1.
Birmingham, Alabama
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Birmingham is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Jefferson County. The citys population was 212,237 in the 2010 United States Census, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one quarter of Alabamas population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and it was named for Birmingham, England, one of the UKs major industrial cities. The Alabama city annexed smaller neighbors and developed as an industrial and railroad center, based on mining, the new iron and steel industry. Most of the settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was an industrial center of the southern United States. Its growth from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames as The Magic City and its major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry. Rails and railroad cars were manufactured in Birmingham. The two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South have been nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, since the 1860s, the economy has diversified since industrial restructuring in the latter half of the 20th century. Banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical transmission, medical care, college education. Except for coal mining, the industry has declined in the Birmingham area, Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and as one of the largest banking centers in the nation. In higher education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, since that time it has also gained the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System. It is also home to three institutions, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Miles College. In total, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, pharmacy, law, engineering, the city has three of the states five law schools, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Southeastern Conference, 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 crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre, the site of the railroad crossing was notable for its proximity to 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, from the start the new city was planned as a center of industry
2.
Alabama
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Alabama is a state 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, Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. At nearly 1,500 miles, Alabama has one of the nations longest navigable inland waterways, Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the Heart of Dixie and the Cotton State, the state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city, the oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, like other southern states, Alabama legislators disenfranchised African Americans and many poor whites at the turn of the century. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, in the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo. The word Alabama is believed to have come from the Alabama language, the words spelling varies significantly among historical sources. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the words meaning, some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba and amo. The meaning may have been clearers of the thicket or herb gatherers, the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language, an 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant Here We Rest. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek, experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization, trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no links to Mesoamerican culture
3.
Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion
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The megaregion generally follows the Interstate 85/20 corridor. According to Georgia Tech, PAM represents over 12 percent of the total United States population, both studies refer to the area as the Piedmont megalopolis. The western extent of this definition is deeply disconnected from the remainder of the region by the Appalachian Mountains range, other locales mentioned in the Virginia Tech study remain disconnected from the regions core, separated by dozens of miles of deeply rural areas. Both reports highlight the emergent nature of this megalopolis, noting comparatively low urban densities. As of 2005, this region has a population of 19 million, the Piedmont Atlantic central Metropolitan Areas are located on the southern Piedmont region which gives the Megaregion its name. The Piedmont is located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coastal plain, the surface relief of the Piedmont is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills with heights above sea level between 200 feet and 800 feet to 1,000 feet. The region has a diverse economy ranging in different industries. Henry W. Grady of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution coined the term New South to describe the American South, the term New South is used in contrast to the Old Souths plantation system of the antebellum period, to a new Industrial region. Since then Atlanta has grown from a railway town into a major business. Atlanta is now considered a Alpha- World City According to GaWC2010 at Loughborough University by the Globalization, Charlotte in the Piedmont Crescent has grown to become a major U. S. financial center, and the nations 2nd largest financial center. Birmingham boom after the Civil War as an industrial center in the Southern United States, the citys economy has diversified into banking, insurance, medicine, publishing. Upstate South Carolina, a region including Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson has been foreign investment and has become the fastest growing region in the U. S. state of South Carolina. The gateway cities of Savannah, Charleston, and Wilmington all serve as seaports for the Piedmont Atlantic Region, within the PAM there are six international airports, nine when including those located in the aforementioned gateway cities. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the region, charlotte/Douglas International Airport is the second busiest airport in the region. The Piedmont Atlantic is the fastest growing mega-region in the United States, the mega-region is facing challenges with its growing population, increased traffic congestion, and inadequate infrastructure. Mayors, businesses, and academic professionals have organized the Piedmont Alliance for Quality Growth to help address problems with sustainable solutions. Many of the cities or metropolitan areas face cannot be solved by action on a local scale. A Megaregion as a unit working together is an advantage in economics, the culture of the PAM is a subset of the culture of the greater Southern United States
4.
Appalachian Mountains
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The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period and it once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before naturally occurring erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines, definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which belong to the Grenville Orogeny and have a different geological history from the rest of the Appalachians. The range covers parts of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft. The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet, the term Appalachian refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range. Most broadly, it refers to the mountain range with its surrounding hills. The Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma were originally part of the Appalachians as well, the name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváezs expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15,1528, now spelled Appalachian, it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US. After the de Soto expedition in 1540, Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen is on Diego Gutierrezs map of 1562, the name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the Allegheny Mountains, Alleghenies, in the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In U. S. dialects in the regions of the Appalachians. In northern parts of the range, it is pronounced /ˌæpəˈleɪtʃᵻnz/ or /ˌæpəˈleɪʃᵻnz/, the third syllable is like lay. There is often debate between the residents of the regions as to which pronunciation is the more correct one. Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is /ˌæpəˈlætʃiən/, the whole system may be divided into three great sections, Northern, The northern section runs from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to the Hudson River. The Monteregian Hills, which cross the Green Mountains in Quebec, are also unassociated with the Appalachians, Central, The central section goes from the Hudson Valley to the New River running through Virginia and West Virginia. Southern, The southern section runs from the New River onwards and it consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, which is divided into the Western Blue Ridge Front and the Eastern Blue Ridge Front, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and the Cumberland Plateau
5.
Talladega, Alabama
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Talladega /ˌtæləˈdɪɡə/ is a city in Talladega County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 15,676, the city is the county seat of Talladega County. Talladega is approximately 50 miles east of Birmingham, the city is home to the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind and the Talladega Municipal Airport, a public general aviation airport. The Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega College and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame are located nearby, the First National Bank of Talladega is the oldest bank in the State of Alabama, being founded in 1848. While the towns name is pronounced /ˌtæləˈdɪɡə/ by local inhabitants, the name is pronounced /ˌtæləˈdeɪɡə/ by auto racing fans. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city has an area of 24.1 square miles, of which 24.0 square miles is land and 0.077 square miles. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers, according to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Talladega has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated Cfa on climate maps. As of the census of 2000, there were 15,143 people,5,836 households, the population density was 634.4 people per square mile. There were 6,457 housing units at a density of 270.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 56. 15% White,42. 28% Black or African American,0. 18% Native American,0. 30% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 37% from other races, and 0. 70% from two or more races. 0. 90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,29. 5% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the family size was 2.97. In the city, the population was out with 25. 6% under the age of 18,10. 6% from 18 to 24,25. 2% from 25 to 44,22. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 37 years, for every 100 females there were 85.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.0 males, the median income for a household in the city was $29,617, and the median income for a family was $36,296. Males had an income of $27,951 versus $21,326 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,733, about 14. 1% of families and 19. 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28. 4% of those under age 18 and 17. 5% of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2010, there were 15,676 people,5,719 households, the population density was 653.2 people per square mile
6.
Calera, Alabama
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Calera is a city in Shelby and Chilton counties in the U. S. state of Alabama. It is the location of the Shelby County Airport, caleras population was 3,158 at the 2000 census. As of the 2010 census the population had more than tripled to 11,620 and it is within the Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area and positively affected by the growth in its economy. Calera is located in southern Shelby County at 33°06′27″N 86°45′00″W, the city limits extend southward into Chilton County along U. S. Route 31, the main highway through the city. Interstate 65 passes through the side of the city, with access from exits 228,231. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 24.4 square miles, of which 24.1 square miles is land and 0.27 square miles. The city of Calera was incorporated in 1887, and named after the Spanish word for limestone for all of the limestone deposits located in the area. As of the census of 2000, there were 3,158 people,1,248 households, the population density was 244.9 people per square mile. There were 1,400 housing units at a density of 108.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 77. 42% White,19. 92% Black or African American,0. 19% Native American,0. 54% Asian,0. 06% Pacific Islander,0. 66% from other races, and 1. 20% from two or more races. 1. 90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,26. 4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the family size was 3.04. In the city, the population was out with 26. 7% under the age of 18,8. 2% from 18 to 24,31. 7% from 25 to 44,20. 9% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.0 males, the median income for a household in the city was $35,650, and the median income for a family was $42,885. Males had an income of $34,042 versus $21,750 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,395, about 12. 2% of families and 12. 5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15. 8% of those under age 18 and 3. 2% of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2010, there were 11,620 people,4,657 households, the population density was 482.2 people per square mile
