Mobile County is a county of the U.S. state
of Alabama. Its name is in honor of a tribe
of Indians, the Maubila tribe. As of 2008,
its population was 406,309. Its county seat
is Mobile, Alabama. The entire county is
included in the Mobile metropolitan
statistical area.
While still a part of the Mississippi
Territory, Mobile County was created by a
proclamation of Governor Holmes of the
Mississippi Territory on December 18, 1812.
The area became part of the Alabama
Territory, on August 15, 1817, on the day
the Mississippi Territory formed a state
constitution and was split in half. Two
years later, the county became part of the
State of Alabama, when granted statehood on
December 14, 1819.
The city of Mobile has always been the
county seat. Both the county and city derive
their name from Fort Louis de la Mobile, a
French fortification established (near
present-day Mount Vernon, Alabama) in 1702.
The word "Mobile" is believed to stem from a
Choctaw Indian word for "paddlers". The area
was occupied by French colonists from
1702-1763, by the British from 1763-1780,
and by the Spanish from 1780-1813. Three
separate courthouse fires occurred in the
years 1823, 1840, and 1872.
(information from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_County,_Alabama)
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