Mobile
Industrial city and administrative headquarters of Mobile County, southwest Alabama, USA, at the mouth of the Mobile River, on the northwest shore of Mobile Bay, 48 km/30 mi from the Gulf of Mexico; population (2000 est) 198,900. It is the only seaport in Alabama. Industries include meatpacking and the manufacture of wood products, aircraft engines, chemical and petroleum products, computer equipment, and textiles.
History
Founded 1702 by the French a little to the north of the present city, Mobile was capital of the French colony of Louisiana until 1763. It was then governed by Britain (1763–80) and Spain (1780–1813), before being claimed by the USA. It developed as a shipping centre for cotton, lumber, and farm produce, trading with Europe and the West Indies. During the Civil War it continued in this role, despite the Federal blockade, until the Battle of Mobile Bay, in August 1864; the city surrendered in March 1865.
Features An important tourist centre, Mobile is noted for its Mardi Gras (first held here in 1703) and for its 60-km/37-mi Azalea Trail (the flowers having been grown here since 1754). The city is home to Spring Hill College (1830), Mobile College (1961), and the University of South Alabama (1963). The historic battleship, USS Arizona, is one of 102 entries on the national register of historic places. |
mobile
| In music, a piece consisting of sections, the order of which may be varied at will or according to rules of association, so named after the example of Alexander Calder's mobile sculpture. Examples include Henri Pousseur's Mobile for two pianos 1956–58, and Mobile for Shakespeare 1959 by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati. See also aleatory music. |
Mobile
| River in southwestern Alabama, USA; length 64 km/40 mi. It is formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers north of Mobile, and flows into the Gulf of Mexico through Mobile Bay. It takes its name from the Mobile, or Mauvila, who lived along its banks when Europeans first arrived in the 1540s. |
History The river has served as the final stage of an extensive cotton, lumber, and farm produce transporting system. The port of Mobile is at its mouth. Mobile Bay has a long commercial and strategic history. During the American Civil War (1861–65) it remained an active Confederate port, protected by Forts Gaines (on Dauphin Island) and Morgan (on Mobile Point) until 1864, when a Union fleet under David Farragut passed the forts and took control. Today the area at the southeast of the bay, around Gulf Shores, is a tourist centre. |
mobile
| A sculpture consisting of a number of various objects and shapes, suspended on wire arms. Mobiles are designed to move freely and, therefore, change continuously in a current of air. Unlike traditional static sculpture, they create movement in space. The US sculptor Alexander Calder invented mobiles in the 1930s, initially naming them his ‘wire sculptures’. He adopted the term ‘mobile’ after it was suggested by French-born US artist Marcel Duchamp in 1932. |
