ha (600 km2; 232 sq mi). Surrounding this is Birmingham's metropolitan area – the area to which it is closely economically tied through commuting – which includes the former Mercian capital of Tamworth and the cathedral city of Lichfield in Staffordshire to the north; the industrial city of Coventry and the Warwickshire towns of Nuneaton, Warwick and Leamington Spa to the east; and the Worcestershire towns of Redditch and Bromsgrove to the south west.[4]
Much of the area now occupied by the city was originally a northern reach of the ancient Forest of Arden, whose former presence can still be felt in the city's dense oak tree-cover and in the large number of districts such as Moseley, Saltley, Yardley, Stirchley and Hockley with names ending in "-ley": the Old English -lēah meaning "woodland clearing".[69]
Geology[link]
Geologically, Birmingham is dominated by the Birmingham Fault which runs diagonally through the city from the Lickey Hills in the south west, passing through Edgbaston, the Bull Ring to Erdington and Sutton Coldfield in the north east.[70] To the south and east of the fault the ground is largely softer Mercia Mudstone Group (formerly known as Keuper Marl), interspersed with beds of Bunter pebbles and crossed by the valleys of the Rivers Tame, Rea and Cole along with their tributaries.[71] Much of this would have been laid down during the Permian and Triassic periods.[70] To the north and west of the fault, varying from 150 to 600 feet (45–180 m) higher than the surrounding area and underlying much of the city centre, lies a long ridge of harder Keuper Sandstone.[72][73]
Climate[link]
The climate in Birmingham is classified as a temperate maritime climate, like much of the British Isles, with average maximum temperatures in summer (July) being around 21.5 °C (70.7 °F); and in winter (January) around 6.5 °C (43.7 °F).[74] The absolute maximum temperature, set during August 1990, was 34.9 °C (94.8 °F)[75]. Extreme weather is rare but the city has been known to experience tornados – the most recent being in July 2005 in the south of the city, damaging homes and businesses in the area.[76]
Similar to most other large cities, Birmingham has a considerable 'urban heat island' effect.[77] During the coldest night recorded (14 January 1982), for example, the temperature fell to −20.8 °C (−5.4 °F) at Birmingham Airport on the city's eastern edge, but just −12.9 °C (8.8 °F) at Edgebaston, near the city centre.[78]
Relative to other large UK conurbations, Birmingham is a snowy city due to its inland location and comparatively high elevation.[78] For the period 1961–1990 Elmdon averaged 13.0 days of snow lying[79] annually (Compared to 5.33 at London Heathrow),[80] this despite Elmdon being one of the less elevated and thus less snow prone part of the city. Snow showers often pass through the city via the Cheshire gap on North Westerly airstreams, but can also come off the North Sea from North Easterly airstreams.[78]
For the Period 1971–2000, the warmest day of the year on average is 28.8 °C (83.8 °F)[81] and the coldest night typically falls to −9 °C (15.8 °F).[82] Some 11.2 days of the year should rise to a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above[83] and 51.6 nights report an air frost.[84]
| Climate data for Birmingham Elmdon, 99m asl, 1971–2000, extremes 1901– (sunshine 1961–1990) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 15.0 (59.0) |
18.1 (64.6) |
23.7 (74.7) |
26.0 (78.8) |
30.0 (86.0) |
31.6 (88.9) |
32.9 (91.2) |
34.9 (94.8) |
29.8 (85.6) |
26.8 (80.2) |
18.7 (65.7) |
15.7 (60.3) |
34.9 (94.8) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) |
7.0 (44.6) |
9.7 (49.5) |
12.1 (53.8) |
15.8 (60.4) |
18.5 (65.3) |
21.4 (70.5) |
21.0 (69.8) |
17.7 (63.9) |
13.6 (56.5) |
9.5 (49.1) |
7.3 (45.1) |
13.4 (56.1) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.2 (34.2) |
0.9 (33.6) |
2.4 (36.3) |
3.5 (38.3) |
6.2 (43.2) |
9.3 (48.7) |
11.5 (52.7) |
11.2 (52.2) |
9.1 (48.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
3.4 (38.1) |
2.0 (35.6) |
5.6 (42.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −20.8 (−5.4) |
−13.7 (7.3) |
−11.6 (11.1) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
−3.8 (25.2) |
−0.8 (30.6) |
1.2 (34.2) |
2.2 (36.0) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
−6.8 (19.8) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−18.5 (−1.3) |
−20.8 (−5.4) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 66.21 (2.6067) |
48.71 (1.9177) |
50.17 (1.9752) |
48.21 (1.898) |
48.73 (1.9185) |
59.94 (2.3598) |
43.53 (1.7138) |
60.27 (2.3728) |
61.82 (2.4339) |
62.62 (2.4654) |
62.34 (2.4543) |
69.97 (2.7547) |
662.69 (26.0902) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 49.7 | 60.0 | 101.5 | 129.2 | 178.0 | 186.2 | 181.0 | 166.8 | 134.3 | 97.2 | 64.2 | 46.9 | 1,395 |
| Source no. 1: Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute[85] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration[86] | |||||||||||||
Environment[link]
Main article: Parks and open spaces in Birmingham
There are over 8,000 acres (3,237 ha) of parkland open spaces in Birmingham.[87] The largest of the parks is Sutton Park covering 2,400 acres (971 ha) making it the largest urban nature reserve in Europe.[88] Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a Victorian creation, with a conservatory and bandstand, close to the city centre. The Winterbourne Botanic Garden, maintained by the University of Birmingham, is also located close to the city centre.
Birmingham has many corridors of wildlife that lie in both informal settings such as the Project Kingfisher and Woodgate Valley Country Park and in a selection of parks such as Lickey Hills Country Park, Handsworth Park, Kings Heath Park, and Cannon Hill Park; the latter also housing the Birmingham Nature Centre.[89]
Demography[link]
Main article: Demography of Birmingham
Birmingham is the most populous British city outside London, with 1,036,900 inhabitants according to 2010 estimates.[2] The West Midlands Urban Area has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 Census);[3] and Birmingham's metropolitan area, which is also the United Kingdom's second most populous, has a population of 3,683,000.[4] At the time of the 2001 UK Census, Birmingham's population was 977,087,[91] having fallen since reaching a peak of 1,112,685 in the 1951 Census.[92]
The population density is 9,451 inhabitants per square mile (3,649/km²) compared to the 976.9 inhabitants per square mile (377.2/km²) for England. Females represented 51.6% of the population whilst men represented 48.4%. More women were 70 or over.[93] 60.4% of the population was aged between 16 and 74, compared to 66.7% in England as a whole.[94]
The ONS estimates that, in 2009, 63.3% of the population was White British, 2.1% White Irish, 2.6% Other White, 19.7% Asian, 6.6% Black, 1.1% Chinese, 3.1% of mixed race and 1.5% of other ethnic heritage.[95] 57% of primary and 52% of secondary pupils are from non-white British families.[96] 16.5% of the population was born outside the United Kingdom.
60.3% of households were found to be owner occupied and 27.7% were rented from either the city council, housing association or other registered social landlord. The remaining 11.8% of households were rented privately or lived rent free.[94]
The Bimingham Larger Urban Zone, a Eurostat measure of the functional city-region approximated to local government districts, has a population of 2,357,100 in 2004.[97] In addition to Birmingham itself, the LUZ includes the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall, along with the districts of Lichfield, Tamworth, North Warwickshire and Bromsgrove.[98]
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of Birmingham
With a city GDP of $90bn (2008 est., PPP), the urban agglomeration around Birmingham has the second-largest economy in the United Kingdom and the 72nd-largest in the world.[10] Although the city grew to prominence as a manufacturing and engineering centre, its economy today is dominated by the service sector, which in 2008 accounted for 86% of its employment.[99] Birmingham is the largest centre for employment in public administration, education and health in Great Britain,[100] and after Leeds and Glasgow it is the third-largest centre for employment in banking, finance and insurance outside London.[101] It is ranked as a beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.[9]
Two of Britain's largest banks were founded in Birmingham – Lloyds Bank (now Lloyds Banking Group) in 1765[102] and the Midland Bank (now HSBC Bank) in 1836[103] – as well as Ketley's Building Society, the world's first building society, in 1775.[104] In 2010, Cushman & Wakefield stated that Birmingham was the third best place in the United Kingdom to locate a business and the 18th best in Europe.[105]
Tourism is also an increasingly important part of the local economy. With major facilities such as the International Convention Centre and National Exhibition Centre the Birmingham area accounts for 42% of the UK conference and exhibition trade.[106] The city's sporting and cultural venues attract large numbers of visitors.
With an annual turnover of £2.43bn, Birmingham city centre is the UK's third largest retail centre,[107] with the country's busiest shopping centre – the Bullring[108] – and the largest department store outside London – House of Fraser on Corporation Street.[109] The City also has one of only four Selfridges department stores and the second largest branch of Debenhams in the country.[108] In 2004 the city was ranked as the third best place to shop in the United Kingdom, behind the West End of London and Glasgow, being described as a "world-class shopping centre".[110]
Manufacturing accounts for 10% of employment in Birmingham, a figure below the average for Great Britain as a whole.[99] Despite the decline of manufacturing in the city several significant industrial plants remain, including Jaguar Cars in Castle Bromwich and Cadbury Trebor Bassett in Bournville.
Although the city has seen economic growth greater than the national average in the 21st century[111] the benefits have been uneven, with commuters from the surrounding area obtaining many of the more skilled jobs. The two parliamentary constituencies with the highest unemployment rates in the UK – Ladywood and Sparkbrook and Small Heath – are both in inner-city Birmingham.[112] Growth has also added to stresses on the city's transport. Many major roads and the central New Street railway station operate over capacity at peak times. In 2011 it was announced that Birmingham will become an enterprise zone, which will help small businesses in the region to increase economic growth.[113]
Culture[link]
Main article: Culture of Birmingham
Music[link]
During the 1960s Birmingham was the home of a music scene comparable to that of Liverpool.[114] Although it produced no single band as big as The Beatles it was a "a seething cauldron of musical activity", and the international success of groups such as The Move, The Spencer Davis Group, The Moody Blues, Traffic and the Electric Light Orchestra had a collective influence that stretched into the 1970s and beyond.[114] The city was the birthplace of heavy metal music,[115] with pioneering metal bands from the late 1960s and 1970s such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, as well as two members of Led Zeppelin, having come from Birmingham. The next decade saw the influential metal band Napalm Death arise from the city.
In the 1970s, members of The Move and The Idle Race formed the Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. The 1970s also saw the rise of reggae and ska in the city with such bands as Steel Pulse, UB40, Musical Youth, Beshara and The Beat, expounding racial unity with politically leftist lyrics and multiracial line-ups, mirroring social currents in Birmingham at that time.
Other popular bands from Birmingham include for seminal 1980s pop band Duran Duran, Ocean Colour Scene, The Streets and The Twang. Musicians Jeff Lynne, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, John Lodge, Roy Wood, Joan Armatrading, Toyah Willcox, Denny Laine, Sukshinder Shinda, Steve Winwood, Jamelia and Fyfe Dangerfield all grew up in the city.
Jazz has been popular in the city since the 1920s[116], and there are many regular festivals such as the Harmonic Festival, the Mostly Jazz Festival and the annual International Jazz Festival.
The internationally-renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's home venue is Symphony Hall. Other notable professional orchestras based in the city include the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Ex Cathedra, a Baroque chamber choir and period instrument orchestra. The Orchestra of the Swan is the resident chamber orchestra at Birmingham Town Hall,[117] where weekly recitals have also been given by the City Organist since 1834.[118]
The Birmingham Triennial Music Festivals took place from 1784 to 1912. Music was specially composed, conducted or performed by Mendelssohn, Gounod, Sullivan, Dvořák, Bantock and Edward Elgar, who wrote four of his most famous choral pieces for Birmingham. Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius had its début performance there in 1900. Composers born in the city include Albert William Ketèlbey and Andrew Glover.
Birmingham's other city-centre music venues include The National Indoor Arena, which was opened in 1991, 02 Academy on Bristol Street, which opened in September 2009 replacing the 02 Academy in Dale End, The CBSO Centre, opened in 1997, HMV Institute in Digbeth and the Adrian Boult Hall at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
Theatre and performing arts[link]
Birmingham's leading producing theatre is the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, which was founded by Barry Jackson in 1913 to "serve an art instead of making that art serve a commercial purpose".[119] The Rep pioneered innovations such as the performance of Shakespeare in modern dress,[120] and launched the careers of performers including Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, Paul Scofield and Albert Finney.[121] Other theatre companies in Birmingham include the experimental Stan's Cafe, the politically radical Banner Theatre, the Birmingham Stage Company and the Maverick Theatre Company. The Alexandra Theatre and the Birmingham Hippodrome host large-scale touring productions, while professional drama is performed on a wide range of stages across the city, including the Old Rep, the Crescent Theatre, the Custard Factory, the Old Joint Stock Theatre, the Blue Orange Theatre, the Drum in Aston and the mac in Cannon Hill Park.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the United Kingdom's three major ballet companies and the only one based outside London.[122] It is resident at the Birmingham Hippodrome and tours extensively nationally and internationally. The company's associated ballet school – Elmhurst School for Dance in Edgbaston – is the oldest vocational dance school in the country.[123]
The Birmingham Opera Company under artistic director Graham Vick has developed an international reputation for its avant-garde productions,[124] which often take place in factories, abandoned buildings and other found spaces around the city.[125] In 2010 it was described by The Guardian as "far and away the most powerful example that I've experienced in this country of how and why opera can still matter."[126] More conventional seasons by Welsh National Opera and other visiting opera companies take place regularly at the Birmingham Hippodrome.[127]
Literature[link]
Literary figures associated with Birmingham include Samuel Johnson who stayed in Birmingham for a short period and was born in nearby Lichfield. Arthur Conan Doyle worked in the Aston area of Birmingham whilst poet Louis MacNeice lived in Birmingham for six years. American author Washington Irving produced several of his most famous literary works whilst staying in Birmingham such as Bracebridge Hall and The Humorists, A Medley which are based on Aston Hall.
The poet W. H. Auden grew up in the Harborne area of the city and during the 1930s formed the core of the Auden Group with Birmingham University lecturer Louis MacNeice. Other influential poets associated with Birmingham include Roi Kwabena, who was the city's sixth poet laureate,[128] and Benjamin Zephaniah, who was born in the city.
Author J. R. R. Tolkien was brought up in Birmingham, with many locations in the city such as Moseley bog, Sarehole Mill and Perrott's Folly supposedly being the inspiration for various scenes in The Lord of the Rings. The award winning political playwright David Edgar was born in Birmingham, and the science fiction author John Wyndham spent his early childhood in the Edgbaston area of the city, as did Dame Barbara Cartland.
Birmingham has a vibrant contemporary literary scene, with local authors including David Lodge, Jim Crace, Jonathan Coe, Joel Lane and Judith Cutler.[129] The city's leading contemporary literary publisher is the Tindal Street Press, whose authors include prize-winning novelists Catherine O'Flynn, Clare Morrall and Austin Clarke.[130]
Birmingham is the home of the UK's longest-established local science fiction group, launched in 1971 (although there were earlier incarnations in the 1940s and 1960s) and which organises the annual science fiction event Novacon.
Art and design[link]
Main article: Art of Birmingham
File:David Cox - Rhyl Sands (Tate version).jpg
Rhyl Sands (ca. 1854), Oil on Canvas, by David Cox
The influence of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and the Birmingham School of Art made Birmingham an important centre of Victorian art, particularly within the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements.[131] Major figures included the watercolourist David Cox, whose later works make him an important precursor of impressionism;[132] the Pre-Raphaelite and symbolist Edward Burne-Jones; Walter Langley, the first of the Newlyn School painters;[133] and Joseph Southall, leader of the group of artists and craftsmen known as the Birmingham Group.
The Birmingham Surrealists were among the "harbingers of surrealism" in Britain in the 1930s and the movement's most active members in the 1940s,[134] while more abstract artists associated with the city included Lee Bank-born David Bomberg and CoBrA member William Gear. Birmingham artists were prominent in several post-war developments in art: Peter Phillips was among the central figures in the birth of Pop Art;[135] John Salt was the only major European figure among the pioneers of photo-realism;[136] and the BLK Art Group used painting, collage and multimedia to examine the politics and culture of Black British identity. Contemporary artists from the city include the Turner Prize winner Gillian Wearing and the Turner Prize shortlisted Richard Billingham, John Walker and Roger Hiorns.[137]
Birmingham's role as a manufacturing and printing centre has supported strong local traditions of graphic design and product design. Iconic works by Birmingham designers include the Baskerville font,[138] Ruskin Pottery,[139] the Acme Thunderer whistle,[140] the Art Deco branding of the Odeon Cinemas[141] and the Mini.[142]
Museums and galleries[link]
Birmingham has two major public art collections. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is best known for its works by the Pre-Raphaelites, a collection "of outstanding importance".[143] It also holds a significant selection of old masters – including major works by Bellini, Rubens, Canaletto and Claude – and particularly strong collections of seventeenth century Italian Baroque painting and English watercolours.[143] Its design holdings include Europe's pre-eminent collections of ceramics and fine metalwork.[143] The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Edgbaston is one of the finest small art galleries in the world,[144] with a collection of exceptional quality representing Western art from the thirteenth century to the present day.[145]
The council also owns other museums in the city such as Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall, the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Soho House and Sarehole Mill. The Birmingham Back to Backs are the last surviving court of back-to-back houses in the city.[146] Cadbury World is a museum showing visitors the stages and steps of chocolate production and the history of chocolate and the company. The Ikon Gallery hosts displays of contemporary art, as does Eastside Projects.
Thinktank is Birmingham's main science museum, with a Giant Screen cinema, a planetarium and a collection that includes the Smethwick Engine, the world's oldest working steam engine.[147] Other science-based museums include the National Sea Life Centre in Brindleyplace, the Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham and the Centre of the Earth environmental education centre in Winson Green.
Nightlife and festivals[link]
Nightlife in Birmingham is mainly concentrated along Broad Street and into Brindleyplace. Outside the Broad Street area are many stylish and underground venues. The Medicine Bar in the Custard Factory, hmv Institute, Rainbow Pub and Air are large clubs and bars in Digbeth. Around the Chinese Quarter are areas such as the Arcadian and Hurst Street Gay Village, that abound with bars and clubs. Summer Row, The Mailbox, O2 Academy in Bristol Street, St Philips/Colmore Row, St Paul's Square and the Jewellery Quarter all have a vibrant night life. There are a number of late night pubs in the Irish Quarter.[148] Outside the city centre is Star City entertainment complex on the former site of Nechells Power Station.[149]
Birmingham is home to many national, religious and spiritual festivals including a St. George's Day party. The Birmingham Tattoo is a long-standing military show held annually at the National Indoor Arena. The Caribbean-style Birmingham International Carnival takes place in odd numbered years. Birmingham Pride takes place in the gay village and attracts up to 100,000 visitors each year. From 1997 until December 2006, the city hosted an annual arts festival ArtsFest, the largest free arts festival in the UK at the time.[150] The city's largest single-day event is its St. Patrick's Day parade (Europe's second largest, after Dublin).[151] Other multicultural events include the Bangla Mela and the Vaisakhi Mela. The Birmingham Heritage Festival is a Mardi Gras style event in August. Caribbean and African culture are celebrated with parades and street performances by buskers.
Other festivals in the city include the Birmingham International Jazz Festival, Birmingham Comedy Festival (since 2001; 10 days in October), which has been headlined by such acts as Peter Kay, The Fast Show, Jimmy Carr, Lee Evans and Lenny Henry, and the Off The Cuff Festival established in 2009. The biennial International Dance Festival Birmingham started in 2008, organised by DanceXchange and involving indoor and outdoor venues across the city. Since 2001 Birmingham is also host to the Frankfurt Christmas Market, modelled on its German counterpart it has become the UK's largest outdoor Christmas market and is the largest German market outside of Germany and Austria,[152] attracting over 3.1 million visitors in 2010.[153]
Architecture[link]
Further information: Architecture of Birmingham, List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham, and Listed buildings in Birmingham
Birmingham is chiefly a product of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries; its growth began during the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, relatively few buildings survive from its earlier history and those that do are protected. There are 1,946 listed buildings in Birmingham and thirteen scheduled ancient monuments.[154] Birmingham City Council also operate a locally listing scheme for buildings that do not fully meet the criteria for statutorily listed status.
Traces of medieval Birmingham can be seen in the oldest churches, notably the original parish church, St Martin in the Bull Ring. A few other buildings from the medieval and Tudor periods survive, among them the Lad in the Lane[155] and The Old Crown, the 15th century Saracen's Head public house and Old Grammar School in Kings Norton[156] and Blakesley Hall.
A number of Georgian buildings survive, including St Philip's Cathedral, Soho House, Perrott's Folly, the Town Hall and much of St Paul's Square. The Victorian era saw extensive building across the city. Major civic buildings such as the Victoria Law Courts (in characteristic red brick and terracotta), the Council House and the Museum & Art Gallery were constructed.[157] St Chad's Cathedral was the first Roman Catholic cathedral to be built in the UK since the Reformation.[158] Across the city, the need to house the industrial workers gave rise to miles of redbrick streets and terraces, many of back-to-back houses, some of which were later to become inner-city slums.[159]
Postwar redevelopment and anti-Victorianism resulted in the loss of dozens of Victorian buildings like Birmingham New Street Station and the old Central Library.[160] In inner-city areas too, much Victorian housing was redeveloped. Existing communities were relocated to tower block estates like Castle Vale.[161]
Birmingham City Council now has an extensive tower block demolition and renovation programme. There has been much redevelopment in the city centre in recent years, including the award-winning[162] Future Systems' Selfridges building in the Bullring Shopping Centre, the Brindleyplace regeneration project, the Millennium Point science and technology centre, and the refurbishment of the iconic Rotunda building. Funding for many of these projects has come from the European Union; the Town Hall for example received £3 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund.[163]
Highrise development has slowed since the 1970s and mainly in recent years because of enforcements imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority on the heights of buildings as they could affect aircraft from the Airport (e.g. Beetham Tower).[164]
Transport[link]
Main article: Transport in Birmingham
Partly because of its central location, Birmingham is a major transport hub on the motorway, rail and canal networks.[165] The city is served by the M5, M6, M40, and M42 motorways, and probably the best known motorway junction in the UK: Spaghetti Junction.[166]
The National Express Group headquarters are located in Digbeth, in offices above the newly developed Birmingham Coach Station, which forms the national hub of the company's coach network.
Birmingham Airport, located six miles east of the city centre in the neighbouring borough of Solihull, is the seventh busiest by passenger traffic in the United Kingdom and the third busiest outside the London area after Manchester and Edinburgh. It is a major base for airlines including Flybe, Ryanair, Bmibaby, Monarch Airlines and Thomson Airways; and is connected by flag carrier airlines to major international hubs including Dubai, New York-Newark, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam.[167]
Local public transport is by bus, local train and tram. Bus routes are mainly operated by National Express West Midlands, which accounts for over 80% of all bus journeys in Birmingham, however, there are around 50 other, smaller registered bus companies.[168] The number 11 outer circle bus routes are the longest urban bus routes in Europe, being 26 miles (42 km) long[169] with 272 bus stops.[170]
The city's main railway station, Birmingham New Street, is the busiest interchange in the United Kingdom outside London, and second busiest station overall outside London.[171] Birmingham Snow Hill station, another major railway station in the city centre, is also the terminus for the Midland Metro which operates between the station and Wolverhampton, also serving the nearby towns of Bilston, Wednesbury and West Bromwich.[172] Birmingham Moor Street became the city's third major station following its restoration in 2002, with Chiltern Railways express trains running to London Marylebone. There are plans to extend the Midland Metro route further into Birmingham city centre.[173] Birmingham has a large rail-based park and ride network that feeds the city centre.
Birmingham is also notable for its extensive canal system and the city is often noted for having more miles of canal than Venice. The canals fed the industry in the city during the Industrial Revolution. Canalside regeneration schemes such as Brindleyplace have turned the canals into tourist attractions.
Education[link]
Main article: Education in Birmingham
Tertiary education[link]
Birmingham is home to three universities: the University of Birmingham, Aston University and Birmingham City University; and two university colleges: Newman University College[174] and University College Birmingham.[175] The Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham School of Acting and Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, all now part of Birmingham City University, offer higher education in specific arts subjects. The range of universities and colleges means that there are over 65,000 higher education students in Birmingham, making it the UK's second largest student city to London.
The Birmingham Business School, established by Sir William Ashley in 1902, is the oldest graduate-level business school in the United Kingdom.[176] Other business schools in the city include Aston Business School and Birmingham City Business School. The College of Law, the largest providor of vocational legal training in Europe,[177] maintains a large campus in the Jewellery Quarter.[178]
Birmingham is also an important centre for religious education. St Mary's College, Oscott is one of the four seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales;[179] Woodbrooke is the only Quaker study centre in Europe;[180] and Queen's College is an ecumenical theological college serving the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.
Birmingham Metropolitan College is one of the largest further education colleges in the country,[181] formed through a series of mergers between smaller colleges.
Primary and secondary education[link]
Birmingham City Council is England's largest local education authority, directly or indirectly responsible for 25 nursery schools, 328 primary schools, 77 secondary schools[182] and 29 special schools.[183] and providing around 3,500 adult education courses throughout the year.[184] Most of Birmingham's state schools are community schools run directly by Birmingham City Council in its role as local education authority (LEA). However, there are a large number of voluntary aided schools within the state system. Since the 1970s, most secondary schools in Birmingham have been 11-16/18 comprehensive schools, while post GCSE students have the choice of continuing their education in either a school's sixth form or at a further education college. Birmingham has always operated a primary school system of 4–7 infant and 7–11 junior schools.
King Edward's School, founded in 1552, is the oldest and perhaps the most prestigious independent school in the city. Other notable independent schools in the city include the Birmingham Blue Coat School and Edgbaston High School for Girls. The seven schools of The King Edward VI Foundation are known nationally for setting very high academic standards and all the schools consistently achieve top positions in national league tables.[185]
Birmingham was set to receive up to £2.4 billion of central government funding for the replacement and modernisation of many of its secondary schools as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. Procurement commenced in 2009, with the Lend Lease Group being the successful Local Education Partnership company contracted to resource and undertake the work.[186] The first three sample schools were all designed, constructed and completed by 2011, however the programme was scrapped shortly before their completion in July 2010, with only a few other schools and the remaining Academy schemes continuing through to construction, and now due for completion in 2013.
Public services[link]
Library Services[link]
Birmingham Central Library is the largest non-national library in Europe.[187] A new Library of Birmingham is currently being constructed in Centenary Square and will replace Central Library upon its completion in 2013. There are 41 local libraries in Birmingham, plus a regular mobile library service.[188] The library service has 4 million visitors annually,[189]
Emergency Services[link]
Law enforcement in Birmingham is carried out by West Midlands Police, whose headquarters are at Lloyd House in Birmingham City Centre. With 87.92 recorded offences per 1000 population in 2009–10, Birmingham's crime rate is above the average for England and Wales, but lower than any of England's other major core cities and lower than many smaller cities such as Oxford, Cambridge or Brighton.[190] Fire and rescue services in Birmingham are provided by West Midlands Fire Service and emergency medical care by West Midlands Ambulance Service.
Healthcare[link]
There are several National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in Birmingham, the principle sites being the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Heartlands Hospital, Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield and City Hospital; the former is also the home of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine for military personnel injured in conflict zones. There are also many specialist hospitals, such as Birmingham Children's Hospital, Birmingham Women's Hospital, Birmingham Dental Hospital, and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital. Notably, Birmingham saw the first ever use of radiography in an operation,[191] and the UK's first ever hole-in-the-heart operation was performed at Birmingham Children's Hospital.[192]
Water Supply[link]
The Birmingham Corporation Water Department was set up in 1876 to supply water to Birmingham, up until 1974 when its responsibilities were transferred to Severn Trent Water. Most of Birminghams water is supplied by the Elan aqueduct[193], opened in 1904; water is fed by gravity to Frankley Reservoir, Frankley, and Bartley Reservoir, Bartley Green, from reservoirs in the Elan Valley, Wales.[194]
Energy from waste[link]
Birmingham is home to the Tyseley Energy from Waste Plant, a large incineration plant built in 1996 for Veolia[195], that burns some 366,414 tonnes of household waste annually and produces 166,230 MW of electricity for the National Grid alongwith 282,013 tonnes of carbon dioxide.[196].
Religion[link]
| Religion | Percentage of population |
|---|---|
| Buddhist | 0.3% |
| Christian | 59% |
| Hindu | 2% |
| Jewish | 0.2% |
| Muslim | 14.3% |
| Sikh | 2.9% |
| No religion | 12.4% |
| No answer | 8.4% |
Main article: Religion in Birmingham
Although Christianity is the largest religion within Birmingham, with 59% of residents stating that they were Christian in the 2001 Census, the city's religious profile is highly diverse: outside London, Birmingham has the United Kingdom's largest Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist communities; its second largest Hindu community; and its seventh largest Jewish community.[197]
St Philip's Cathedral was upgraded from church status when the Anglican Diocese of Birmingham was created in 1905. There are two other cathedrals: St Chad's, seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew. The Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Midlands is also based at Birmingham, with a cathedral under construction. The original parish church of Birmingham, St Martin in the Bull Ring, is Grade II* listed. A short distance from Five Ways the Birmingham Oratory was completed in 1910 on the site of Cardinal Newman's original foundation.
The oldest surviving synagogue in Birmingham is the 1825 Greek Revival Severn Street Synagogue, now a Freemason's Lodge hall. It was replaced in 1856 by the Grade II* listed Singers Hill Synagogue. Birmingham Central Mosque, one of the largest in Europe, was constructed in the 1960s.[198] During the late 1990s Ghamkol Shariff Masjid was built in Small Heath. Much more recently Darul Barakaat Mosque was built in the Bordesley Green area by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.[199] The Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha Sikh Gurdwara was built on Soho Road in Handsworth in the late 1970s and the Buddhist Dhammatalaka Peace Pagoda near Edgbaston Reservoir in the 1990s.
Sport[link]
Main article: Sport in Birmingham
Birmingham has played an important part in the history of sport. The Football League – the world's first league football competition – was founded by Birmingham resident and Aston Villa director William McGregor, who wrote to fellow club directors in 1888 proposing "that ten or twelve of the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home-and-away fixtures each season".[200] The modern game of tennis was developed between 1859 and 1865 by Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera at Perera's house in Edgbaston,[201] with the Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society remaining the oldest tennis club in the world.[202] The Birmingham and District Cricket League is the oldest cricket league in the world,[203] and Birmingham was the host for the first ever Cricket World Cup, a Women's Cricket World Cup in 1973.[204] Birmingham was the first city to be named National City of Sport by the Sports Council.[205] Birmingham was selected ahead of London and Manchester to bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics,[206] but was unsuccessful in the final selection process, which was won by Barcelona.[207]
Today the city is home of two of the country's oldest professional football teams: Aston Villa F.C., who were founded in 1874 and play at Villa Park; and Birmingham City F.C., who were founded in 1875 and play at St Andrew's. Rivalry between the clubs is fierce and the fixture between the two is called the Second City derby.[208] Villa currently play in the Premier League and have been League champions on seven occasions and European Champions in 1982. Birmingham City currently play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Another Premier League club, West Bromwich Albion F.C., play just outside the city boundaries at The Hawthorns.
Six times County Championship winners Warwickshire County Cricket Club play at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, which also hosts test cricket and one day internationals and is the largest cricket ground in the United Kingdom after Lord's.[209] Edgbaston was the scene of the highest ever score by a batsman in first-class cricket, when Brian Lara scored 501 not out for Warwickshire in 1994.[210] Birmingham has a professional Rugby Union club, Moseley R.F.C., who play at Billesley Common; with a second professional club, Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C., playing at Damson Park in the neighbouring borough of Solihull. The city also has a rugby league club, the Birmingham Bulldogs, who compete in the Co-operative RLC Midlands Premier League (RLC).
Two major championship golf courses lie on the city's outskirts. The Belfry near Sutton Coldfield is the headquarters of the Professional Golfers' Association[211] and has hosted the Ryder Cup more times than any other venue.[212] The Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club near Birmingham Airport is also a regular host of tournaments on the PGA European Tour, including the British Masters and the English Open.[213]
The AEGON Classic is, alongside Wimbledon and Eastbourne, one of only three UK tennis tournaments on the WTA Tour.[214] It is played annually at the Edgbaston Priory Club, which in 2010 announced plans for a multi-million pound redevelopment, including a new showcase centre court and a museum celebrating the game's Birmingham origins.[215]
The Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr is the headquarters of UK Athletics,[216] and one of only two British venues to host fixtures in the elite international IAAF Diamond League.[217] It is also the home of Birchfield Harriers, which has many international athletes amongst its members. The National Indoor Arena hosted the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships and 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, as well as hosting the annual Aviva Indoor Grand Prix – the only British indoor athletics fixture to qualify as a IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting[218] – and a wide variety of other sporting events. Professional boxing, hockey, skateboarding, stock-car racing, greyhound racing and speedway also takes place within the city.
Food and drink[link]
Main article: Food and drink in Birmingham
Birmingham's development as a commercial town was originally based around its market for agricultural produce, established by royal charter in 1166. Despite the industrialisation of subsequent centuries this role has been retained and the Birmingham Wholesale Markets remain the largest combined wholesale food markets in the country,[219] selling meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and flowers and supplying fresh produce to restauranteurs and independent retailers from as far as 100 miles away.[220]
Birmingham is the only English city outside London to have three Michelin starred restaurants: Simpson's in Edgbaston, Turners in Harborne and Purnell's in the city centre.[221]
Birmingham based breweries included Ansells, Davenport's and Mitchells & Butlers.[222] Aston Manor Brewery is currently the only brewery of any significant size. Many fine Victorian pubs and bars can still be found across the city, whilst there is also a plethora of more modern nightclubs and bars, notably along Broad Street.[223]
The Wing Yip food empire first began in the city and now has its headquarters in Nechells.[224] The Balti, a type of curry, was invented in the city, which has received much acclaim for the 'Balti Belt' or 'Balti Triangle'.[225] Famous food brands that originated in Birmingham include Typhoo tea, Bird's Custard, Cadbury's chocolate and HP Sauce.
Media[link]
Main article: Media in Birmingham
Birmingham has several major local newspapers – the daily Birmingham Mail the now weekly Birmingham Post and the weekly Sunday Mercury, all owned by the Trinity Mirror. Forward (formerly Birmingham Voice) is a freesheet produced by Birmingham City Council, which is distributed to homes in the city. Birmingham is also the hub for various national ethnic media, and the base for two regional Metro editions (East and West Midlands).
Birmingham has a long cinematic history; the Electric Cinema on Station Street is the oldest working cinema in the UK,[226] and Oscar Deutsch opened his first Odeon cinema in Perry Barr during the 1920s. Birmingham-born architect Harry Weedon collaborated with Oscar Deutsch to design over 300 cinemas across the country, most in the distinctive Art Decostyle.[227] The largest cinema screen in the West Midlands is located at Millennium Point in the Eastside. Birmingham has also been the location for films including Felicia's Journey of 1999, which used locations in Birmingham that were used in Take Me High of 1973 to contrast the changes in the city.[228]
The BBC has two facilities in the city. The Mailbox, in the city centre, is the national headquarters of BBC English Regions[229] and the headquarters of BBC West Midlands and the BBC Birmingham network production centre. These were previously located at the Pebble Mill Studios in Edgbaston. The BBC Drama Village, based in Selly Oak, is a production facility specialising in television drama.[230]
Central/ATV studios in Birmingham were the location for the recording of many programmes for ITV including Tiswas and Crossroads, until the complex was closed in 1997,[231] and Central moved to its current Gas Street studios. These were also the main hub for CITV, until that was moved to Manchester in 2004. Central's output from Birmingham now consists of only the West and East editions of the regional news programme Central Tonight.
The city is served by numerous national and regional radio stations, as well as local radio stations. These include Free Radio, 102.2 Capital FM Birmingham, Heart West Midlands, Kerrang! Radio, BBC WM, New Style Radio 98.7FM and Smooth Radio's West Midlands News & Admin Team.[232] The Archers, the world's longest running radio soap, is recorded in Birmingham for BBC Radio 4.[233]
Twin cities[link]
Birmingham has six twin cities, which Birmingham City Council refers to as "international partner cities";[234]
Chicago, United States (Since 1993);
Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Since 1966);[235]
Johannesburg, South Africa (Since 1997);
There are also Treaties of Friendship between Birmingham and Guangzhou in China,[234][239] and between Birmingham and Mirpur in Azad Kashmir from where about 90,000 Birmingham citizens originate.[240] Birmingham, Alabama, USA, is named after the city and shares an industrial kinship.[241]
See also[link]
- Birmingham Civic Society
- Birmingham Gay Village
- Constituent areas of Birmingham
- List of Lord Mayors of Birmingham
- List of people from Birmingham, England
- Military history of Birmingham
References[link]
Bibliography[link]
- An History of Birmingham (1783) by William Hutton at Project Gutenberg
- Berg, Maxine (1991). "Commerce and Creativity in Eighteenth-Century Birmingham". In Berg, Maxine. Markets and Manufacture in Early Industrial Europe. London: Routledge. pp. 173–202. ISBN 0-415-03720-4. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NfkNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA173. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- Briggs, Asa (1965) [1963]. "Birmingham: The making of a Civic Gospel". Victorian Cities. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07922-1. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_mWoFbgJsg8C&pg=PA184. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- Gordon E. Cherry (1994). Birmingham A Study in Geography, History and Planning. ISBN 0-471-94900-0.
- Hodder, Mike (2004). Birmingham: the hidden history. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-3135-8.
- Hopkins, Eric (1989). Birmingham: The First Manufacturing Town in the World, 1760–1840. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-79473-6.
- Jones, Peter M. (2008). Industrial Enlightenment: Science, technology and culture in Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760–1820. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-7770-2.
- Leather, Peter (2001). A brief history of Birmingham. Studley: Brewin Books. ISBN 1-85858-187-7.
- Ward, Roger (2005). City-state and nation: Birmingham's political history, 1830–1940. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN 1-86077-320-6.
Notes[link]
- ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group (Percentages)". Neighbourhood Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276800&c=birmingham&d=13&e=13&g=373272&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1256075609225&enc=1&dsFamilyId=1812.
- ^ a b "Local Authority Profile – Birmingham". Nomis – Official Labour Market Statistics. Office for National Statistics. 2011. http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/2038431965/report.aspx. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
- ^ a b "Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas". Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 4 July 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070704003717/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8271&More=Y. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
- ^ a b c "British urban pattern: population data" (PDF). ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions. European Union – European Spatial Planning Observation Network. March 2007. pp. 119–120. http://www.espon.eu/export/sites/default/Documents/Projects/ESPON2006Projects/StudiesScientificSupportProjects/UrbanFunctions/fr-1.4.3_April2007-final.pdf. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ a b Uglow, Jenny (2002). The Lunar Men – the friends who made the future. London: Faber & Faber. pp. xiii, 500–501. ISBN 0-571-21610-2. ; Jones 2008, pp. 14, 19, 71, 82–83, 231–232
- ^ Hopkins 1989, p. 26
- ^ Berg 1991, pp. 174, 184; Jacobs, Jane (1969). The economy of cities. New York: Random House. pp. 86–89. OCLC 5585.
- ^ Ward 2005, jacket; Briggs, Asa (1990) [1965]. Victorian Cities. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 185; 187–189. ISBN 0-14-013582-0. ; Jenkins, Roy (2004). Twelve cities: a personal memoir. London: Pan Macmillan. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0-330-49333-7. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UBmWDk5V9BAC. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ a b "The World According to GaWC 2010". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2010t.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ a b Hawksworth, John; Hoehn, Thomas; Tiwari, Anmol (2 November 2009). "Global city GDP rankings 2008–2025" (PDF). UK Economic Outlook November 2009. PricewaterhouseCoopers. p. 32. http://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/imagelibrary/detail.aspx?MediaDetailsID=1562. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ "Table 0 – All students by institution, mode of study, level of study and domicile 2008/09". Higher education Statistics Agency. http://www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/dataTables/studentsAndQualifiers/download/institution0809.xls?v=1.0. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- ^ Maddocks, Fiona (6 June 2010). "Andris Nelsons, magician of Birmingham". The Observer (Guardian News and Media). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/06/andris-nelsons-conductor-cbso-city-culture-2013?cat=music&type=article. Retrieved 31 January 2011. ; Craine, Debra (23 February 2010). "Birmingham Royal Ballet comes of age". The Times (Times Newspapers). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/dance/article7036522.ece. Retrieved 31 January 2011. ; "The Barber Institute of Fine Arts". Johansens. Condé Nast. http://www.johansens.com/england/birmingham/the-barber-institute-of-fine-arts. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- ^ "Big City Plan Website". Birmingham City Council. http://bigcityplan.birmingham.gov.uk/. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
- ^ "Brummagem". Worldwidewords.com. 13 December 2003. http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bru2.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ William Hutton (1783). An History of Birmingham.
- ^ Leather 2001, p. 2; Kinvig, R. H. (1970) [1950]. "The Birmingham District in Domesday Times". In Kinvig, R. H.; Smith, J. G.; Wise, M. G.. Birmingham and its Regional Setting: A Scientific Survey. New York: S. R. Publishers Limited. p. 113. ISBN 0-85409-607-8.
- ^ Hodder 2004, p. 23
- ^ Hodder 2004, pp. 24–25
- ^ Hodder 2004, pp. 33, 43
- ^ "Berry Mound". Pastscape - National Monuments Record. English Heritage. http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=328850. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
- ^ Thorpe, H. (1970) [1950]. "The Growth of Settlement before the Norman Conquest". In Kinvig, R. H.; Smith, J. G.; Wise, M. G.. Birmingham and its Regional Setting: A Scientific Survey. New York: S. R. Publishers Limited. pp. 87–97. ISBN 0-85409-607-8.
- ^ Hodder 2004, p. 51
- ^ Leather, Peter (1994). "The Birmingham Roman Roads Project". West Midlands Archaeology 37 (9). http://www.brrp.bham.ac.uk/project-info/project-info.html#1994-01. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
- ^ Leather 2001, p. 5; Gelling, Margaret (1956). "Some notes on the place-names of Birmingham and the surrounding district". Transactions & Proceedings, Birmingham Archaeological Society (72): 14–17.
- ^ Leather 2001, p. 9
- ^ Kinvig, R. H. (1970) [1950]. "The Birmingham District in Domesday Times". In Kinvig, R. H.; Smith, J. G.; Wise, M. G.. Birmingham and its Regional Setting: A Scientific Survey. New York: S. R. Publishers Limited. pp. 114–115, 128–129. ISBN 0-85409-607-8.
- ^ Leather 2001, p. 9; Demidowicz, George (2008). Medieval Birmingham: the borough rentals of 1296 and 1344-5. Dugdale Society Occasional Papers. Startford-upon-Avon: The Dugdale Society, in association with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. p. 31. ISBN 0-85220-090-0.
- ^ Leather 2001, p. 9; Holt, Richard (1986). The early history of the town of Birmingham, 1166–1600. Dugdale Society Occasional Papers. Oxford: Printed for the Dugdale Society by D. Stanford, Printer to the University. pp. 4–6. ISBN 0-85220-062-5.
- ^ Leather 2001, p. 11
- ^ "IONA – Birmingham". Project-iona.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071020214707/http://www.project-iona.co.uk/landscape/cityscape_past_and_present/birmingham. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
- ^ Hugh Miller (1851). First Impressions of England and Its People. Gould and Lincoln.
- ^ "History of Birmingham 2". BirminghamUK. http://www.birminghamuk.com/historic2.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Lunar Society". BirminghamUK. http://www.birminghamuk.com/lunarsociety.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 34; Berg 1991, pp. 180, 196; Hopkins 1989, pp. 20–22; Ward 2005, p. 2
- ^ Hopkins 1989, pp. 6, 9, 11, 34–35, 55–57; Berg 1991, pp. 174, 194; Jones 2008, p. 19
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 40; Berg 1991, p. 184
- ^ Hopkins 1989, p. 33; Berg 1991, p. 184
- ^ Weissenbacher, Manfred (2009). Sources of Power: How Energy Forges Human History. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. p. 194. ISBN 0-313-35626-2. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dcYHzuFLZP0C&pg=PA194. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ Wadsworth, Alfred P.; Mann, Julia De Lacy (1931). The cotton trade and industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 413. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XAsNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA413. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ Wadsworth, Alfred P.; Mann, Julia De Lacy (1931). The cotton trade and industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 431. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XAsNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA431. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ "Rational Manufacture – Wedgwood & Boulton". Making the Modern World. London: Science Museum. 2004. http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/enlightenment_and_measurement/05.ST.02/?scene=2&tv=true. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 52
- ^ Hopkins 1989, p. 20
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 123
- ^ Clow, Archibald; Clow, Nan (1992) [1952]. The Chemical Revolution: a contribution to social technology. Reading: Gordon and Breach. pp. 91, 98, 133. ISBN 2-88124-549-8.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 54–55
- ^ Musson, A. E. (August 1976). "Industrial Motive Power in the United Kingdom, 1800–70". The Economic History Review 29 (3): 415. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1976.tb01094.x. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0289.1976.tb01094.x/abstract. Retrieved 27 November 2011. ; Hills, Richard L. (1993) [1989]. Power from steam: a history of the stationary steam engine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-521-45834-X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=t6TLOQBhd0YC&pg=PA70. Retrieved 27 November 2011. ; Wrigley, E. A. (1970) [1962]. "The Supply of Raw Materials in the Industrial Revolution". In Hartwell, Ronald M.. The Causes of the Industrial Revolution in England. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 113. ISBN 0-416-48000-4. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tyYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA113. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ Hilton, Boyd (2006). A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People?: England, 1783–1846. Oxford University Press. pp. 426–427. ISBN 0-19-822830-9. http://books.google.com/?id=D37VByMZSaUC. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
- ^ Flick, Carlos T. (August 1971). "Thomas Attwood, Francis Place, and the Agitation for British Parliamentary Reform". The Huntington Library Quarterly (University of California Press) 34 (4): 359. JSTOR 3816950.
- ^ Briggs, Asa (1948). "Thomas Attwood and the Economic Background of the Birmingham Political Union". Cambridge Historical Journal (Cambridge University Press) 9 (2): 190. JSTOR 3020620.
- ^ Briggs 1963, pp. 189–190; Ward 2005, pp. 57–59
- ^ a b "Historic Population Of Birmingham". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Lib-Central-Archives-and-Heritage%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092760414&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "History of Mayoralty". Birmingham.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609052542/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/mayors. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Inside the university". University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080102065752/http://www.bham.ac.uk/about/. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "1960s Architecture in Birmingham" (PDF). Birmingham City Council Planning Department. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=attachment%3B+filename%3D6415485.pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223418010271&ssbinary=true. Retrieved 13 January 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Birmingham's Post War Black Immigrants". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609021432/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=2392&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=10596. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Anthony; Smith, Roger (1974). Birmingham 1939–1970. History of Birmingham. 3. London: Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-19-215182-7.
- ^ Spencer, Ken; Taylor, Andy; Smith, Barbara; Mawson, John; Flynn, Norman; Batley, Richard (1986). Crisis in the industrial heartland: a study of the West Midlands. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-19-823269-1.
- ^ Law, Christopher M. (1981). British Regional Development Since World War I. London: Methuen. p. 47. ISBN 0-416-32310-3. http://books.google.com/?id=Dz8OAAAAQAAJ. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
- ^ Heard, Ian (1989). Developing Birmingham 1889–1989: 100 years of city planning. Birmingham: Birmingham City Council Development Department. p. 109. ISBN 0-9513371-1-4.
- ^ Cherry, Gordon E. (1994). Birmingham: a study in geography, history, and planning. Belhaven world cities series. Chichester: Wiley. pp. 160–164. ISBN 0-471-94900-0.
- ^ "Major Developments". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/majordevelopments. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Bayley, Stephen (30 June 2008). "Article reviewing the Architectural regeneration of Birmingham City Centre". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/jun/29/architecture.regeneration. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
- ^ "Corporate Marketing and Promotions Team: Sponsorship". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite/sponsorship?packedargs=website%3D1&rendermode=live. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ^ "Wards". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/wards. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "Members of Parliament". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/mps. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "Contact us". Advantage West Midlands. http://www.advantagewm.co.uk/about-awm/contact-us/default.aspx. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
- ^ "Lickey Hills Country Park". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/lickey. Retrieved 13 January 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Hooke, Della (2005). "Mercia: Landscape and Environment". In Brown, Michelle P.; Farr, Carol Ann. Mercia: an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe. Continuum. p. 167. ISBN 0-8264-7765-8. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H8Ke9acHFm4C&pg=PA167. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
- ^ a b Susan Ashby (10 December 2007). "The Geography of Birmingham". JPServicez Search Articles. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080212130436/http://www.jpservicez-searcharticles.com/article.detail.php/179361/17/Travel/144/Vacations/The_Geography_of_Birmingham. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- ^ Victor Skipp (1987). The History of Greater Birmingham – down to 1830. Yardley, Birmingham: V. H. T. Skipp. p. 15. ISBN 0-9506998-0-2.
- ^ "The Growth of the City, A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham (1964), pp. 4–25". British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22959. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ^ "Solid Geology – 1:250,000 scale (Source: British Geological Survey, NERC)" (gif). Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Archived from the original on 22 November 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061122082116/http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/images/wmgifs/wmgeol.GIF. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "71-00 Jan mean". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=7&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TX&stationid=2121.
- ^ "August 1990". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=14&year=1990&indexid=TXx&stationid=2121.
- ^ "Birmingham Tornado 2005". Birmingham City Council. http://web.archive.org/web/20080618215923rn_1/www.birmingham.gov.uk/tornado.bcc. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "Inside Out: Living with global warming". BBC. 27 March 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/03_march/27/climate.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ a b c Dennis Wheeler; Julian Mayes (1997). Regional Climates of the British Isles. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13930-9.
- ^ "Snow mean". NOAA. ftp://dossier.ogp.noaa.gov/GCOS/WMO-Normals/RA-VI/UK/03534.TXT.
- ^ "Snow mean". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1961-1990&indexid=SD1&stationid=1860.
- ^ "average warmest day". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TXx&stationid=2121.
- ^ "average coldest night". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=TNn&stationid=2121.
- ^ "Climatology details". Eca.knmi.nl. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=SU&stationid=2121. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ^ "71-00 Frost incidence". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/calcdetail.php?seasonid=0&periodid=1971-2000&indexid=FD&stationid=2121.
- ^ "Birmingham 1971–2000 & Extremes". KNMI. http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/mapserver/climatology.php?indexcat=**&indexid=TX&periodidselect=1971-2000&seasonid=7&scalelogidselect=no&minx=-586785.714286&miny=-4894523.809525&maxx=279880.952382&maxy=-4244523.809524&MapSize=560%2C420&imagewidth=560&imageheight=420&mainmap.x=295&mainmap.y=61&CMD=QUERY_POINT&CMD=QUERY_POINT#bottom. Retrieved Nov 2011.
- ^ "Birmingham 1961–1990 & Extremes". NOAA. http://worldweather.wmo.int/010/c00028.htm. Retrieved Nov 2011.
- ^ "Parks and Nature Conservation". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/parks. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Introduction to Sutton Park". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609040835/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=3039&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=1754. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham City Council website: Your local park". http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Parks%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092603593&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ Spencer, Andrew. "Population of Birmingham". Bham.de. http://www.bham.de/index_population.html. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham". Office for National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/00cn.asp. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham MB/CB: Historical statistics – Population". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. 2009. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TOT_POP&u_id=10101001&c_id=10001043&add=N. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
- ^ "2001 Population Census: Gender Profiles" (PDF). Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609145143/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/Media?MEDIA_ID=172964. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ a b "2001 Census of Population: Key Findings". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609032140/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=26205&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=11333. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Regional Population Estimates by Ethnic Group". ONS. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276800&c=birmingham&d=13&e=13&g=373272&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1203649391078&enc=1&dsFamilyId=1812. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ^ Graeme Paton (1 October 2007). "One fifth of children from ethnic minorities". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/27/nschools127.xml. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
- ^ "Urban Audit – City Profiles: Birmingham". Urban Audit. http://www.urbanaudit.org/CityProfiles.aspx?CityCode=UK002C&CountryCode=UK. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ "Towards a Common Standard" (PDF). Greater London Authority. p. 28. http://www.london.gov.uk/archive/mayor/economic_unit/docs/wp13_towards_a_common_standard.pdf. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Employee jobs (2008)". Nomis – official labour market statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/2038431965/report.aspx#tabjobs. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham – Employee Jobs – Area Comparison – Public administration, education and health employee jobs (Great Britain)". Nomis-Official Labour Market Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/2038431965/subreports/abi_compared/report.aspx?allInGB=yes&pivot=8&&sort=1&ascending=. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham – Employee Jobs – Area Comparison – Banking, finance and insurance employee jobs (Great Britain)". Nomis-Official Labour Market Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/2038431965/subreports/abi_compared/report.aspx?allInGB=yes&pivot=7&&sort=1&ascending=. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ "Lloyds Bank". Lloyd's TSB. http://www.lloydstsb.com/about_ltsb/lloyds_bank.asp. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The HSBC Group in Europe" (PDF). HSBC. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080626020058/http://www.img.ghq.hsbc.com/1/PA_1_1_S5/content/assets/about_hsbc/brief_history_feb2008s3.pdf. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Rex, Simon (20 April 2010). "The History of Building Societies". Building Societies Association. http://www.bsa.org.uk/consumer/factsheets/100009.htm. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ "European Cities Report rates Manchester higher than Birminham". http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/birmingham-business-news/other-uk-business/2010/10/05/european-cities-report-rates-manchester-higher-than-birmingham-65233-27400721.pdf. Retrieved 5 October 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "NEC Group – Conference City". Locate Birmingham. http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20080401071154/http://www.locatebirmingham.com/conference_city/nec_group. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Retail Footprint 2010 reveals Britain's shopping successes and strugglers". CACI Ltd. 21 May 2010. http://www.caci.co.uk/492.aspx. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
- ^ a b "UK's busiest shopping centre". icBirmingham. 3 September 2004. http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/post/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=14600178%26siteid=50002-name_page.html. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "The 10 largest UK Stores, 1998". Corporate Intelligence on Retailing – Other – Tesco Overtakes Sainsburys Overall. propertymall.com. 5 May 1998. http://www.propertymall.com/press/article/3888. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ Seenan, Gerard (3 March 2004). "Birmingham soars up the shopping list | UK news". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/mar/03/shopping.arts. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
- ^ "NUTS3 Gross Value Added (GVA) (1995–2003) Tables" (xls). Office for National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/NUTS3_Tables_1-12.xls. Retrieved 7 June 2008. [dead link]
Data on sheet NUTS33, line 102 - ^ "Local area labour markets: statistical indicators – Parliamentary Constituency tables (Unemployment Rate January 2005 to December 2005)" (xls). Office for National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/PCAtables.xls. Retrieved 7 June 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "UK Government creates 4 enterprise zones to help small businesses | The Search Office Space Blog | Searchofficespace". News.searchofficespace.com. 28 July 2011. http://news.searchofficespace.com/sos-news/uk-government-create-4-enterprise-zones-to-help-small-businesses.html. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- ^ a b Eder, Bruce. "The Idle Race". All Music Guide. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-idle-race-p18402/biography. Retrieved 2012-05-6.
- ^ Trilling, Daniel (26 July 2007). "Rocking the world". New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/arts-and-culture/2007/07/heavy-metal-music-black. Retrieved 18 December 2011. ; Cope, Andrew L. (2010). Black Sabbath and the rise of heavy metal music. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 0-7546-6881-9. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AfdTGdVhp7AC&pg=PA7. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ Stephens, W. B. (1964). "Social History before 1815". In Stephens, W. B.. The City of Birmingham. The Victoria History Of The County Of Warwick. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 209–222. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22966. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- ^ "Orchestra of the Swan". Association of British Orchestras. http://www.abo.org.uk/Members-Directory/Full-Members/Member/?120. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ "Birmingham Town Hall: The Organ". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080611231917/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=37342&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=126. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Davies, Andrew (1987). Other theatres: the development of alternative and experimental theatre in Britain. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble. p. 57. ISBN 0-389-20706-3. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YGKvAAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ "Shakespeare & the Birmingham Repertory Theatre 1913–1929". The Society for Theatre Research. http://www.str.org.uk/shop/zcart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=16. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ Chambers, Colin (2006). "Birmingham Repertory Theatre". Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 91. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9PPVN0-SKMwC&pg=PA91. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ Roy, Sanjoy (2009-04-0). "Step-by-step guide to dance: Birmingham Royal Ballet". The Guardian (Guardian News and Media). http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/apr/08/dance-birmingham-royal-ballet. Retrieved 30 October 2011. "See also: The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet – the other two of the big three UK ballet companies."
- ^ "Specialist dance schools up to GCSE". The Ballet Trust. http://www.ballettrust.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15:specialist-dance-schools-up-to-gcse&catid=2:information&Itemid=2. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
- ^ "Birmingham Opera Company". Arts Council England. 25 September 2009. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/rfo/birmingham-opera-company/.
- ^ O'Neill, Sinéad (Summer-Autumn 2009). "Getting out of the House: Unorthodox Performance Spaces in Recent British and Irish Productions". The Opera Quarterly 25 (3–4): 291. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/opera_quarterly/v025/25.3-4.o-neill.pdf. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
- ^ Service, Tom (28 May 2010). "Love opera. Don't fall into the trappings trap". The Guardian (Guardian News and Media). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/may/27/opera-robert-thicknesse-snobbery. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
- ^ "Welsh National Opera". Arts Council England. 25 September 2009. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/rfo/welsh-national-opera/.
- ^ "About the Birmingham Poet Laureate". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609075008/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=23945&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5247. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Literary connections with Birmingham, Warwickshire". Literary Heritage West Midlands. Shropshire Council. October 2009. http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/birmingh.htm. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
- ^ "Tindal Street Press Celebrates 10 Years". booktrade,info. 24 September 2009. http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/23388. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Hartnell, Roy (1996). Pre-Raphaelite Birmingham. Studley: Brewin Books. pp. 1–3. ISBN 1-85858-064-1.
- ^ Pillement, Georges (1978). "The Precursors of Impressionism". In Sérullaz, Maurice. Phaidon Encyclopedia of Impressionism. Oxford: Phaidon. p. 39. ISBN 0-7148-1897-6.
- ^ Fox, Caroline; Greenacre, Francis (1985). Painting in Newlyn 1880–1930. London: Barbican Art Gallery. p. 8. ISBN 0-946372-10-1.
- ^ Remy, Michel (2001). Surrealism in Britain. London: Lund Humphries. pp. 36, 220 & 284. ISBN 0-85331-825-5
- ^ Livingstone, Marco (2000). Pop Art: A Continuing History. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 172. ISBN 0-500-28240-4.
- ^ Perks, Jon. "Picture Perfect". Coventry Evening Telegraph. http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0825lifestyle/cityliving/profile/tm_headline=picture-perfect&method=full&objectid=14036618&siteid=50002-name_page.html. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
- ^ "The Turner Prize: Year by Year". Tate Britain. http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/history/yearbyyear.shtm. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
- ^ "John Baskerville of Birmingham". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071012100752/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=76113&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=260. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
- ^ "Ruskin pottery centenary exhibition" (PDF). The Geffrye Museum, London. http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/_download/CCECMYVI.pdf. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
- ^ "History of the Whistle". District Referee Coordinator – Durham. http://www.drcdurham.ca/htm/history_of_the_whistle.htm. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
- ^ Jonathan Glancey (18 May 2002). "The mogul's monuments – How Oscar Deutsch's Odeon cinemas taught Britain to love modern architecture". The Guardian (UK). http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,1169,717532,00.html. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
- ^ "Alec Issigonis, Automotive Designer (1906–1988)". Design Museum, London. http://www.designmuseum.org/design/alec-issigonis. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
- ^ a b c Fisher, Mark (2005). "Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery". Britain's Best Museums and Galleries: From the Greatest Collections to the Smallest Curiosities. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-14-101960-3.
- ^ "The Barber Institute of Fine Arts". Johansens. Condé Nast. http://www.johansens.com/england/midlands/the-barber-institute-of-fine-arts. Retrieved 20 September 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Fisher, Mark (2005). "Barber Institute of Fine Arts". Britain's Best Museums and Galleries: From the Greatest Collections to the Smallest Curiosities. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 205–207. ISBN 0-14-101960-3.
- ^ "Back to back in Birmingham" (PDF). Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/ELibrary?E_LIBRARY_ID=93&a=1157290087529. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The Smethwick Engine". The Boulton 2009 Partnership. http://www.matthewboulton2009.org/index.php/gallery/33-the-smethwick-engine. Retrieved 19 September 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Nightlife in the City Centre". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080610221029/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=24761&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=12535. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham's New Leisure Complex". MEM Online News. Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071212014801/http://www.memonline.com/news8.html. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Will a fest by any other name smell as sweet?". Birmingham Mail. 1 December 2006. http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-blogs-views/birmingham-mail-columnists/the-stirrer/tm_method=full&objectid=18192354&siteid=50002-name_page.html. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "History of St. Patrick's Day". AnySubject. http://www.anysubject.com/st-patricks-day-history-of-st-patricks-day.asp. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Christmas markets". Enjoy England. http://www.enjoyengland.com/attractions/events/calendar/december/christmas-markets.aspx. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ "Another Record year for Frankfurt Christmas Market". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birminghamnewsroom.com/?p=6019. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ "Schedule of Nationally Listed Buildings of Historic Interest in Birmingham" (PDF). Birmingham City Council Planning Department. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/ELibrary?E_LIBRARY_ID=75&a=1083070309470. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The Lad In The Lane, Erdington". pub-explorer.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071222043422/http://www.pub-explorer.com/wmids/pub/ladinlaneerdington.htm.
- ^ "History of Kings Norton". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080521222034/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=2474&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=260. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Anne Baltz Rodrick (2004). Self-Help and Civic Culture: Citizenship in Victorian Birmingham. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-7546-3307-1.
- ^ "Birmingham's hidden jewel". BBC Birmingham. http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2007/04/05/st_chads_feature.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Phil Jones. "Tower Block Modernism vs. Urban Morphology: An analysis of Lee Bank, Birmingham" (PDF). Archived from the original on 27 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080227084303/http://www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/cpp/membersfiles/phil/leebankabstract.pdf. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Aerial View of New Street Station 1963". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080511152530/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=89806&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=10277. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Castle Vale". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071012100538/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=19750&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=1453. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Awards". Future Systems. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080531194606/http://www.future-systems.com/company/awards.html. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Town Hall, Birmingham". Birmingham City Council. http://www.thsh.co.uk/page/town-hall-birmingham/. Retrieved 21 June 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Birmingham High Places document". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609045359/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=13971&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=1453. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Canals in Birmingham". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609052603/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/canals. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Dad, are we nearly there yet?". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/heritage/england/birmingham/article_1.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Scheduled Timetable". Birmingham Airport. 2010. http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/~/media/Files/Pdfs/global/timetables/scheduled-timetable.ashx. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ "Bus Services". Centro. Archived from the original on 22 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080522122603/http://www.centro.org.uk/wwwroot/Bus/Bus%20intro.asp. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The amazing number 11 bus". BBC Birmingham. 27 June 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2005/06/27/number_11_bus_feature.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Barbara Elsom (21 June 2005). "Route 11 Bus Showcase". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=61780&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=9&MENU_ID=276&CONTENT_TITLE=Route%2011%20Bus%20Showcase. Retrieved 7 June 2008. "Since 2001 231 bus stops out of 272 have been upgraded to Showcase standards ..." [dead link]
- ^ "Station Usage Stats 2011". http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/stn_usage_report_1011.pdf. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- ^ "Travelmetro.co.uk". Centro. http://www.travelmetro.co.uk/. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The Midland Metro (Birmingham City Centre Extension, etc.) Order 2005". Office of Public Sector Information. 2005. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051794.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Naqvi, Shahid (7 September 2007). "City college wins right to grant degrees". Birmingham Post. http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/news/tm_headline=city-college-wins-right-to-grant-degrees%26method=full%26objectid=19750162%26siteid=50002-name_page.html. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "A New Year and a new name for the College.". University College Birmingham. http://www.bcftcs.ac.uk/asp/UCB-faq.asp. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham Business School". The Independent. 12 December 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/business-schools/birmingham-business-school-1206244.html. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ "The College of Law". International Bar Association. http://www.ibanet.org/Education_and_Internships/LLM/about_col.aspx. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ "Birmingham Getting there". The College of Law. http://www.college-of-law.co.uk/Our-Centres/Birmingham/Getting-there/. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ "The Seminaries of England and Wales". UK Priest. http://www.ukpriest.org/becomingapriest_formation.htm. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ "Courses and Retreats". Ealing Quaker Meeting. http://www.ealingquakers.org.uk/courses___retreats.html. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "Sutton Coldfield College". http://www.sutcol.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham City Council Primary and Secondary". Birmingham Grid for Learning (BGfL). Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928104515/http://www.bgfl.org/services/nqt/primsec.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham City Council Special Needs Schools". Birmingham Grid for Learning (BGfL). Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928104556/http://www.bgfl.org/services/nqt/sen.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham Adult Education Service". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/adulteducation. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Grammar Schools of King Edward the Sixth". The Grammar Schools of King Edward the Sixth in Birmingham. Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080213094554/http://www.kingedwardthesixth.org/grammar.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Birmingham City Council website: Big day for Birmingham’s BSF programme". http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=BCC_NewsPressRel_C&childpagename=Sport-Equalities%2FPageLayout&cid=1223240409721&packedargs=Title%3DBig%2Bday%2Bfor%2BBirmingham%25E2%2580%2599s%2BBSF%2Bprogramme%26searchType%3Dtitle%26subtype%3DPressNewsStandardTemplate&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper&rendermode=live. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ "Preston bus station on UK monument 'at risk' list". BBC News (BBC). 5 October 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15180978. Retrieved 5 November 2011. ; "Birmingham Central Library". English Heritage. 23 November 2009. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/birmingham-library/. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ "Birmingham Mobile Library Service". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/mobilelibrary. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Facts about Birmingham Library Service". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080609080413/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=1787&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5255. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Recorded crime >> Total recorded offences >> 2009–10". Home Office. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ia/atlas.html. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ "Major John Hall-Edwards". http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/xray.
- ^ "Facts about Birmingham". BirminghamNet.
- ^ ""THE BIRMINGHAM WATERWORKS." Lecture by JAMES MANSERGH, President of the Congress.". International Engineering Congress 1901 : Glasgow. Report of the proceedings and abstracts of the papers read.. 1901. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/international-engineering-congress-1901--glasgow/report-of-the-proceedings-and-abstracts-of-the-papers-read-hci/page-23-report-of-the-proceedings-and-abstracts-of-the-papers-read-hci.shtml.
- ^ "Powys Digital History Project: Elan Valley Dams". http://history.powys.org.uk/history/rhayader/aqueduct1.html. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
- ^ "Veolia: Energy recovery". http://www.veoliaenvironmentalservices.co.uk/Birmingham/Facilities/Energy-recovery. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
- ^ "Friends of the Earth news article: Birminghams big burner". http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/waste-recycling-news/birmingham-s-big-burner. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
- ^ "KS07 Religion: Census 2001, Key Statistics for local Authorities" (excel). Census 2001. Office for National Stistics. 13 February 2003. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100822063548/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6563&More=Y. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham Central Mosque". BBC Birmingham Faith. http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/faith/places_of_worship/muslim/birmingham_central_mosque.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "New city mosque a Symbol of Peace". Icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk. 1 October 2004. http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14707141%26method=full%26siteid=50002%26headline=new-city-mosque-a-symbol-of-peace-name_page.htmlicBirmingham. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ "History of the Football League". The Football League. http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/History/HistoryDetail/0,,10794~1357277,00.html. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
- ^ "Lawn Tennis and Major T. H. Gem". Birmingham Civic Society. http://www.birminghamcivicsociety.org.uk/lawntennis.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Tyzack, Anna (22 June 2005). "The True Home of Tennis". Country Life (IPC Media). http://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/culture/article/79487/The_True_Home_of_Tennis.html. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
- ^ Davis, Alex E (1988). First in the field: the history of the world's first cricket league: the Birmingham and District Cricket League, formed 1888. Brewin Books. ISBN 0-947731-34-2.
- ^ "ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier schedule". International Cricket Council. http://www.icc-europe.org/DATABASE/ARTICLES/articles/000035/003593.shtml. Retrieved 14 September 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "Birmingham – We love our sport". Marketing Birmingham. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080608151649/http://www.marketingbirmingham.com/media_office/fun_facts/fun_facts_sport/. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Hill, Christopher R. (1994). "The Politics of Manchester's Olympic Bid". Parliamentary Affairs (The Hansard Society) 47 (3): 338–354. ISSN 0031-2290. http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/3/338.full.pdf+html. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ Toohey, Kristine; James Veal, Anthony (2007). The Olympic games: a social science perspective. CABI. p. 223. ISBN 0-85199-809-7. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ywy9aslk3M8C&pg=PA223. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ The Second City derby, footballderbies.com. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
- ^ Barnett, Rob (10 August 2011). "Edgbaston at the cutting edge". England and Wales Cricket Board. http://ecb.co.uk/news/england/edgbaston,4190,BA.html. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ "Alumni – Brian Lara". Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071204030409/http://www.thebears.co.uk/history/alumni/brianlara.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Contact the PGA". The Professional Golfers Association. http://www.pga.info/TheProfessionalGolfersAssociation/26363077.htm. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ Bisset, Fergus. "England – Birmingham". Golf Monthly. IPC Media. http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/travel/uk/251753/england-birmingham.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ "Forest of Arden Country Club: Golf offerings and general information". Marriott International. http://www.marriottgolf.com/leisure/golf-courses/forest-of-arden-country-club/default.jsp?loc=IM59*1-1LK67J. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ "2010 WTA Tour Tournament Calendar". Sony Ericsson WTA Tour – Official Site of Women's Professional Tennis. 2010. http://www.wtatour.com/page/Calendar/0,,12781,00.html. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ McCarthy, Nick (3 June 2010). "Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club planning multi-million pound transformation". Birmingham Post (Trinity Mirror Midlands). http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2010/06/03/edgbaston-priory-tennis-club-planning-multi-million-pound-transformation-65233-26579605/. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ "Find us". UK Athletics. http://www.uka.org.uk/governance/find-us/. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- ^ "Samsung Diamond League Calendar of Events". Samsung Diamond League. http://www.diamondleague.com/en/Event-Calendar/. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ "Permit Events". IAAF Permit Indoor Meetings. http://www.iaaf.org/WIM10/results/index.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ Dale, Paul (3 March 2009). "Birmingham Council set to give green light to Digbeth market scheme". Birmingham Post. http://www.birminghampost.net/news/politics-news/2009/03/03/birmingham-council-set-to-give-green-light-to-digbeth-market-scheme-65233-23047367/. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
- ^ Mark, Shepherd (3 July 2009). "The Wholesale shebang: traders at Birmingham's Wholesale Market may have a new home at Prupim's Hub by 2012. But that will happen to the existing site?". Property Week (United Business Media). http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=39&storycode=3144234. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
- ^ "Michelin stars 2009". Michelin Group. http://servicesv2.webmichelin.com/frontnews/servlet/GetElement?elementCode=54989. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
- ^ "Birmingham Breweries". Midlands Pubs.co.uk. http://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/breweries/birmingham.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "BID Broad Street". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930105529/http://www.broadstreetbid.com/flash/index.html. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Taste of the Orient sweet for Wing Yip". The Birmingham Post Midland Rich List 2006. 6 January 2006. http://www.birminghampost.net/tm_objectid=16631720&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=taste-of-the-orient-sweet-for-wing-yip-name_page.html. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "The Balti Experience". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/balti. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
- ^ "The Electric Cinema website". http://www.theelectric.co.uk/. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Thom Gorst (1995). The Buildings Around Us. Taylor & Francis. p. 93. ISBN 0-419-19330-8.
- ^ Liam Kennedy (2004). Remaking Birmingham: The Visual Culture of Urban Regeneration. Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 0-415-28838-X.
- ^ "About Us – Information about BBC English Regions". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/about.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ "Lights, campus, action for BBC Birmingham's Television Drama Village". BBC Press Release. 9 May 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/05_may/09/drama_village.shtml. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
- ^ Lee Carey (1 February 2003). "Ever Decreasing Circles". Studio One. http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/studioone/circles.php. Retrieved 10 May 2008.
- ^ "Radio stations in the West Midlands". Radio Now. http://www.radio-now.co.uk/central.htm#WM. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ^ "The Archers airs 15,000th episode". BBC News. 7 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6124558.stm. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
- ^ a b "Partner Cities". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/twins. Retrieved 25 Jan 2012.
- ^ "Frankfurt -Partner Cities". 2008 Stadt Frankfurt am Main. Archived from the original on 7 November 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071107080201/http://www.frankfurt.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=502645. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
- ^ "Brno – Partnerská města" (in Czech). 2006–2009 City of Brno. http://www.brno.cz/index.php?nav02=1985&nav01=34&nav03=1010&nav04=1016&nav05=1249&nav06=1272. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
- ^ "Partner Cities of Lyon and Greater Lyon". 2008 Mairie de Lyon. http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/villes_partenaires/villes_partenaires_2/?aIndex=1. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
- ^ "Milano – Città Gemellate". 2008 Municipality of Milan (Comune di Milano). http://www.comune.milano.it/portale/wps/portal/CDM?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/ContentLibrary/In%20Comune/In%20Comune/Citt%20Gemellate. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
- ^ "Sister Cities of Guangzhou". Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office. http://www.gzwaishi.gov.cn/Item/3970.aspx. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Partner Cities". Birmingham City Council. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite/twins?packedargs=website%3D4&rendermode=live. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham, Alabama". BirminghamNet. http://www.birminghamnet.com/birmingham.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
External links[link]
| Find more about Birmingham on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
|
Definitions and translations from Wiktionary |
|
Images and media from Commons |
|
Learning resources from Wikiversity |
|
News stories from Wikinews |
|
Quotations from Wikiquote |
|
Source texts from Wikisource |
|
Textbooks from Wikibooks |
- Birmingham City Council
- Local Strategic Partnership for Birmingham
- The Birmingham Civic Society
- Birmingham travel guide from Wikitravel
- Birmingham in the Domesday Book
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: 52°28′47″N 1°54′11″W / 52.4796°N 1.9030°W / 52.4796; -1.9030
http://wn.com/Birmingham
Related pages:
http://de.wn.com/Birmingham
http://es.wn.com/Birmingham
http://ru.wn.com/Бирмингем
http://cs.wn.com/Birmingham
http://pt.wn.com/Birmingham
http://pl.wn.com/Birmingham
http://hi.wn.com/बर्मिंघम
http://it.wn.com/Birmingham
http://id.wn.com/Birmingham
http://nl.wn.com/Birmingham (Engeland)
http://fr.wn.com/Birmingham
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the U.S. state of Alabama. For other uses, see Alabama (disambiguation).
| State of Alabama | |||||
|
|||||
| Nickname(s): Yellowhammer State; Heart of Dixie; Cotton State | |||||
| Motto(s): Audemus jura nostra defendere (Latin) | |||||
 |
|||||
| Official language(s) | English | ||||
| Spoken language(s) | English (96.17%) Spanish (2.12%) |
||||
| Demonym | Alabamian[1] | ||||
| Capital | Montgomery | ||||
| Largest city | Birmingham 212,237 (2010 census) |
||||
| Largest metro area | Greater Birmingham Area | ||||
| Area | Ranked 30th in the U.S. | ||||
| - Total | 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km2) |
||||
| - Width | 190 miles (305 km) | ||||
| - Length | 330 miles (531 km) | ||||
| - % water | 3.20 | ||||
| - Latitude | 30° 11′ N to 35° N | ||||
| - Longitude | 84° 53′ W to 88° 28′ W | ||||
| Population | Ranked 23rd in the U.S. | ||||
| - Total | 4,802,740 (2011 est)[2] | ||||
| - Density | 94.6/sq mi (36.5/km2) Ranked 27th in the U.S. |
||||
| Elevation | |||||
| - Highest point | Mount Cheaha[3][4][5] 2,413 ft (735.5 m) |
||||
| - Mean | 500 ft (150 m) | ||||
| - Lowest point | Gulf of Mexico[4] sea level |
||||
| Before statehood | Alabama Territory | ||||
| Admission to Union | December 14, 1819 (22nd) | ||||
| Governor | Robert J. Bentley (R) | ||||
| Lieutenant Governor | Kay Ivey (R) | ||||
| Legislature | Alabama Legislature | ||||
| - Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| U.S. Senators | Richard Shelby (R) Jeff Sessions (R) |
||||
| U.S. House delegation | 6 Republicans, 1 Democrat (list) | ||||
| Time zones | |||||
| - most of state | Central: UTC -6/-5 | ||||
| - Phenix City, Alabama area | Eastern: UTC −5/−4 | ||||
| Abbreviations | AL Ala. US-AL | ||||
| Website | alabama.gov | ||||
|
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| The Flag of Alabama. | |
|
|
|
| Animate insignia | |
| Amphibian | Red Hills salamander |
| Bird(s) | Yellowhammer, Wild Turkey |
| Butterfly | Eastern Tiger Swallowtail |
| Fish | Largemouth bass, Fighting tarpon |
| Flower(s) | Camellia, Oak-leaf Hydrangea |
| Insect | Monarch Butterfly |
| Mammal(s) | American Black Bear, Racking horse |
| Reptile | Alabama red-bellied turtle |
| Tree | Longleaf Pine |
|
|
|
| Inanimate insignia | |
| Beverage | Conecuh Ridge Whiskey |
| Colors | Red, White |
| Dance | Square Dance |
| Food | Pecan, Blackberry, Peach |
| Fossil | Basilosaurus |
| Gemstone | Star Blue Quartz |
| Mineral | Hematite |
| Rock | Marble |
| Shell | Johnstone's Junonia |
| Slogan(s) | Share The Wonder, Alabama the beautiful, Where America finds its voice, Sweet Home Alabama |
| Soil | Bama |
| Song(s) | Alabama (song) |
|
|
|
| Route marker(s) | |
 |
|
|
|
|
| State Quarter | |
 |
|
| Released in 2003 | |
|
|
|
| Lists of United States state insignia | |
Alabama (i/ˌæləˈbæmə/) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 23rd-most populous of the 50 United States. Alabama ranks second in the area of its inland waterways.
From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were under-represented.[6] Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and technology. In addition, the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, added to state jobs.
Alabama is unofficially nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the "Heart of Dixie." The state tree is the Longleaf Pine, the state flower is the Camellia. The capital of Alabama is Montgomery. The largest city by population is Birmingham. The largest city by total land area is Huntsville. The oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists.
Contents |
History[link]
Main article: History of Alabama
Etymology[link]
The Alabama people, a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers on the upper reaches of the Alabama River,[7] served as the etymological source of the names of the river and state. In the Alabama language, the word for an Alabama person is Albaamo (or variously Albaama or Albàamo in different dialects; the plural form "Alabama persons" is Albaamaha).[8] The word Alabama is believed to have originated from the Choctaw language[9] and was later adopted by the Alabama tribe as their name.[10] The spelling of the word varies significantly between sources.[10] The first usage appears in three accounts of the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540 with Garcilasso de la Vega using Alibamo, while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote Alibamu and Limamu, respectively.[10] As early as 1702, the tribe was known to the French as Alibamon with French maps identifying the river as Rivière des Alibamons.[7] Other spellings of the appellation have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, and Allibamou.[10][11][12][13]
Although the origin of Alabama could be discerned, sources disagree on its meaning. An 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican originated the idea that the meaning was "Here We Rest."[10] This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek.[10] Experts in the Muskogean languages have been unable to find any evidence to support such a translation.[7][10] Scholars believe the word comes from the Choctaw alba (meaning "plants" or "weeds") and amo (meaning "to cut", "to trim", or "to gather").[9][10][14] The meaning may have been "clearers of the thicket"[9] or "herb gatherers"[14][15] which may refer to clearing of land for cultivation[11] or to collecting medicinal plants.[15]
Indigenous peoples, early history[link]
Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before European colonization. Trade with the Northeast via the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period (1000 BC–AD 700) and continued until European contact.[16] The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from AD 1000 to 1600, with one of its major centers being at the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama.[17][18] Analysis of artifacts recovered from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars' formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC).[19] Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no direct links to Mesoamerican culture, but developed independently. The Ceremonial Complex represents a major component of the religion of the Mississippian peoples; it is one of the primary means by which their religion is understood.[20]
Among the historical tribes of Native American people living in the area of present-day Alabama at the time of European contact were Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee, and the Muskogean-speaking Alabama (Alibamu), Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Koasati, and Mobile.[21]
European settlement[link]
The French founded the first European settlement in the region at Old Mobile, in 1702.[22] The area was French from 1702 to 1763; part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1780. Thomas Bassett was the first British settler in the state. He settled near what is now Tombigbee River in Washington County.[23] Alabama became part of Spanish West Florida from 1780 to 1810; part of the independent Republic of West Florida for a short time (90 days); annexed by the U.S. and added to the Territory of Orleans (1810); and, finally, added to the Mississippi Territory in 1812. Throughout these later developments, however, the Spanish had kept a nominal (although largely ignored) governmental presence in the region, based out of Mobile. When Andrew Jackson's forces occupied Mobile in 1814 —while preparing for the Battle of New Orleans —he demonstrated the United States' de facto authority over the region, effectively ending Spanish governance (though not its claim), while gaining an unencumbered passage to the gulf.[24]
The area making up today's northern and central Alabama, known as the Yazoo lands, had been claimed by the Province of Georgia after 1767. Following the Revolutionary War, it remained a part of the state of Georgia —although heavily disputed. Conflicting claims to the area were held, first by several Native American tribes (most notably the Chickamauga-Cherokee and Yazoo), by other states (e.g. South Carolina); and by the US federal government; Britain and Spain. In 1802, the region was joined to the Mississippi Territory. Individual statehood was delayed, however, by the territory's lack of a coastline.[citation needed]
Statehood, Civil War, and Reconstruction[link]
Alabama was admitted to the Union in 1819 as the 22nd state. Part of the frontier in the 1820s and 1830s, its constitution provided for universal suffrage for white men. Settlers rapidly arrived to take advantage of the fertile soil. Southeastern planters and traders from the Upper South brought slaves with them as the cotton plantations expanded. The economy of the central "Black Belt" (named for its dark, productive soil) was built around large cotton plantations whose owners' wealth grew largely from slave labor.[25] The area also drew many poor, disfranchised people who became subsistence farmers. The 1860 census records show that enslaved Africans comprised 45% of the state's total population of 964,201. There were only 2,690 free persons of color living in Alabama at the time.
From 1826 to 1846, Tuscaloosa served as the capital of Alabama. On January 30, 1846, the Alabama legislature announced that it had voted to remove the capital city from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery. The first legislative session in the new capital met in December 1847. In time, a Capitol building was erected under the direction of a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania architect. The original structure burnt down in 1849 but was rebuilt in 1851 following the original plans.[26]
On January 11, 1861, Alabama declared its secession from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. While few battles were fought in the state, Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the American Civil War. Alabama's slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865.[27] During Reconstruction, the new state legislators created a public school system for the first time, as well as establishing some welfare institutions to help its people. Alabama was officially restored to the Union in 1868.
After the Civil War, the state was still chiefly agricultural, with an economy tied to cotton. Planters resisted working with free labor during Reconstruction and sought to re-establish controls over freedmen. In the early years the Ku Klux Klan had numerous independent chapters in Alabama that attacked freedmen and other Republicans. After it was suppressed, insurgent whites organized paramilitary groups, such as the Red Shirts and White League, that acted more openly to suppress black voting. Regaining power by the late 1870s, in the last decade of the 19th century, white Democrats passed electoral laws disfranchise most blacks and many poor whites.[28] Having regained power in the state legislature, Democrats passed Jim Crow laws, including racial segregation in public facilities, to restore white supremacy in the society.
In 1875, the state passed the Blaine Amendment, to prohibit public money from being used to finance Catholic schools.[29]
1900–1960[link]
The new 1901 Constitution of Alabama effectively disfranchised African Americans and many poor whites through voting restrictions, including literacy requirements. While the planter class had persuaded poor whites to support these legislative efforts, the new restrictions resulted in disfranchising poor whites as well, due mostly to imposition of a cumulative poll tax.
In 1900, 14 Black Belt counties had more than 79,000 voters on the rolls.[clarification needed] By June 1, 1903, the number of[clarification needed] registered voters had dropped to 1,081. In 1900, Alabama had more than 181,000 African Americans eligible to vote. By 1903, only 2,980 had qualified to register, although at least 74,000 black voters were literate.[30]
By 1941, a total of more whites than blacks had been disfranchised: 600,000 whites to 520,000 blacks.[30] Nearly all African Americans lost the ability to vote.
The disfranchisement was ended by African Americans' leading the Civil Rights Movement and gaining Federal legislation in the mid-1960s to protect their voting and civil rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also protected the suffrage of poor whites.
The rural-dominated Alabama legislature consistently underfunded schools and services for the disfranchised African Americans in the segregated state, but did not relieve them of paying taxes.[25] Continued racial discrimination, agricultural depression, and the failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation led tens of thousands of African Americans to seek opportunities in northern cities. They left Alabama in the early 20th century as part of the Great Migration to industrial jobs and better futures in northern industrial cities. The population growth rate in Alabama (see "Historical Populations" table below) dropped by nearly half from 1910 to 1920, reflecting the effect of emigration.
At the same time, many rural whites and blacks migrated to the city of Birmingham for work in new industrial jobs. It experienced such rapid growth that it was nicknamed "The Magic City." By the 1920s, Birmingham was the 19th largest city in the U.S. and held more than 30% of the population of the state. Heavy industry and mining were the basis of the economy.[31]
Industrial development related to the demands of World War II brought prosperity.[25] Cotton faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base. In the 1960s under Governor George Wallace, many whites in the state opposed federal integration efforts in schools and public facilities.
1960–present[link]
Despite massive population changes in the state from 1901 to 1961, the rural-dominated legislature refused to reapportion House and Senate seats based on population. They held on to old representation to maintain political and economic power in agricultural areas. In addition, the state legislature gerrymandered the few Birmingham legislative seats to ensure election by persons living outside Birmingham.
One result was that Jefferson County, containing Birmingham's industrial and economic powerhouse, contributed more than one-third of all tax revenue to the state, but did not receive a proportional amount in services. Urban interests were consistently underrepresented in the legislature. A 1960 study noted that because of rural domination, "A minority of about 25 per cent of the total state population is in majority control of the Alabama legislature."[6]
African Americans were presumed partial to Republicans for historical reasons, but they were disfranchised. White Alabamans felt bitter towards the Republican Party in the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction. These factors created a longstanding tradition that any candidate who wanted to be viable with white voters had to run as a Democrat regardless of political beliefs.
During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans achieved a protection of voting and other civil rights through the passage of the national Civil Rights Act of 1964,[32] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. De jure segregation ended in the states as Jim Crow laws were invalidated or repealed.[33]
Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, cases were filed in Federal courts to force Alabama to redistrict by population both the House and Senate of the state legislature. In 1972, for the first time since 1901, the legislature implemented the Alabama constitution's provision for periodic redistricting based on population. This benefited the urban areas that had developed, as well as all in the population who had been underrepresented for more than 60 years.[6]
After 1972, the state's white voters shifted much of their support to Republican candidates in presidential elections (as also occurred in neighboring southern states). Since 1990 the majority of whites in the state have voted increasingly Republican in state elections. In 2010, Republicans won control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in 136 years.[34]
Geography[link]
Main article: Geography of Alabama
See also: List of Alabama counties and Geology of Alabama
Alabama is the thirtieth-largest state in the United States with 52,419 square miles (135,760 km2) of total area: 3.2% of the area is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second-largest inland waterway system in the United States.[35] About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general descent towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The North Alabama region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes.[36]
The states bordering Alabama are Tennessee to the north; Georgia to the east; Florida to the south; and Mississippi to the west. Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico, in the extreme southern edge of the state.[36] Alabama ranges in elevation from sea level[37] at Mobile Bay to over 1,800 feet (550 m) in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast. The highest point is Mount Cheaha,[36] at a height of 2,413 ft (735 m).[38] Alabama's land consists of 22 million acres (89,000 km2) of forest or 67% of total land area.[39] Suburban Baldwin County, along the Gulf Coast, is the largest county in the state in both land area and water area.[40]
Areas in Alabama administered by the National Park Service include Horseshoe Bend National Military Park near Alexander City; Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne; Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport; Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee; and Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site near Tuskegee.[41] Additionally, Alabama has four National Forests: Conecuh, Talladega, Tuskegee, and William B. Bankhead.[42] Alabama also contains the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Selma To Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail. A notable natural wonder in Alabama is "Natural Bridge" rock, the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies, located just south of Haleyville.
A 5-mile (8 km)-wide meteorite impact crater is located in Elmore County, just north of Montgomery. This is the Wetumpka crater, the site of "Alabama's greatest natural disaster." A 1,000-foot (300 m)-wide meteorite hit the area about 80 million years ago.[43] The hills just east of downtown Wetumpka showcase the eroded remains of the impact crater that was blasted into the bedrock, with the area labeled the Wetumpka crater or astrobleme ("star-wound") because of the concentric rings of fractures and zones of shattered rock that can be found beneath the surface.[44] In 2002, Christian Koeberl with the Institute of Geochemistry University of Vienna published evidence and established the site as 157th recognized impact crater on Earth.[45]
Urban areas[link]
Main article: List of Metropolitan areas of Alabama
See also: List of cities in Alabama
| Rank | Metropolitan Area | Population (2010 Census) |
Counties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham-Hoover | 1,128,047 | Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, Walker |
| 2 | Huntsville | 417,593 | Limestone, Madison |
| 3 | Mobile | 412,992 | Mobile |
| 4 | Montgomery | 374,536 | Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery |
| 5 | Tuscaloosa | 219,461 | Greene, Hale, Tuscaloosa |
| 6 | Decatur | 153,829 | Lawrence, Morgan |
| 7 | Florence-Muscle Shoals | 147,137 | Colbert, Lauderdale |
| 8 | Dothan | 145,639 | Geneva, Henry, Houston |
| 9 | Auburn-Opelika | 140,247 | Lee |
| 10 | Anniston-Oxford | 112,249 | Calhoun |
| 11 | Gadsden | 104,430 | Etowah |
| Total | 3,362,483 |
| Rank | City | Population (2010 Census) |
County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 212,237 | Jefferson |
| 2 | Montgomery | 205,764 | Montgomery |
| 3 | Mobile | 195,111 | Mobile |
| 4 | Huntsville | 180,105 | Madison Limestone |
| 5 | Tuscaloosa | 90,468 | Tuscaloosa |
| 6 | Hoover | 81,619 | Jefferson Shelby |
| 7 | Dothan | 65,496 | Houston |
| 8 | Decatur | 55,683 | Morgan Limestone |
| 9 | Auburn | 53,380 | Lee |
| 10 | Madison | 42,938 | Madison Limestone |
| 11 | Florence | 39,319 | Lauderdale |
| 12 | Gadsden | 36,856 | Etowah |
| 13 | Vestavia Hills | 34,033 | Jefferson |
| 14 | Prattville | 33,960 | Autauga |
| 15 | Phenix City | 32,822 | Russell |
Climate[link]
Main article: Climate of Alabama
The state is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa) under the Koppen Climate Classification.[46] The average annual temperature is 64 °F (18 °C). Temperatures tend to be warmer in the southern part of the state with its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, while the northern parts of the state, especially in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast, tend to be slightly cooler.[47] Generally, Alabama has very hot summers and mild winters with copious precipitation throughout the year. Alabama receives an average of 56 inches (1,400 mm) of rainfall annually and enjoys a lengthy growing season of up to 300 days in the southern part of the state.[47]
Summers in Alabama are among the hottest in the United States, with high temperatures averaging over 90 °F (32 °C) throughout the summer in some parts of the state. Alabama is also prone to tropical storms and even hurricanes. Areas of the state far away from the Gulf are not immune to the effects of the storms, which often dump tremendous amounts of rain as they move inland and weaken.
South Alabama reports many thunderstorms. The Gulf Coast, around Mobile Bay, averages between 70 and 80 days per year with thunder reported. This activity decreases somewhat further north in the state, but even the far north of the state reports thunder on about 60 days per year. Occasionally, thunderstorms are severe with frequent lightning and large hail – the central and northern parts of the state are most vulnerable to this type of storm. Alabama ranks seventh in the number of deaths from lightning and ninth in the number of deaths from lightning strikes per capita.[48]
Alabama, along with Kansas, has the most reported EF5 tornadoes of any state – according to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center for the period January 1, 1950, to October 31, 2006.[49] Several long – tracked F5 tornadoes have contributed to Alabama reporting more tornado fatalities than any other state, even surpassing Texas which has a much larger area within Tornado Alley. The state suffered damage in the Super Outbreak of April 1974, and the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak. The outbreak in April 2011 produced a record amount of tornadoes in the state. The tally reached 62.[50]
The peak season for tornadoes varies from the northern to southern parts of the state. Alabama is one of the few places in the world that has a secondary tornado season in November and December, along with the spring severe weather season. The northern part of the state – along the Tennessee Valley – is one of the areas in the U.S. most vulnerable to violent tornadoes. The area of Alabama and Mississippi most affected by tornadoes is sometimes referred to as Dixie Alley, as distinct from the Tornado Alley of the Southern Plains.
Winters are generally mild in Alabama, as they are throughout most of the southeastern United States, with average January low temperatures around 40 °F (4 °C) in Mobile and around 32 °F (0 °C) in Birmingham. Although snow is a rare event in much of Alabama, areas of the state north of Montgomery may receive a dusting of snow a few times every winter, with an occasional moderately heavy snowfall every few years. Historic snowfall events include New Year's Eve 1963 snowstorm and the 1993 Storm of the Century. The annual average snowfall for the Birmingham area is 2 inches (51 mm) per year. In the southern Gulf coast, snowfall is less frequent, sometimes going several years without any snowfall.
Alabama's highest recorded temperature of 114 °F (46 °C) was recorded on September 5, 1925 in the unincorporated community of Centerville. −27 °F (−33 °C) was the state's record low recorded in 1966 in New Market.[citation needed]
| Monthly normal high and low temperatures for various Alabama cities [°F (°C)] | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | ||
| Huntsville | Average high | 48.9 (9.4) |
54.6 (12.6) |
63.4 (17.4) |
72.3 (22.4) |
79.6 (26.4) |
86.5 (30.3) |
89.4 (31.9) |
89.0 (31.7) |
83.0 (28.3) |
72.9 (22.7) |
61.6 (16.4) |
52.4 (11.3) |
71.1 (21.7) |
|
| Average low | 30.7 (−0.7) |
34.0 (1.1) |
41.2 (5.1) |
48.4 (9.1) |
57.5 (14.2) |
65.4 (18.6) |
69.5 (20.8) |
68.1 (20.1) |
61.7 (16.5) |
49.6 (9.8) |
40.7 (4.8) |
33.8 (1.0) |
50.1 (10.1) |
||
| Birmingham | Average high | 52.8 (11.6) |
58.3 (14.6) |
66.5 (19.2) |
74.1 (23.4) |
81.0 (27.2) |
87.5 (30.8) |
90.6 (32.6) |
90.2 (32.3) |
84.6 (29.2) |
74.9 (23.8) |
64.5 (18.1) |
56.0 (13.3) |
73.4 (23.0) |
|
| Average low | 32.3 (0.2) |
35.4 (1.9) |
42.4 (5.8) |
48.4 (9.1) |
57.6 (14.2) |
65.4 (18.6) |
69.7 (20.9) |
68.9 (20.5) |
63.0 (17.2) |
50.9 (10.5) |
41.8 (5.4) |
35.2 (1.8) |
50.9 (10.5) |
||
| Montgomery | Average high | 57.6 (14.2) |
62.4 (16.9) |
70.5 (21.4) |
77.5 (25.3) |
84.6 (29.2) |
90.6 (32.6) |
92.7 (33.7) |
92.2 (33.4) |
87.7 (30.9) |
78.7 (25.9) |
68.7 (20.4) |
60.3 (15.7) |
77.0 (25.0) |
|
| Average low | 35.5 (1.9) |
38.6 (3.7) |
45.4 (7.4) |
52.1 (11.2) |
60.1 (15.6) |
67.3 (19.6) |
70.9 (21.6) |
70.1 (21.2) |
64.9 (18.3) |
52.2 (11.2) |
43.5 (6.4) |
37.6 (3.1) |
53.2 (11.8) |
||
| Mobile | Average high | 60.7 (15.9) |
64.5 (18.1) |
71.2 (21.8) |
77.4 (25.2) |
84.2 (29.0) |
89.4 (31.9) |
91.2 (32.9) |
90.8 (32.7) |
86.8 (30.4) |
79.2 (26.2) |
70.1 (21.2) |
62.9 (17.2) |
77.4 (25.2) |
|
| Average low | 39.5 (4.2) |
42.4 (5.8) |
49.2 (9.6) |
54.8 (12.7) |
62.8 (17.1) |
69.2 (20.7) |
71.8 (22.1) |
71.7 (22.0) |
67.6 (19.8) |
56.3 (13.5) |
47.8 (8.8) |
41.6 (5.3) |
56.2 (13.4) |
||
| Source: NOAA[51][52][53][54] | |||||||||||||||
Demographics[link]
Main article: Demographics of Alabama
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1800 | 1,250 |
|
|
| 1810 | 9,046 | 623.7% | |
| 1820 | 127,901 | 1,313.9% | |
| 1830 | 309,527 | 142.0% | |
| 1840 | 590,756 | 90.9% | |
| 1850 | 771,623 | 30.6% | |
| 1860 | 964,201 | 25.0% | |
| 1870 | 996,992 | 3.4% | |
| 1880 | 1,262,505 | 26.6% | |
| 1890 | 1,513,401 | 19.9% | |
| 1900 | 1,828,697 | 20.8% | |
| 1910 | 2,138,093 | 16.9% | |
| 1920 | 2,348,174 | 9.8% | |
| 1930 | 2,646,248 | 12.7% | |
| 1940 | 2,832,961 | 7.1% | |
| 1950 | 3,061,743 | 8.1% | |
| 1960 | 3,266,740 | 6.7% | |
| 1970 | 3,444,165 | 5.4% | |
| 1980 | 3,893,888 | 13.1% | |
| 1990 | 4,040,587 | 3.8% | |
| 2000 | 4,447,100 | 10.1% | |
| 2010 | 4,779,736 | 7.5% | |
| Sources: 1910–2010[55] | |||
|
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Alabama was 4,802,740 on July 1, 2011, a 0.48% increase since the 2010 United States Census.[2]
The United States Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2008, estimated Alabama's population at 4,661,900,[56] which represents an increase of 214,545, or 4.8%, since the last census in 2000.[57] This includes a natural increase since the last census of 121,054 people (that is 502,457 births minus 381,403 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 104,991 people into the state.[57] Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 31,180 people, and migration within the country produced a net gain of 73,811 people.[57] The state had 108,000 foreign-born (2.4% of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2% were illegal immigrants (24,000).
The center of population of Alabama is located in Chilton County, outside of the town of Jemison.[58]
Race and ancestry[link]
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Alabama had a population of 4,779,736. In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 68.5% White (67.0% Non-Hispanic White Alone), 26.2% Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.0% from Some Other Race, and 1.5% from Two or More Races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 3.9% of the population.[59]
The largest reported ancestry groups in Alabama are: African American (26.2%), English (23.6%), Irish (7.7%), German (5.7%), and Scots-Irish (2.0%).[60][61][62] Those citing "American" ancestry in Alabama are of overwhelmingly English extraction, however most English Americans identify simply as having American ancestry because their roots have been in North America for so long, in some cases since the 1600s. Demographers estimate that a minimum of 20–23% of people in Alabama are of predominantly English ancestry and state that the figure is probably much higher. In the 1980 census, 41% of the people in Alabama cited that they were of English ancestry, making them the largest ethnic group at the time.[63][64][65][66][67] There are also many more people in Alabama of Scots-Irish origins than are self-reported.[68] Many people in Alabama claim Irish ancestry because of the term Scots-Irish, but most of the time in Alabama this term is used for those with Scottish roots, rather than Irish.[69]
In 1984, under the Davis–Strong Act, Alabama established a state Indian Commission and officially recognized seven American Indian tribes, including the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama, which is a 501 (c)(3) group. It is made up of descendants of the Chickamauga Cherokee and others who managed to evade Indian Removal in the 1830s. Working with Auburn University, the tribe has begun a revival of the Cherokee language.
Religion[link]
Alabama is located in the middle of the Bible Belt, a region of high Christian followers. Alabama has been identified as one of the most religious states in the US, with about 58% of the population attending church regularly.[70] A majority of people in the state identify as Protestant. As of 2000, the three largest denominational groups in Alabama are Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, and Catholic. The Southern Baptist Convention has the highest number of adherents in Alabama with 1,380,121, followed by the United Methodist Church with 327,734 members, and the Catholic Church with 150,647 adherents.[71]
In a 2007 survey, nearly 70% of respondents could name all four of the Christian Gospels. Of those who indicated a religious preference, 59% said they possessed a "full understanding" of their faith and needed no further learning.[72] In a 2007 poll, 92% of Alabamians reported having at least some confidence in churches in the state.[73][74] In the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, 80% of Alabama respondents reported their religion as Christian (other than Catholic,) 6% as Catholic, and 11% as having no religion at all.[75]
Health[link]
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed that Alabama was one of the worst in the country for obesity with most counties having over 29% of adults obese, except for ten which exceeded 26%.[76] Residents were least likely of any state in the nation to exercise.[77] Alabama has one of the highest incidences of adult onset diabetes in the country, exceeding 10% of adults.[78][79]
Economy[link]
The state has invested in aerospace, education, health care, banking, and various heavy industries, including automobile manufacturing, mineral extraction, steel production and fabrication.
According to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, the 2008 total gross state product was $170 billion, or $29,411 per capita. Alabama's 2008 GDP increased 0.7% from the previous year. The single largest increase came in the area of information.[80] In 2010, per capita income for the state was $22,984.[81]
As of September 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 8.9%.[82]
Largest employers[link]
According to the Birmingham Business Journal, the five employers which employ the most employees in Alabama as of 2011 were:[83]
| Employer | Number of employees |
|---|---|
| Redstone Arsenal | 25,373 |
| University of Alabama at Birmingham (includes UAB Hospital) | 18,750 |
| Maxwell Air Force Base | 12,280 |
| State of Alabama | 9,500 |
| Mobile County Public School System | 8,100 |
Agriculture[link]
Alabama's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, cattle, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains such as corn and sorghum, vegetables, milk, soybeans, and peaches. Although known as "The Cotton State", Alabama ranks between eighth and tenth in national cotton production, according to various reports,[84][85] with Texas, Georgia and Mississippi comprising the top three.
Industry[link]
Alabama's industrial outputs include iron and steel products (including cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood products; mining (mostly coal); plastic products; cars and trucks; and apparel. Also, Alabama produces aerospace and electronic products, mostly in the Huntsville area, location of NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Army Materiel Command, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal.
Most of Alabama's economic growth is due to the state's expanding automotive manufacturing industry. Located in the state are Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, as well as their various suppliers. Since 1993, the automobile industry has generated more than 67,800 new jobs in the state. Alabama currently ranks 4th in the nation in automobile output.[86]
Steel producers Nucor, SSAB, ThyssenKrupp, and U.S. Steel have facilities in Alabama and employ over 10,000 people. In May 2007, German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp selected Alabama for a $3.7 billion steel production plant, with the promise of 2,700 permanent jobs.[87] When ThyssenKrupp's new facilities reach full production capacity, Alabama is expected to become the third largest steel producing state in the country behind Indiana and Pennsylvania.[88]
The Hunt Refining Company, a subsidiary of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., is based in Tuscaloosa and operates a refinery there. The company also operates terminals in Mobile, Melvin, and Moundville.[89] JVC America, Inc. operates an optical disc replication and packaging plant in Tuscaloosa.[90]
Michelin North America operated a 1,000,000 square feet (9.3 ha) BFGoodrich Tire manufacturing plant in Opelika from 1963 to 2009, when it shut down.[91] GAF Materials Corporation formerly operated a plant in Mobile, but ceased production operations in 2010. The plant had previously been idled in 2007 before resuming in 2008 and may reopen in the future once demand recovers.[92]
Tourism[link]
An estimated 100,000 tourists annually from other countries visit the state, including from Canada, England, Germany and Japan. In 2006, 22.3 million tourists spent $8.3 billion providing an estimated 162,000 jobs in the state.[93][94][95]
Health[link]
UAB Hospital is the only Level I trauma center in Alabama.[96][97] UAB is the largest state government employer in Alabama, with a workforce of about 18,000.[98]
Banking[link]
Alabama has the headquarters of Regions Financial Corporation, BBVA Compass and Superior Bancorp. Birmingham-based Compass Banchshares was acquired by Spanish-based BBVA in September 2007, although the headquarters of BBVA Compass remains in Birmingham. In November 2006, Regions Financial completed its merger with AmSouth Bancorporation, which was also headquartered in Birmingham. SouthTrust Corporation, another large bank headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004 for $14.3 billion. The city still has major operations for Wachovia and its now post-operating bank Wells Fargo, which includes a regional headquarters, an operations center campus and a $400 million dollar data center. Nearly a dozen smaller banks are also headquartered in the Birmingham, such as Superior Bancorp, ServisFirst and New South Federal Savings Bank. Birmingham also serves as the headquarters for several large investment management companies, including Harbert Management Corporation.
Electronics[link]
Telecommunications provider AT&T, formerly BellSouth, also has a major presence in Alabama with several large offices in Birmingham. The company has over 6,000 employees and more than 1,200 contract employees.
Many commercial technology companies are headquartered in Huntsville, such as the network access company ADTRAN, computer graphics company Intergraph, design and manufacturer of IT infrastructure Avocent, and telecommunications provider Deltacom. Cinram manufactures and distributes 20th Century Fox DVDs and Blu-ray Discs out of their Huntsville plant.
Construction[link]
Rust International has grown to include Brasfield & Gorrie, BE&K, Hoar Construction and B.L. Harbert International, which all routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design, international construction, and engineering firms. (Rust International was acquired in 2000 by Washington Group International, which was in turn acquired by San-Francisco based URS Corporation in 2007.)
Transportation[link]
The Port of Mobile, Alabama's only saltwater port, is a busy seaport on the Gulf of Mexico with inland waterway access to the Midwest by way of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The Port of Mobile is currently the 9th-largest by tonnage in the United States.[99]
Barge transportation in and out of the Port of Tuscaloosa and other commercial navigation make the Black Warrior River useful in the state of Alabama.
Law and government[link]
State government[link]
Main article: Government of Alabama
The foundational document for Alabama's government is the Alabama Constitution, which was ratified in 1901. At almost 800 amendments and 310,000 words, it is the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the U.S. Constitution.[100][101] There is a significant movement to rewrite and modernize Alabama's constitution.[102] This movement is based upon the fact that Alabama's constitution highly centralizes power in Montgomery and leaves practically no power in local hands. Any policy changes proposed around the state must be approved by the entire Alabama legislature and, frequently, by state referendum. One criticism of the current constitution claims that its complexity and length were intentional to codify segregation and racism.
Alabama is divided into three equal branches: The legislative branch is the Alabama Legislature, a bicameral assembly composed of the Alabama House of Representatives, with 105 members, and the Alabama Senate, with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation. The Republican Party currently holds a majority in both houses of the Legislature. The Legislature has the power to override a gubernatorial veto by a simple majority (most state Legislatures require a two-thirds majority to override a veto).
The executive branch is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the Governor of Alabama. Other members of executive branch include the cabinet, the Attorney General of Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, the Alabama State Treasurer, and the State Auditor of Alabama. The current governor of the state is Republican Robert Bentley. The lieutenant governor is Republican Kay Ivey.
The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the Constitution and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Alabama. The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is Republican Chuck Malone. All sitting justices on the Alabama Supreme Court are members of the Republican Party.
The members of the Legislature take office immediately after the November elections. The statewide officials, such as the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and other constitutional offices take office in the following January.[103]
Taxes[link]
Alabama levies a 2, 4, or 5 percent personal income tax, depending upon the amount earned and filing status. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct their federal income tax from their Alabama state tax, and can do so even if taking the standard deduction. Taxpayers who file itemized deductions are also allowed to deduct federal Social Security and Medicare taxes.
The state's general sales tax rate is 4%.[104] The collection rate could be substantially higher, depending upon additional city and county sales taxes. For example, the total sales tax rate in Mobile is 10% and there is an additional restaurant tax of 1%, which means that a diner in Mobile would pay a 11% tax on a meal. Sales and excise taxes in Alabama account for 51% of all state and local revenue, compared with an average of about 36% nationwide. Alabama is also one of the few remaining states that levies a tax on food and medicine. Alabama's income tax on poor working families is among the nation's very highest.[105] Alabama is the only state that levies income tax on a family of four with income as low as $4,600, which is barely one-quarter of the federal poverty line.[105] Alabama's threshold is the lowest among the 41 states and the District of Columbia with income taxes.[105]
The corporate income tax rate is currently 6.5%. The overall federal, state, and local tax burden in Alabama ranks the state as the second least tax-burdened state in the country.[106] Property taxes are the lowest in the United States. The current state constitution requires a voter referendum to raise property taxes.
Since Alabama's tax structure largely depends on consumer spending, it is subject to high variable budget structure. For example, in 2003 Alabama had an annual budget deficit as high as $670 million.
Local and county government[link]
Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the County Commission, which usually also has executive authority in the county. Because of the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but seven counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning.
On November 9, 2011 Jefferson County declared bankruptcy.[107][108]
Alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state; the government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. However, counties can declare themselves "dry"; the state does not sell alcohol in those areas.
| Rank | County | Population (2010 Census) |
Seat | Largest city |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson | 658,466 | Birmingham | Birmingham |
| 2 | Mobile | 412,992 | Mobile | Mobile |
| 3 | Madison | 334,811 | Huntsville | Huntsville |
| 4 | Montgomery | 229,363 | Montgomery | Montgomery |
| 5 | Shelby | 195,085 | Columbiana | Hoover (part) Alabaster |
| 6 | Tuscaloosa | 194,656 | Tuscaloosa | Tuscaloosa |
| 7 | Baldwin | 182,265 | Bay Minette | Daphne |
| 8 | Lee | 140,247 | Opelika | Auburn |
| 9 | Morgan | 119,490 | Decatur | Decatur |
| 10 | Calhoun | 118,572 | Anniston | Anniston |
Politics[link]
During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1874, the political coalition known as the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans, in part by suppressing the African American vote.
After 1890, a coalition of whites passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise black residents, a process completed in provisions of the 1901 constitution. Provisions which disfranchised African Americans also disfranchised poor whites, however. By 1941 more whites than blacks had been disfranchised: 600,000 to 520,000, although the impact was greater on the African-American community, as almost all of its citizens were disfranchised.
From 1901 through the 1960s, the state did not redraw election districts as population grew and shifted within the state. The result was a rural minority that dominated state politics until a series of court cases required redistricting in 1972.
Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the American Civil Rights Movement, when majority whites bureaucratically, and at times, violently resisted protests for electoral and social reform. Democrat George Wallace, the state's only four-term governor, was a controversial figure. Only with the passage of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964[32] and Voting Rights Act of 1965 did African-Americans regain suffrage and other civil rights.
In 2007, the Alabama Legislature passed, and Republican Governor Bob Riley signed, a resolution expressing "profound regret" over slavery and its lingering impact. In a symbolic ceremony, the bill was signed in the Alabama State Capitol, which housed Congress of the Confederate States of America.[109]
Elections[link]
Main article: Elections in Alabama
State elections[link]
With the disfranchisement of African Americans, the state became part of the "Solid South", a system in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally only token Republican challengers running in the General Election.
Republicans hold all nine seats on the Alabama Supreme Court[110] and all ten seats on the state appellate courts. Until 1994, no Republicans held any of the court seats. This change also began, likely in part, due to the same perception by voters of Democratic party efforts to disenfranchise voters again in 1994. In that general election, the then-incumbent Chief Justice of Alabama, Ernest C. Hornsby, refused to leave office after losing the election by approximately 3,000 votes to Republican Perry O. Hooper, Sr.. Hornsby sued Alabama and defiantly remained in office for nearly a year before finally giving up the seat after losing in court. This ultimately led to a collapse of support for Democrats at the ballot box in the next three or four election cycles. The Democrats lost the last of the nineteen court seats in August 2011 with the resignation of the last Democrat on the bench.
Republicans hold all seven of the statewide elected executive branch offices. Republicans hold six of the eight elected seats on the Alabama State Board of Education. In 2010, Republicans took large majorities of both chambers of the state legislature giving them control of that body for the first time in 136 years. Democrats hold one of the three seats on the Alabama Public Service Commission.[111][112][113]
Only two Republican Lieutenant Governors have been elected since Reconstruction, one is Kay Ivey, the current Lieutenant Governor.
Local elections[link]
Many local offices (County Commissioners, Boards of Education, Tax Assessors, Tax Collectors, etc.) in the state are still held by Democrats. Local elections in most rural counties are generally decided in the Democratic primary and local elections in metropolitan and suburban counties are generally decided in the Republican Primary, although there are exceptions.[114][115]
Alabama's 67 County Sheriffs are elected in partisan races and Democrats still retain the majority of those posts. The current split is 42 Democrats, 24 Republicans, and one Independent (Choctaw).[116][Full citation needed] However, most of the Democratic sheriffs preside over rural and less populated counties and the majority of Republican sheriffs preside over more urban/suburban and heavily populated counties.[117] Two Alabama counties (Montgomery and Calhoun) with a population of over 100,000 have Democratic sheriffs and five Alabama counties with a population of under 75,000 have Republican sheriffs (Autauga, Coffee, Dale, Coosa, and Blount).[118] The state has one female sheriff (Morgan) and nine African-American sheriffs.[119][Full citation needed]
Federal elections[link]
The state's two U.S. senators are Jefferson B. Sessions III and Richard C. Shelby, both Republicans.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members, six of whom are Republicans: (Jo Bonner, Mike D. Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Morris J. Brooks, Martha Roby, and Spencer Bachus) and one Democrat: Terri Sewell).
Further information: United States presidential election in Alabama, 2004
Education[link]
Main article: Education in Alabama
Primary and secondary education[link]
Public primary and secondary education in Alabama is under the overview of the Alabama State Board of Education as well as local oversight by 67 county school boards and 60 city boards of education. Together, 1,541 individual schools provide education for 743,364 elementary and secondary students.[120]
Public school funding is appropriated through the Alabama Legislature through the Education Trust Fund. In FY 2006–2007, Alabama appropriated $3,775,163,578 for primary and secondary education. That represented an increase of $444,736,387 over the previous fiscal year.[120] In 2007, over 82 percent of schools made adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward student proficiency under the National No Child Left Behind law, using measures determined by the State of Alabama. In 2004, 23 percent of schools met AYP.[121]
While Alabama's public education system has improved, it lags behind in achievement compared to other states. According to U.S. Census data, Alabama's high school graduation rate – 75% – is the fourth lowest in the United States (after Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi).[122] The largest educational gains were among people with some college education but without degrees.[123]
Colleges and universities[link]
Main article: List of colleges and universities in Alabama
Alabama's programs of higher education include 14 four-year public universities, two-year community colleges, and 17 private, undergraduate and graduate universities. In the state are two medical schools (University of Alabama School of Medicine and University of South Alabama), two veterinary colleges (Auburn University and Tuskegee University), a dental school (University of Alabama School of Dentistry), an optometry college (University of Alabama at Birmingham), two pharmacy schools (Auburn University and Samford University), and five law schools (University of Alabama School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, Cumberland School of Law, Miles Law School, and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law). Public, post-secondary education in Alabama is overseen by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Colleges and universities in Alabama offer degree programs from two-year associate degrees to 16 doctoral level programs.[124][125]
The largest single campus is the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, with 31,747 enrolled for fall 2011.[126] Troy University is the largest institution in the state, enrolling 29,689 students (as of 2010) across four Alabama campuses (Troy, Dothan, Montgomery, and Phenix City), as well as sixty learning sites in seventeen other states and eleven other countries. The oldest institutions are the public University of North Alabama in Florence and the Catholic Church-affiliated Spring Hill College in Mobile, both founded in 1830.[127][128]
Accreditation of academic programs is through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) as well as other subject-focused national and international accreditation agencies such as the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE),[129] the Council on Occupational Education (COE),[130] and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS).[131]
According to the 2011 U.S. News and World Report, Alabama had three universities ranked in the top 100 Public Schools in America (University of Alabama at 31, Auburn University at 36, and University of Alabama at Birmingham at 73).[132]
Sports[link]
Professional sports teams[link]
Main article: List of professional sports teams in Alabama
Alabama has several minor league professional teams including four minor league baseball teams.
| Team name | Location | Sport | League | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama Hammers | Huntsville | Arena football | Southern Indoor Football League | Von Braun Center | |
| Birmingham Barons | Birmingham | Baseball | Southern League | Regions Park | |
| Huntsville Havoc | Huntsville | Ice Hockey | Southern Professional Hockey League | Von Braun Center | |
| Dixie Derby Girls | Huntsville | Roller derby | Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) | Von Braun Center | |
| Huntsville Stars | Huntsville | Baseball | Southern League | Joe W. Davis Stadium | |
| Mobile BayBears | Mobile | Baseball | Southern League | Hank Aaron Stadium | |
| Montgomery Biscuits | Montgomery | Baseball | Southern League | Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium | |
| Rocket City United | Huntsville | Soccer | National Premier Soccer League | Madison City Schools Stadium | |
| Tennessee Valley Tigers | Huntsville | Football | Independent Women's Football League | Milton Frank Stadium | replaced the Alabama Renegades |
Venues[link]
Alabama has four of the world's largest stadiums by seating capacity: Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn and Legion Field in Birmingham.
The Talladega Superspeedway motorsports complex hosts a series of NASCAR events. It has a seating capacity of 143,000 and is the thirteenth largest stadium in the world and sixth largest stadium in America. Bryant-Denny Stadium serves as the home of the University of Alabama football team has a seating capacity of 101,821. It is the fifth largest stadium in America and the eighth largest non-racing stadium in the world. Jordan-Hare Stadium is the home field of the Auburn University football team and has a seating capacity of 87,451. It is the twelfth largest college football stadium in America. Legion Field is home for the UAB Blazers football program and the Papajohns.com Bowl. It seats 71,594.[133][134]
Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile serves as the home of the NCAA Senior Bowl, GoDaddy.com Bowl, Alabama-Mississippi All Star Classic and home of the University of South Alabama football team. Ladd-Peebles Stadium opened in 1948 and seats 40,646.[135]
In 2009, Bryant-Denny Stadium and Jordan-Hare Stadium became the homes of the Alabama High School Athletic Association state football championship games, known as the Super Six. Bryant-Denny hosts the Super Six in odd-numbered years, with Jordan-Hare taking the games in even-numbered years. Previously, the Super Six was held at Legion Field in Birmingham.[136]
Transportation[link]
Air transportation[link]
Main article: Aviation in Alabama
Major airports in Alabama include Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Huntsville International Airport (HSV), Dothan Regional Airport (DHN), Mobile Regional Airport (MOB), Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM), Muscle Shoals – Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), Tuscaloosa Regional Airport (TCL), and Pryor Field Regional Airport (DCU).
Rail[link]
For rail transport, Amtrak schedules the Crescent, a daily passenger train, running from New York to New Orleans with stops at Anniston, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa.
Roads[link]
File:I-565 at Space and Rocket Center.jpg
Interstate 565 passing by the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.
Alabama has five major interstate roads that cross the state: I-65 runs north–south roughly through the middle of the state; I-59/I-20 travels from the central west border to Birmingham, where I-59 continues to the north-east corner of the state and I-20 continues east towards Atlanta; I-85 originates in Montgomery and runs east-northeast to the Georgia border, providing a main thoroughfare to Atlanta; and I-10 traverses the southernmost portion of the state, running from west to east through Mobile. Another interstate road, I-22, is currently under construction. When completed around 2014 it will connect Birmingham with Memphis, Tennessee. In addition, there are currently five auxiliary interstate routes in the state: I-165 in Mobile, I-359 in Tuscaloosa, I-459 around Birmingham, I-565 in Huntsville, and I-759 in Gadsden. A sixth route, I-685, will be created when I-85 is rerouted along a new southern bypass of Montgomery. A proposed northern bypass of Birmingham will designated as I-422.
Several U.S. Highways also pass through the state, such as US 11, US 29, US 31, US 43, US 45, US 72, US 78, US 80, US 82, US 84, US 90, US 98, US 231, US 278, US 280, US 331, US 411, and US 431.
There are four toll roads in the state: Montgomery Expressway in Montgomery; Tuscaloosa Bypass in Tuscaloosa; Emerald Mountain Expressway in Wetumpka; and Beach Express in Orange Beach.
In March 2011, Alabama ranked among the top five "Worst" states on the American State Litter Scorecard, for overall poor effectiveness and quality of its statewide public space cleanliness—primarily roadway and adjacent litter removals—from state and related efforts.[137]
Ports[link]
Alabama has one seaport, in Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico. The state's other ports are on rivers with access to the Gulf.
Water ports of Alabama, listed from north to south:
| Port name | Location | Connected to |
|---|---|---|
| Port of Florence | Florence/Muscle Shoals, on Pickwick Lake | Tennessee River |
| Port of Decatur | Decatur, on Wheeler Lake | Tennessee River |
| Port of Guntersville | Guntersville, on Lake Guntersville | Tennessee River |
| Port of Birmingham | Birmingham, on Black Warrior River | Tenn-Tom Waterway |
| Port of Tuscaloosa | Tuscaloosa, on Black Warrior River | Tenn-Tom Waterway |
| Port of Montgomery | Montgomery, on Woodruff Lake | Alabama River |
| Port of Mobile | Mobile, on Mobile Bay | Gulf of Mexico |
See also[link]
 |
Book: United States |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
- Outline of history
- Outline of geography
- List of people from Alabama
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Alabama
References[link]
- ^ The Alabama monument south of Gettysburg
- ^ a b "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011" (CSV). 2011 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. December 2011. http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/totals/2011/tables/NST-EST2011-01.csv. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ "Cheehahaw". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=DG3595. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- ^ a b "Elevations and Distances in the United States". United States Geological Survey. 2001. http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
- ^ a b c "George Mason University, United States Election Project: Alabama Redistricting Summary, accessed March 10, 2008". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071017192719/http://elections.gmu.edu/Redistricting/AL.htm. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ a b c Read, William A. (1984). Indian Place Names in Alabama. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0231-X. OCLC 10724679.
- ^ Sylestine, Cora; Hardy; Heather; and Montler, Timothy (1993). Dictionary of the Alabama Language. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-73077-2. OCLC 26590560. http://www.ling.unt.edu/~montler/Alabama/.
- ^ a b c Rogers, William W.; Robert D. Ward, Leah R. Atkins, Wayne Flynt (1994). Alabama: the History of a Deep South State. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0712-5. OCLC 28634588.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Alabama: The State Name". All About Alabama. Alabama Department of Archives and History. http://www.archives.alabama.gov/statenam.html. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
- ^ a b Wills, Charles A. (1995). A Historical Album of Alabama. The Millbrook Press. ISBN 1-56294-591-2. OCLC 32242468.
- ^ Griffith, Lucille (1972). Alabama: A Documentary History to 1900. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0371-5. OCLC 17530914.
- ^ The use of state names derived from Native American languages is common; an estimated 27 states have names of Native American origin. Weiss, Sonia (1999). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Baby Names. Mcmillan USA. ISBN 0-02-863367-9. OCLC 222611214.
- ^ a b Swanton, John R. (1953). "The Indian Tribes of North America". Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145: 153–174. http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/swsts/alabam-1.htm. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
- ^ a b Swanton, John R. (1937). "Review of Read, Indian Place Names of Alabama". American Speech 12 (12): 212–215. DOI:10.2307/452431. JSTOR 452431.
- ^ "Alabama". The New York Times. August 11, 2006. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2004/07/15/travel/NYT_ALMANAC_US_ALABAMA.html. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ Welch, Paul D. (1991). Moundville's Economy. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0512-2. OCLC 21330955.
- ^ Walthall, John A. (1990). Prehistoric Indians of the Southeast-Archaeology of Alabama and the Middle South. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0552-1. OCLC 26656858.
- ^ Townsend, Richard F. (2004). Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10601-7. OCLC 56633574.
- ^ edited by F. Kent Reilly III and James F. Garber ; foreword by Vincas P. Steponaitis. (2004). F. Kent Reilly and James Garber. ed. Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71347-5. OCLC 70335213.
- ^ "Alabama Indian Tribes". Indian Tribal Records. AccessGenealogy.com. Updated 2006. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/alabama/. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "Alabama State History". theUS50.com. http://www.theus50.com/alabama/. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "Alabama Historical Association Marker Program: Washington County". Archives.state.al.us. http://www.archives.state.al.us/aha/markers/washington.html. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "AL-Alabama". Landscapes and History by state. StateMaster.com. http://www.statemaster.com/graph-T/bac_sum. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ a b c "The Black Belt". Southern Spaces Internet Journal. Emory University. April 19, 2004. http://southernspaces.org/2004/black-belt. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ Montgomery: History – Early Days in Montgomery, Lafayette's Visit a Local Highlight
- ^ "13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865)". Historical Documents. HistoricalDocuments.com. 2005. http://www.historicaldocuments.com/13thAmendment.htm. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ J. Morgan Kousser.The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974
- ^ "A Blaine Amendment Update (July 00)". Schoolreport.com. http://www.schoolreport.com/schoolreport/articles/blaine_7_00.htm. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ a b Glenn Feldman. The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004, p. 136.
- ^ "Birmingham". Bhamwiki. http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Birmingham. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ a b "Civil Rights Act of 1964". Finduslaw.com. http://finduslaw.com/civil_rights_act_of_1964_cra_title_vii_equal_employment_opportunities_42_us_code_chapter_21. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ "Voting Rights". Civil Rights: Law and History. U.S.Department of Justice. January 9, 2002. Archived from the original on February 21, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070221054512/http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage/crt/voting.htm. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "The New South Rises, Again". Civil Rights: Law and History. Southerner.net. Spring 1999. http://www.southerner.net/v1n1_99/coverstory1.html. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "GCT-PH1-R. Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density (areas ranked by population): 2000". Geographic Comparison Table. U.S.Census Bureau. Census Year 2000. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=n&_lang=en&mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_US9S&format=US-9S&_box_head_nbr=GCT-PH1-R&ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&geo_id=01000US. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ a b c "The Geography of Alabama". Geography of the States. NetState.com. August 11, 2006. http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/al_geography.htm. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "Elevations and Distances in the United States". U.S Geological Survey. April 29, 2005. http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html#Highest. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
- ^ "NGS Data Sheet for Cheaha Mountain". U.S. National Geodetic Survey. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=DG3595. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Alabama Forest Owner's Guide to Information Resources, Introduction, Alabamaforests.org
- ^ "Alabama County (geographies ranked by total population)". Geographic Comparison Table. U.S. Census Bureau. Census year 2000. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-context=gct&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_ST2S&-CONTEXT=gct&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=true&-geo_id=04000US01&-format=ST-2. Retrieved May 14, 2007.
- ^ "National Park Guide". Geographic Search. Washington, D.C: National Park Service – U.S. Department of the Interior. http://home.nps.gov/applications/parksearch/state.cfm?st=al. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "National Forests in Alabama". USDA Forest Service. United States Department of Agriculture. http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/alabama/forests/. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
- ^ "Wetumpka". Earth Impact Database. University of New Brunswick. http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/wetumpka.html. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
- ^ "The Wetumpka Astrobleme" by John C. Hall, Alabama Heritage, Fall 1996, Number 42.
- ^ King, David T., Jr. (April 23, 2010). "Wetumpka Crater". Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1035. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
- ^ Christopher M. Godfrey (November 4, 2008). "Greenhouse effect and climate". Atmospheric Sciences. University of North Carolina, Asheville. http://facstaff.unca.edu/cgodfrey/courses/atms179/ppt/greenhouse.pdf.
- ^ a b "Alabama Climate". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-78303/Alabama. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ Lightning Fatalities, Injuries and Damages in the United States, 1990–2003. NLSI. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
- ^ Fujita scale. Tornadoproject.com. Retrieved September 3, 2007.
- ^ Oliver, Mike. "April 27's record tally: 62 tornadoes in Alabama". al.com. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/08/april_27s_record_tally_62_torn.html. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
- ^ "Climatography of the United States No. 20 (1971–2000)" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2004. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zy9c24Md. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ "Climatography of the United States No. 20 (1971–2000)" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2004. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zy9gazEr. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ "Climatography of the United States No. 20 (1971–2000)" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2004. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zy9hg7e3. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ "Climatography of the United States No. 20 (1971–2000)" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2004. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zy9j4S0w. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ Resident Population Data. "Resident Population Data – 2010 Census". 2010.census.gov. http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2008-01.csv. Retrieved February 1, 2009. [dead link]
- ^ a b c U.S. Census Bureau (December 15, 2008). "Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Population Change for the United States, Regions and States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 (NST-EST2008-04)" (CSV). http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2008-04.csv. Retrieved January 16, 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "Population and Population Centers by State – 2000". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- ^ "American FactFinder". Factfinder2.census.gov. October 5, 2010. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_PL_QTPL&prodType=table. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "Data on selected ancestry groups". Google. http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:WJGw9z2RkkYJ:www.uen.org/Lessonplan/downloadFile.cgi%3Ffile%3D1041-6-15955-AF_Census_Data.pdf%26filename%3DAF_Census_Data.pdf+49,598,035&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgyigzsjZP7yBWdThzodFWP_t7GiFtOGi5W12qTf5nLj_yFzQ0YIKJn2pSyS1TIT-ZjvBx0s057h5mpwrf39HOZmlg3VzoOdaoPrNTdS6x-0SbHnwGXfzVLkDYTyIg7k4E_Zsn8&sig=AHIEtbTzro9GQY6LB1-9ZG9n2r46Epyyaw. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "1980 United States Census" (PDF). http://www.census.gov/population/censusdata/pc80-s1-10/tab02.pdf. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "Alabama – Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2006–2008". Factfinder.census.gov. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US01&-qr_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_DP3YR2&-ds_name=&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ "Ancestry of the Population by State: 1980 – Table 3" (PDF). http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03.pdf. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America By Dominic J. Pulera.
- ^ Reynolds Farley, 'The New Census Question about Ancestry: What Did It Tell Us?', Demography, Vol. 28, No. 3 (August 1991), pp. 414, 421.
- ^ Stanley Lieberson and Lawrence Santi, 'The Use of Nativity Data to Estimate Ethnic Characteristics and Patterns', Social Science Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1985), pp. 44–6.
- ^ Stanley Lieberson and Mary C. Waters, 'Ethnic Groups in Flux: The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 487, No. 79 (September 1986), pp. 82–86.
- ^ "American FactFinder". Factfinder.census.gov. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US01&-qr_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_DP3YR2&-ds_name=&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ Census 2000 Map – Top U.S. Ancestries by County
- ^ US Church attendance
- ^ "State Membership Reports". thearda.com. http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/01_2000.asp. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
- ^ Campbell, Kirsten (March 25, 2007). "Alabama rates well in biblical literacy". Mobile Register (Advance Publications, Inc): p. A1.
- ^ "Confidence in State and Local Institutions Survey" (PDF). Capital Survey Research Center. Archived from the original on August 9, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070809021852/http://www.myaea.org/PDFfile/Confidence+in+State+Institutions07.pdf. Retrieved June 2, 2007.
- ^ White, David (April 1, 2007). "Poll says we feel good about state Trust in government, unlike some institutions, hasn't fallen". Birmingham News (Birmingham News): p. 13A.
- ^ Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar (2009). "AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION SURVEY (ARIS) 2008" (PDF). Hartford, Connecticut, USA: Trinity College. p. 20. http://b27.cc.trincoll.edu/weblogs/AmericanReligionSurvey-ARIS/reports/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
- ^ "County Level Estimates of Obesity – State Maps". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2008. http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DDT_STRS2/CountyPrevalenceData.aspx?StateId=1&mode=OBS.
- ^ "Highest Rates of Leisure-Time Physical Inactivity in Appalachia and South". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p0216_physicalinactivity.html.
- ^ "County Level Estimates of Diagnosed Diabetes – State Maps". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2008. http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DDT_STRS2/CountyPrevalenceData.aspx?mode=DBT.
- ^ "CDC national chart on diabetes". Apps.nccd.cdc.gov. http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DDT_STRS2/NationalDiabetesPrevalenceEstimates.aspx?mode=DBT. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "GDP by State (2008)". Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts. June 2, 2009. http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/gsp_newsrelease.htm. Retrieved October 9, 2009. full release with tables
- ^ "United States Census Bureau". State and County Quick Facts. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/01000.html. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ Bls.gov; Local Area Unemployment Statistics
- ^ Aneesa McMillan. "Top of the List: Alabama's largest employers" (April 22, 2011). Birmingham Business Journal.
- ^ "Alabama and CBER: 75 Years of Change" (PDF). Alabama Business. Center for Business and Economic Research, Culverhouse College of Commerce, The University of Alabama. Q4 2005. http://cber.cba.ua.edu/pdf/ab2005q4.pdf. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "State Highlights for 2004–2005" (PDF). Alabama Cooperative Extension System. USDA, NASS, Alabama Statistical Office. 2005. http://www.aces.edu/dept/nass/bulletin/2005/pg05.pdf. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
- ^ "Vehicle Technologies Program: Fact #539: October 6, 2008 Light Vehicle Production by State". .eere.energy.gov. October 6, 2008. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/facts/2008_fotw539.html. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ "ThyssenKrupp's Alabama incentive package tops $811 million". Press-Register. May 11, 2007. http://blog.al.com/live/2007/05/mobile_county_wins_thyssenkrup.html. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
- ^ http://www.alalabor.state.al.us/PDFs/SteelCouncilNewsletter.pdf
- ^ "Hunt Refining Company." Linkedin.
- ^ "Company Overview." JVC America, Inc.
- ^ Kathryn Kroll. "BFGoodrich closing Alabama plant that employs 1,000." (April 13, 2009). The Plain Dealer.
- ^ Jeff Amy. "GAF Materials to close Mobile shingle plant by year's end" (November 9, 2010). Press-Register.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Alabama: Alabama Tourism Department (ATD)
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions – Sweet Home Alabama". 800alabama.com. July 1, 2004. http://www.800alabama.com/about-alabama/alabama-news-facts/frequently-asked-questions/. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ Fahrenthold, David A. (May 2, 2010). "Obama to survey environmental damage in gulf". Washington, DC: Washington Pose. pp. A6.
- ^ "Verified Trauma Centers". American College of Surgeons, Verified Trauma Centers. December 30, 2010. http://www.facs.org/trauma/verified.html. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ "College Research Data". University of Texas. https://webspace.utexas.edu/jas5349/Research_Data.htm. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "WATERBORNE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES". U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Waterborne Commerce Statistics. p. 90. http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/wcsc/pdf/wcusnatl08.pdf. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
- ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel (November 28, 2004). "Alabama Vote Opens Old Racial Wounds". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A16443-2004Nov27?language=printer. Retrieved September 22, 2006.
- ^ "Constitution of Alabama – 1901". The Alabama Legislative Information System. http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/Constitution1901_toc.htm. Retrieved September 22, 2006.
- ^ "Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform". Constitutionalreform.org. http://www.constitutionalreform.org/. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ Lee, McDowell (2009). "Alabama's Legislative Process". State of Alabama. http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/legislativeprocess/legislativeprocess_ml.html.
- ^ Comparison of State and Local Retail Sales Taxes, July 2004 Retrieved on May 25, 2007.
- ^ a b c "Reducing Alabama's Income Tax on Working-Poor Families: Two Options – 4/14/99". Cbpp.org. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1812. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ "Alabama State Local Tax Burden Compared to U.S. Average (1970–2007)" (PDF). Tax Foundation. http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sl_burden_alabama-2007-04-04.pdf. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
- ^ http://jeffconline.jccal.org/home/news/photo/1517060216/
- ^ "Jefferson County, Ala., Falls Off the Bankruptcy Cliff". The New York Times. February 18, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/business/jefferson-county-ala-falls-off-the-bankruptcy-cliff.html.
- ^ Rawls, Phillip (June 1, 2007). "Alabama offers an apology for slavery". The Virginian Pilot (Landmark Communications).
- ^ "Sue Bell Cobb considering running for governor - Breaking News from The Birmingham News". Blog.al.com. May 2, 2009. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/05/sue_bell_cobb_considering_runn.html. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ "Commissioners". Psc.state.al.us. http://www.psc.state.al.us/commissioners.htm. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ Special (November 5, 2008). "Lucy Baxley wins Alabama Public Service Commission presidency, but recount possible". Birmingham News via al.com. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/11/lucy_baxley_wins_alabama_publi.html. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ Jeff Amy, Press-Register. "Public Service Commission: Twinkle Cavanaugh, Terry Dunn join GOP sweep". al.com. http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/public_service_commission.html. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "2006 Gubernatorial Democratic Primary Election Results – Alabama". Uselectionatlas.org. http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=1&year=2006&f=0&off=5&elect=1. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ "2006 Gubernatorial Republican Primary Election Results – Alabama". Uselectionatlas.org. February 15, 2007. http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=1&year=2006&f=0&off=5&elect=2. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ Alabama Sheriff's Association
- ^ "Association". Alabama Sheriffs. http://www.alabamasheriffs.com/?PageID=131&IsNav=true. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ "2007–2011 Alabama Sheriffs". Alabamasheriffs.com. http://www.alabamasheriffs.com/Image.aspx?ImageID=11481&Title=2007-2011+Alabama+Sheriffs. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ Alabama Sheriffs Association
- ^ a b "Alabama Education Quick Facts 2007" (PDF). http://www.alsde.edu/general/quick_facts.pdf. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
- ^ "Eighty-Two Percent of Alabama Schools Make AYP While Increasing Annual Measurable Objectives" (PDF). http://www.alsde.edu/Accountability/2007Reports/Press/2007AYPNewsRelease.pdf. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
- ^ http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-24.pdf
- ^ Education Statistics. CensusScope.org
- ^ "Degree titles and abbreviations". Alabama Commission on Higher Education. http://www.ache.state.al.us/Acadaffr/ProInv/Degreeabbr.htm. Retrieved September 3, 2007. [dead link]
- ^ "Education Programs | CCHS". Cchs.ua.edu. http://cchs.ua.edu/edu/. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "University of Alabama Reaches Record Enrollment this Fall". Wtvy.com. September 15, 2011. http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/University_of_Alabama_Reaches_Record_Enrollment_this_Fall_129916513.html. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ "History in the making". University of North Alabama. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. http://www.una.edu/makinghistory/. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
- ^ "The Mission Statement of Spring Hill College: History". Spring Hill College. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. http://www.shc.edu/about-shc/employment/hiring/the-mission-statement-of-spring-hill-college/. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
- ^ "Members". Association for Biblical Higher Education. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. http://directory.abhe.org/default.aspx?status=Member. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
- ^ "Membership Directory" (PDF). Council on Operational Education. November 2010. Archived from the original on August 5, 2011. http://www.council.org/forms/acc_membership.pdf. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
- ^ "ACICS Website Directory" (PDF). Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. July 20, 2009. Archived from the original on August 5, 2011. http://www.acics.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/7_20_09.pdf. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
- ^ "Top Public Schools". U.S. News and World Report. Archived from the original on September 17, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/61mTinjiN. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "Stadium List :: 100 000+ Stadiums". World Stadiums. http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/stadium_list/100000.shtml. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ "Welcome to Ladd Peebles Stadium". Laddpeeblesstadium.com. January 23, 2012. http://www.laddpeeblesstadium.com/. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ "Super 6 leaving Birmingham for Bryant-Denny, Jordan-Hare stadiums | al.com". Blog.al.com. http://blog.al.com/sentell/2009/04/super_6_byebye_birmingham.html. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ S. Spacek, 2011 American State Litter Scorecard: New Rankings for an Increasingly Environmentally Concerned Populace.
Further reading[link]
- For a detailed bibliography, see the History of Alabama.
- Atkins, Leah Rawls, Wayne Flynt, William Warren Rogers, and David Ward. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (1994)
- Flynt, Wayne. Alabama in the Twentieth Century (2004)
- Owen Thomas M. History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography 4 vols. 1921.
- Jackson, Harvey H. Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State (2004)
- Mohl, Raymond A. "Latinization in the Heart of Dixie: Hispanics in Late-twentieth-century Alabama" Alabama Review 2002 55(4): 243–274. ISSN 0002-4341
- Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (1974). Information on politics and economics 1960–72.
- Williams, Benjamin Buford. A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century 1979.
- WPA. Guide to Alabama (1939)
External links[link]
| Find more about Alabama on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
|
Definitions and translations from Wiktionary |
|
Images and media from Commons |
|
Learning resources from Wikiversity |
|
News stories from Wikinews |
|
Quotations from Wikiquote |
|
Source texts from Wikisource |
|
Textbooks from Wikibooks |
- Alabama.gov – official site
- Alabama State Guide, from the Library of Congress
- Alabama Association of Regional Councils
- Energy Data & Statistics for Alabama- From the U.S. Department of Energy
- TourAlabama.org – Alabama Department of Tourism and Travel
- All About Alabama, at the Alabama Department of Archives and History
- AlabamaMosaic, a digital repository of materials on Alabama's history, culture, places, and people
- Code of Alabama 1975 – at the Alabama Legislature site
- Alabama at the Open Directory Project
- USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Alabama
- Alabama QuickFacts from the U.S. Census Bureau
- Alabama State Fact Sheet from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Geographic data related to Alabama at OpenStreetMap
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg){kind=link}
 |
 Tennessee |
|
||
 Mississippi |
 |
 Georgia (U.S. state) |
||
 Alabama: Outline • Index East |
||||
 |
||||
| Gulf of Mexico |  Florida |
| Preceded by Illinois |
List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on December 14, 1819 (22nd) |
Succeeded by Maine |
Coordinates: 33°0′N 86°40′W / 33°N 86.667°W / 33; -86.667
http://wn.com/Alabama
Related pages:
http://de.wn.com/Alabama
http://es.wn.com/Alabama
http://ru.wn.com/Алабама
http://cs.wn.com/Alabama
http://pt.wn.com/Alabama
http://pl.wn.com/Alabama
http://hi.wn.com/अलाबामा
http://it.wn.com/Alabama
http://id.wn.com/Alabama
http://nl.wn.com/Alabama
http://fr.wn.com/Alabama
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Jason Isbell | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Greenhill, Alabama |
| Genres | Rock Progressive country Alternative country |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter Guitarist |
| Instruments | Guitar Electronic Keyboard Vocals |
| Years active | 2001 – present |
| Labels | New West Records, Lightning Rod Records |
| Associated acts | Drive-By Truckers Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit |
| Website | http://www.jasonisbell.com/ |
Jason Isbell (born February 1, 1979[1]) is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Greenhill, Alabama, near Muscle Shoals.[2]
Contents |
Background[link]
Almost all of Isbell's family, except his parents, were musicians, and his father was an avid music listener.[3] After some work as a songwriter, in 2001 Isbell joined the rock band Drive-By Truckers while they toured in support of their album Southern Rock Opera.[4] Isbell recorded and wrote with the Truckers for their next three albums, and for most of this time was married to Shonna Tucker, who joined the band as a bassist after Isbell. The two later divorced.[2]
On April 5, 2007, Isbell announced that he was no longer a member of Drive-By Truckers. The following day, Patterson Hood confirmed the break on the band's official site. In his letter to the fans, Hood described the parting of ways as "amicable" and expressed the hope that fans would continue to support Drive-By Truckers as well as Jason's solo efforts.
Jason Isbell released his first solo album, Sirens of the Ditch, on July 10, 2007.
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit's eponymous album was released on February 17, 2009, on Lightning Rod Records. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit is Isbell's second solo release and his first release with his band The 400 Unit. Matt Pence of Centro-Matic serves as co-producer, drummer and engineer.
Isbell and the 400 Unit released their second album, Here We Rest, on April 12, 2011, on Lightning Rod Records. The album was produced and recorded by the band themselves.[5]
Emergence of the 400 Unit[link]
The "400 Unit" was the former colloquial name of the psychiatric ward of Florence, Alabama's Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital, which is now named the Behavioral Health Center, or One North, and is located on the hospital's first floor. [1]
Isbell's current band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, is primarily made up of other Alabama musicians. The lineup is currently:
- Derry DeBorja (keyboards) formerly of Son Volt.
- Jimbo Hart (bass)
- Chad Gamble (drums) brother of Al Gamble.
Discography[link]
- Sirens of the Ditch (2007)
- Live at Twist & Shout 11.16.07 (2008)
- Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit (2009)
- Here We Rest (2011)[6]
Guitar Equipment[link]
Guitars[link]
- Duesenberg Starplayer TV Goldtop
- Fender Stratocaster
- First Act Custom Delgada w/ Bigsby
- First Act Custom Delia LS w/ Bigsby
- First Act Delia LS (standard fixed-bridge version)
- Gibson Les Paul Standard
- Gibson ES-335
- Reverend Buckshot
- Reverend Flatroc w/ Les Trem
Amps[link]
- Sommatone Roaring 40 2x12 Combo
Other Gear[link]
Sources[link]
- ^ Deeds, Michael."Southern singer-songwriter Jason Isbell keeps on Truckin.'" January 25, 2008. IdahoStatesman.com. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^ a b Mitter, Siddhartha. "He'll keep on trucking, but solo." Boston Globe July 15, 2007.
- ^ Dodds, M.S. "Jason Isbell: Not Far From The Tree." Illinois Entertainer. June 27, 2007.
- ^ Schmergel, Daniel Patrick. "An Artist Revealed: Interview with Jason Isbell." lostwriters.net.
- ^ Hunt-Murphy, Ronan. "Album News: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Here We Rest" Swear I'm Not Paul
- ^ Wilson, David. "Post Trucker – A Review of Here We Rest" Frontier Psychiatrist
External links[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Isbell, Jason |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | February 1, 1979 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Jason_Isbell
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Isbell
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Trey Songz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tremaine Aldon Neverson |
| Born | (1984-11-28) November 28, 1984 (age 27) Petersburg, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | R&B, hip hop |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, record producer, actor |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboards, sampler |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Atlantic, Songbook |
| Associated acts | Drake, Troy Taylor, Twista, Juvenile, Bun B, Rick Ross, Plies |
| Website | www.treysongz.com |
Tremaine "Trey" Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), better known by his stage name Trey Songz, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. His debut album, I Gotta Make It, was released in 2005, while his second album, Trey Day, was released in 2007. His third album, Ready, was released in 2009 while his fourth studio album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, was released on September 14, 2010.
Contents |
Life and career[link]
1984–2004: Early life and career beginnings[link]
Songz was born Tremaine Aldon Neverson on November 28, 1984, in Petersburg, Virginia.[1] Raised as a military brat, Songz did not have aspirations to have a musical career as a child due to his shyness, saying "Singing wasn't a reality for me, until other people started noticing I sounded good."[2] He recognized his vocal abilities at the age of 14.[2] Reluctant to sing, he began performing with encouragement by friends and family in high school. Record producer Troy Taylor discovered Songz during a talent show in 2000, which led him to signing a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 2002.[2] After graduating from high school in 2002, Songz moved to New Jersey to begin recording his debut album, though recording didn't actually begin until 2003.[1]
[edit] 2004–2008I Gotta Make It and Trey Day
While recording his debut album in 2004, Songz released multiple mixtapes under the alias Prince of Virginia.[1] One of the mixtapes featured an "answer track" to R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet", entitled "Open the Closet". The song gave Trey some notoriety.[3] His debut album, I Gotta Make It was released on July 26, 2005.[4] It debuted at #20 on the Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies in its first week of sales.[5] It has sold 300,000 records in the US, but was never certified by the RIAA. Songz's debut single, Gotta Make It, featuring Twista, was released in March 2005 and reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It garnered success in the R&B/urban community but failed to make a mark in mainstream music. The album's second and final single, Gotta Go, was released in July 2005 and reached #67 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming even more successful than his debut single in the R&B/urban community and in the mainstream community. After promotion for his debut concluded, he was featured on the lead single from Twista's fifth album, The Day After. The single, "Girl Tonite", reached #14 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a huge hit.
In mid-2006, Songz began work on a follow-up album to his debut with longtime collaborator Troy Taylor and also employed hitmakers Bryan-Michael Cox, Danja, Stargate (production team) and R. Kelly to help create the album. Trey aimed for the album to be more mainstream-oriented than his debut album. His second studio album, Trey Day, was released on October 2, 2007. The album reached #11 on the Billboard 200,[6] selling 73,000 copies in its first week. It has since sold 400,000 records in the US, becoming his second album not to be certified by the RIAA. The album was going to be released on May 8, 2007, but was continually delayed in order for a successful single to precede the album, as the lead single failed to impact charts.
His second album was preceded by the lead single, "Wonder Woman", which was released in February 2007. It reached #54 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but failed to impact the Hot 100. Because of the single's failure, his second album was delayed from May 2007 to October 2007. The album's second single, "Can't Help but Wait", was released in August 2007 and was released to promote his second album and the film Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack as a single for it. The single reached #14 on the Hot 100, and #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It became Songz's first Top 20 hit on the Hot 100, and helped to boost his second album's sales. The single was also nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 50th Grammy Awards. The third single from the album, "Last Time", was released in January 2008 and reached #69 on the Hot 100, and #9 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The fourth and final single from the album, "Missin' You", was released in May 2008, but failed to chart completely. In mid-2008, Songz was nominated for a BET Award for Best Male R&B Artist but did not win the award.[7]
[edit] 2009–2011: Ready and Passion, Pain & Pleasure
In late 2008, Trey began work on his third studio album with Bryan-Michael Cox, Sean Garrett, Stargate and Troy Taylor and aimed for the record to be more mature than his first two. Before releasing his third album, Songz released a mixtape titled Anticipation in June 2009 through his blog, which featured songs from his third album.[8] Another mixtape from Trey was released in the summer of 2009, called Genesis. Genesis was a collection of Trey Songz's first recordings when he was fifteen years old and was released to show his fans the dedication that he had to making a record when he was young.[9] Trey released his third studio album, Ready, on August 31, 2009. The album reached #3 on the Billboard 200, selling 131,000 copies in its first week.[10] These are his best first week sales to date and the album was his first to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. The album has since sold over 800,000 records in the US, earning a Gold certification from the RIAA in February 2010, becoming his first album to be certified by the RIAA.
The lead single from the album, "I Need a Girl", was released in April 2009 and reached #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and #59 on the Hot 100, becoming an R&B/urban hit but not a mainstream hit. A promotional single, "Successful", featuring rapper Drake, was released in June 2009 and reached #17 on the Hot 100, becoming Songz's third Top 20 hit. The single also served as the second and final single from Drake's EP, So Far Gone. The second official single from his third album, "LOL Smiley Face", featuring Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and Gucci Mane, was released in August 2009 and reached #51 on the Hot 100 and #12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third single from the album, "I Invented Sex", featuring Drake, was released in October 2009 and reached #42 on the Hot 100 but #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top that chart. Like the first two singles from the album, it achieved success in the R&B/urban community but only some mainstream success. charted within the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the R&B chart. The fourth single from the album, "Say Aah", featuring rapper Fabolous, was released in January 2010 and reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single has become Trey's highest charting single on the Hot 100 and one of his most successful singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
The fifth and final single from the album, "Neighbors Know My Name", was released in February 2010 and reached #43 on the Hot 100 and #4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. A sixth single, "Yo Side of the Bed", was going to be released in June 2010, but its release was canceled due to unknown reasons. A music video, featuring singer Keri Hilson, was filmed and released, however. Songz was also the opening act for Jay-Z on his Jay-Z Fall Tour in late 2009. The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010, but lost to Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce. On April 1, 2010, he recorded an episode of MTV Unplugged, which aired on April 26, 2010.[11] A documentary-series about Trey, Trey Songz: My Moment, began in June 2010 to positive reviews and high ratings. The 10-part series will end in August 2010 and follows Trey during his time as opening act on Jay-Z's Jay-Z Fall Tour in late 2009.
Songz's fourth studio album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, was released on September 14, 2010.[12] Trey began work on the album in early 2010 with Sean Garrett, Troy Taylor and Stargate and has stated that the album will be his most personal to date. The album was completed in July 2010. The album's lead single, "Bottoms Up", featuring female rapper Nicki Minaj, was released on July 27, 2010 and has reached number twenty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was shared enough on Facebook to appear as a trending video on ItsTrending. Its video was filmed on July 31, 2010 and is pending release.[13] Trey also filmed the video for the album's second single, "Can't Be Friends", on August 1, 2010.[13] "Can't Be Friends" was released as the album's second single in August 2010.[13] Songz embarked on the Passion, Pain & Pleasure Tour on August 6, 2010 with singer Monica. The tour is his first headlining tour to date and consists of shows in venues that seat 3,000 to 5,000 people. Songz also contributed the song "Already Taken" to the Step Up 3D soundtrack, which was released on July 27, 2010. He filmed a video for the song, which was released in July 2010. The leading lady in the video is former girlfriend and professional dancer Helen Gedlu. Songz appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.[14] Songz performed at BET Awards 2011 which broadcasted on June 26, 2011.[15]
In July 2011, he was cast in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D as Ryan, the male lead role.[16]
[edit] 2011–present: Inevitable and Chapter 5
On August 18, 2011, it was announced Songz will be working on his fifth studio titled Chapter 5.[17] In an interview Trey said the album, which will act as the follow-up to Passion, Pain & Pleasure, is said to be nearing completion. He also carried on to say "It’s my sixth year in the game so I’ve been here for a while now. You can expect the best me you’ve ever heard. I don’t have any release dates in mind right now but I’m just making music and enjoying myself in the studio and having fun. When I get to a place where I feel comfortable saying a date or all of that, people will definitely know. I have a few dream collaborations on that album that I want, but they say if you blow out your candle and make a wish you can’t tell people what you ask for or it won’t come true."[18]
On November 28, 2011, on his birthday, Songz released his Inevitable EP to prepare for the release of his album. In February 2012, Songz will embark on his Anticipation 2our to promote his mixtape Anticipation 2 and to raise awareness of his new album.
Discography[link]
Main article: Trey Songz discography
- I Gotta Make It (2005)
- Trey Day (2007)
- Ready (2009)
- Passion, Pain & Pleasure (2010)
- Chapter V (2012)
Tours[link]
- Passion, Pain & Pleasure Tour (headliner) (2010)
- OMG Tour (opening for Usher) (2010)
- Anticipation 2our (headliner) (2012)
Filmography[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Queen of Media | DJ I.V. | film |
| 2009 | Lincoln Heights | Himself | Episode: "Relative Unknown" |
| 2010 | Preacher's Kid | small role | |
| 2010 | When I Was 17 | Himself | Interview-like show, about what he did when he was 17 |
| 2010 | Trey Songz: My Moment | Himself | Interview-Documentary show, following him around on tour with Jay-Z. |
| 2012 | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D | Ryan | film |
Awards and nominations[link]
| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | BET Award for Best Male R&B Artist[7] | Nominated |
| Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Can't Help but Wait"[19] | Nominated | |
| Ozone Award for Best R&B Artist[20] | Nominated | |
| 2009 | Soul Train Awards for Best Collaboration "Successful" | Nominated |
| 2010 | Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album for "Ready" | Nominated |
| BET Award for Best Male R&B Artist | Won | |
| BET Award for Best Collaboration for "Say Ahh" w/ Fabolous | Nominated | |
| BET Award for Best Collaboration for "Successful" w/ Drake | Nominated | |
| BET Award for Viewer's Choice for "Say Ahh" w/ Fabolous | Nominated | |
| 2011 | BET Award for Best Male R&B Artist[21] | Nominated |
| BET Award for Coca-Cola's Viewer's Choice for "Bottom's Up"[22] | Nominated |
References[link]
- ^ a b c Jeffries, David. "Trey Songz – Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p686292. Retrieved 2009-08-24.
- ^ a b c Dawson, Imani A. (2005-05-24). "Next – Trey Songz – Making History". Vibe. Vibe Media Group. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/VIBE+Magazine:+NEXT+%3E%3E+Trey+Songz+-+Making+History-a01611417737. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ Dombal, Ryan (2005-06-06). "Trey Cheeky". Entertainment Weekly. Time. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1068464,00.html. Retrieved 2009-08-24.
- ^ Trey Songz Music News & Info | Billboard.com
- ^ "Artist Chart History - Trey Songz - Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=640724&model.vnuAlbumId=720045. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=640724&model.vnuAlbumId=944172
- ^ a b "2008 BET Awards winners and nominees". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. 2008-06-24. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/env-2008-bet-awards-winners-noms24jun24,0,2828634.htmlstory. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ "New R&B Music: Trey Songz – Anticipation Mixtape". 2009-07-02. http://www.soulofrnb.com/?p=870. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
- ^ "Trey Songz – Genesis Mixtape". 2009-06-18. http://www.soulofrnb.com/?p=387. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
- ^ Caulfield, Keith; Herrera, Monica (Herrera). "Whitney Houston Debuts At No. 1 On Billboard 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/whitney-houston-debuts-at-no-1-on-billboard-1004010124.story. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ "An Inside Look At Trey Songz' New 'MTV Unplugged' Performance". 2010-04-02. http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2010/04/02/the-inside-look-at-trey-songz-new-mtv-unplugged. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
- ^ "Passion, Pain & Pleasure" Pre-Order Begins On Monday At 12pm! - Blog Detail - TreySongz.com
- ^ a b c http://twitter.com/treysongz
- ^ "Trey Songz". TVGuide.com. 2010-09-09. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/trey-songz/275719.
- ^ "Trey Songz to Perform at BET Awards 2011". http://www.bet.com/shows/bet-awards/2011/performers/trey-songz.html.
- ^ "Here's Your Leatherface for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D". ShockTilYouDrop (CraveOnline). July 19, 2011. http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=20042. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
- ^ "Trey Songz Announces New Album Title". Rap-Up. http://www.rap-up.com/2011/08/18/trey-songz-announces-new-album-title/#more-94340. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
- ^ http://thatgrapejuice.net/2011/08/trey-songz-chapter-5-you-expect-youve-heard/
- ^ Rich, Joshua (2008-12-03). "Grammy nominations announced!". Entertainment Weekly. Time. http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/12/grammy-nominati.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ "Lil Wayne Leads The Pack With 8 Ozone Awards Nominations". XXL. Harris Publications. 2008-07-14. http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=22962. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ "Best Male R&B Artist | BET Awards". BET. http://www.bet.com/shows/bet-awards/2011/nominees/best-male-r-b-artist.html. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
- ^ "Coca-Cola’s Viewer’s Choice |". BET. http://www.bet.com/shows/bet-awards/2011/nominees/viewers-choice.html. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trey Songz |
|
||||||||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Songz, Trey |
| Alternative names | Neverson, Tremaine Aldon |
| Short description | Singer–songwriter, record producer, actor |
| Date of birth | November 28, 1984 |
| Place of birth | Petersburg, Virginia, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Trey_Songz
Related pages:
http://fr.wn.com/Trey Songz
http://nl.wn.com/Trey Songz
http://pt.wn.com/Trey Songz
http://de.wn.com/Trey Songz
http://it.wn.com/Trey Songz
http://pl.wn.com/Trey Songz
http://es.wn.com/Trey Songz
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Songz
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
More Videos
Wiki Summary
Birmingham ( /ˈbɜrmɪŋhæm/ BUR-ming-ham) is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one-quarter of Alabama's population.
Birmingham was founded in 1871, just after the American Civil War, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, one of the major industrial cities of the United Kingdom. Most of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. The city was planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast.
