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 (nicknamed The Cotton State) took its name from the Alabama people, a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. About three-fifths of its land area is a gentle plain, and the north region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley and creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. The capital city of the state is, from 1846, Montgomery, which was also selected in 1861 as the first capital of the Confederate States of America, until the seat of government moved to Richmond, Virginia.
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