The only such port in Alabama, it has long been integral to the economy for providing access to inland waterways as well as the Gulf of Mexico.

[3] The city, river, and county were named in honor of Maubila, a village of the paramount chief Tuskaloosa of the regional Mississippian culture.

In 1540 he arranged an ambush of soldiers of Hernando de Soto's expedition in an effort to expel them from the territory.

The northern border of Mobile County and southern area of neighboring Washington County constitute the homeland of the state-recognized tribe of MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, descendants of Choctaw and Creek who stayed in this area during the period of Indian Removal.

This area was occupied for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples.

At the time of Spanish expeditions in the early 16th century, it was part of the territory of the Mississippian culture, which constructed major earthwork mounds.

They occupied this area along what early French traders and colonists called the Mobile River.

They also founded the settlement of Mobile on the river and bay in the early eighteenth century.

In the 1830s, the United States forced the removal of most of the Native American tribes in the area under President Andrew Jackson's policy and an act of Congress to relocate them to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

Many of those who remained continued their culture, and took refuge in the swamps in the border area between Mobile and Washington counties.

After more than a century of European settlement, beginning with French colonists, Mobile County was organized by the state legislature and the proclamation of Governor Holmes of the Mississippi Territory on December 18, 1812.

[1] When Mississippi was separated and admitted as a state on December 10, 1817, after adopting its constitution on August 15, 1817, Mobile County became part of what was called the Alabama Territory.

[1] Both the county and city derive their name from Fort Louis de la Mobile, a French fortification established (near present-day Axis, Alabama) in 1702.

It was ruled by the British from 1763 to 1780, when more American colonists began to enter the territory; and controlled by the Spanish from 1780 to 1813.

At that time, new settlers were being attracted to the land, eager to develop short-staple cotton in the uplands area.

USA has an enrollment of over 16,000 students and employs more than 6,000 faculty, administrators, and support staff.

In that same period, as African Americans regained their ability to exercise the franchise after passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, they tended to support the national Democratic Party.

[28] In the 2008 presidential election, Mobile County cast the majority of its votes for the Republican candidate John McCain.