ALA SHAN DESERT

southernmost portion of the Gobi (desert), occupying about 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 square km) in north-central China. Covering portions of the western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northern Kansu sheng (province), it is bounded by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) and Ho-lan Mountains on the east and southeast; by the Ch'i-lien Mountains on the south and southwest; by the northern reaches of the Hei River (the Jo River) on the west; and by a tectonic depression and the China-Mongolia border on the north. It extends about 350 miles (550 km) northwest-southeast and has a maximum width of about 170 miles (270 km) in the northwest, narrowing in the southeast. Physiographically, the desert is largely a plain, ranging in elevation from 2,690 feet (820 m) in the northwest to 5,450 feet (1,660 m) in the southeast. Chinese geographers divide the region into three smaller deserts, the T'eng-ko-li (Tengri) Desert in the south, the Pa-tan-chi-lin (Baden Dzareng, or Batan Tsalang) in the west, and the Wu-lan-pu-ho (Ulan Buh) in the northeast. southernmost portion of the Gobi (desert), occupying about 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 square km) in north-central China. Covering portions of the western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northern Kansu sheng (province), it is bounded by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) and Ho-lan Mountains on the east and southeast; by the Ch'i-lien Mountains on the south and southwest; by the northern reaches of the Hei River (the Jo River) on the west; and by a tectonic depression and the China-Mongolia border on the north. It extends about 350 miles (550 km) northwest-southeast and has a maximum width of about 170 miles (270 km) in the northwest, narrowing in the southeast. Physiographically, the desert is largely a plain, ranging in elevation from 2,690 feet (820 m) in the northwest to 5,450 feet (1,660 m) in the southeast. Chinese geographers divide the region into three smaller deserts, the T'eng-ko-li (Tengri) Desert in the south, the Pa-tan-chi-lin (Baden Dzareng, or Batan Tsalang) in the west, and the Wu-lan-pu-ho (Ulan Buh) in the northeast. The Deep South. constituent state of the United States of America lying in the eastern south-central region of the country. Facing the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile Bay in the south, Alabama is also bounded by the states of Florida on the south, Georgia on the east, Tennessee on the north, and Mississippi on the west. The capital is Montgomery. Roughly rectangular in shape, the state extends about 335 miles (540 km) from north to south and 210 miles (340 km) from east to west. The earliest inhabitants were Indians, whose occupancy has probably spanned 10,000 years. Visible evidence of their activity are settlement sites, ceremonial centres, and great burial mounds around Moundville, near Tuscaloosa. At the time of initial European exploration in the 16th century, the main resident Indian groups were the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. Several Spanish treasure seekers, especially Hernando de Soto, made the initial European contact, while the French founded the first permanent settlement at Fort Louis in 1702. The first blacks arrived in 1719 when a slave ship unloaded its cargo at Dauphin Island. The 17th and 18th centuries were marked by struggles between French, British, and Spanish authorities for control of the region. Although control over most of the territory passed from Britain to the United States in 1783, the Spanish maintained a foothold at Mobile Bay until 1813. The Alabama Territory was created in 1817 and was granted statehood in 1819. Alabama seceded from the Union during the American Civil War (1861), joining the Confederate States of America, which had its first capital at Montgomery. Readmission to the Union occurred in 1868. Efforts during Reconstruction to include the black population in the mainstream of government, education, and the economy failed, and by the mid-1870s a rigid policy of racial segregation had developed that rendered blacks virtually powerless until the mid-1960s. Physiographically Alabama can be divided into two main regions of approximately equal area: the southern extremities of the Appalachian Highlands in the north, and the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico in the south. The Cumberland Plateau of the far north drains to the northwest through the Tennessee River, while the rest of the state is drained southward through broad, fertile valleys. The Alabama climate is temperate, with an average annual temperature of some 60 F (16 C) in the north and 67 F (19 C) in the south. Rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with a yearly average of 52 inches (1,320 mm) at Birmingham and 62 inches (1,570 mm) at Mobile. Under these favourable conditions the growing season ranges from 200 days in the north to 300 days in the south. Soil conditions throughout the state are also well suited for agriculture. Early rural settlement patterns reflected that fact, and until the 1960s more than one-half of the population was still rural, decreasing only to 40 percent by 1980. Only two cities, Birmingham and Mobile, have populations exceeding 200,000. Almost three-quarters of the population is white and one-quarter black, both groups being characterized by deep genealogical roots in the state. Religious affiliations are primarily Protestant, the vast majority of churches remaining without integrated congregations. Cotton dominated the economy of Alabama until the boll weevil blight of 1915 forced diversification of crops. Cotton is still a major crop, but Alabama also produces soybeans, corn (maize), peanuts (groundnuts), forest products, poultry, cattle, and hogs. Industrial development centred on the iron and steel industry of Birmingham with its nearby resources of iron ore, coal, and limestone. Hydroelectric plants constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s provided abundant low-cost electricity for the development of such industries as aluminum, textiles, paper, chemicals, fabricated metals, and rubber and plastics. The Browns Ferry, Farley, and Bellefonte nuclear-reactor complexes provide additional electric power. River-barge traffic on the navigable Tennessee River and the Black WarriorTombigbeeMobile river systems is heavy. New construction at the Alabama State Docks has turned Mobile into a major ocean terminal. Mobile Bay is connected to the Intracoastal Waterway. Highways, airways, and railroads crisscross the state. Alabamans, often referring to their state as the Heart of Dixie, have maintained the cultural traditions of the antebellum South, as evidenced by the many fine plantation museums and by a rich vein of rural tradition and folklore. Universities include the University of Alabama, Auburn University, and Tuskegee University. Important scientific and technological research is conducted at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville. Area 51,705 square miles (133,915 square km). Pop. (1990) 4,040,587.