POPULATION 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 



The first permanent white settlement in the area under 

 consideration was made by the French at Mobile in 1711. 

 At that time most of the country was occupied by the Choc- 

 taw Indians, who seem to have been chiefly concentrated in 

 the most fertile portion, the western division of the red 

 hills, if we may judge by the frequency of Indian geographi- 

 cal names there. The Indians made comparatively little use 

 of the soil, however, and in any whole county there was 

 probably never more than one Indian to the square mile. 



Later in the same century, while the population of Euro- 

 pean origin was still very sparse, Mobile and vicinity were 

 successively under the jurisdiction of England and Spain. 

 About the time of the Revolution settlers pushed inland 

 along the rivers, and gradually took possession of the lands 

 in approximate order of fertility, combined with accessi- 

 bility to navigable waters. Others came overland a little 

 later from Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia, some set- 

 tling in the black belt to the north and some gradually push- 

 ing southward into the less fertile regions. 



In 1820, when the first United States census subsequent 

 to Alabama's admission to the Union was taken, the western 

 division of the red hills had about four inhabitants per 

 square mile and the other regions about one. As the forests 

 were cleared away and agriculture followed the pioneer 

 hunting stage the population increased rapidly, and like- 

 wise the proportion of slaves. 



DEVELOPMENTS FROM 1850 TO 1900. 



The status of the population in 1850 and 1860 is shown 

 by Table 23, in which the post-oak flatwoods, lime-sink 

 region, Mobile delta and coast strip are omitted for lack of 

 data (these regions not covering as much as half of any one 

 county) , the lime hills combined with the western red hills 

 for a similar reason, and Baldwin and Mobile Counties sep- 

 arated (there was no Escambia County then) to show the 

 influence of the seaport. A column for the whole State is 

 added for comparison. 



(105) 



