Sources disagree on the word's meaning
Some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw  (meaning 'plants' or 'weeds') and  (meaning 'to cut', 'to trim', or 'to gather')
The meaning may have been 'clearers of the thicket' or 'herb gatherers', referring to clearing land for cultivation or collecting medicinal plants
The state has numerous place names of Native American origin
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
History

Pre-European settlement 

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 (1000BCE700CE) and continued until European contact
The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 CE, 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, which was the center of the culture
Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars' formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC)
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
While part of the same large language family, the Muskogee tribes developed distinct cultures and languages
European settlement 

The Spanish were the first Europeans to reach Alabama during their exploration of North America in the 16th century
The expedition of Hernando de Soto passed through Mabila and other parts of the state in 1540
More than 160 years later, the French founded the region's first European settlement at Old Mobile in 1702
The city was moved to the current site of Mobile in 1711
This area was claimed by the French from 1702 to 1763 as part of La Louisiane
After the French lost to the British in the Seven Years' War, it became part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1783
After the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War, the territory was divided between the United States and Spain
The latter retained control of this western territory from 1783 until the surrender of the Spanish garrison at Mobile to U.S
Thomas Bassett, a loyalist to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary era, was one of the earliest white settlers in the state outside Mobile
He settled in the Tombigbee District during the early 1770s
Most of what is now the northern two-thirds of Alabama was known as the Yazoo lands beginning during the British colonial period
It was claimed by the Province of Georgia from 1767 onwards
Following the Revolutionary War, it remained a part of Georgia, although heavily disputed
With the exception of the area around Mobile and the Yazoo lands, what is now the lower one-third of Alabama was made part of the Mississippi Territory when it was organized in 1798
The Yazoo lands were added to the territory in 1804, following the Yazoo land scandal
Spain kept a claim on its former Spanish West Florida territory in what would become the coastal counties until the Adams–Onís Treaty officially ceded it to the United States in 1819
19th century 

Before Mississippi's admission to statehood on December 10, 1817, the more sparsely settled eastern half of the territory was separated and named the Alabama Territory
The United States Congress created the Alabama Territory on March 3, 1817
Stephens, now abandoned, served as the territorial capital from 1817 to 1819
Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state on December 14, 1819, with Congress selecting Huntsville as the site for the first Constitutional Convention
From July5 to August 2, 1819, delegates met to prepare the new state constitution
Huntsville served as temporary capital from 1819 to 1820, when the seat of government moved to Cahaba in Dallas County
Cahaba, now a ghost town, was the first permanent state capital from 1820 to 1825
Part of the frontier in the 1820s and 1830s, its constitution provided for universal suffrage for white men
Southeastern planters and traders from the Upper South brought slaves with them as the cotton plantations in Alabama expanded
The economy of the central Black Belt (named for its dark, productive soil) was built around large cotton plantations whose owners' wealth grew mainly from slave labor
The area also drew many poor, disenfranchised people who became subsistence farmers
Alabama had an estimated population of under 10,000 people in 1810, but it increased to more than 300,000 people by 1830
Most Native American tribes were completely removed from the state within a few years of the passage of the Indian Removal Act by Congress in 1830
From 1826 to 1846, Tuscaloosa served as Alabama's capital
On January 30, 1846, the Alabama legislature announced it had voted to move the capital city from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery
The first legislative session in the new capital met in December 1847
A new capitol building was erected under the direction of Stephen Decatur Button of Philadelphia
The first structure burned down in 1849, but was rebuilt on the same site in 1851
This second capitol building in Montgomery remains to the present day