Editing Mobile Bay (section)

== History ==
Long occupied by cultures of indigenous peoples, this area was still under the chiefs of [[Mississippian culture]] at the time of [[Hernando de Soto]]'s exploration.

The recorded history of Mobile Bay begins about 1500, when Spanish explorers were sailing into the area. On early maps, the bay was named as ''Bahía del Espíritu Santo'' (Bay of the Holy Spirit). The area was explored in more detail in 1516 by [[Diego Miruelo]] and in 1519 by [[Alonso Álvarez de Pineda]]. In 1528, [[Pánfilo de Narváez]] travelled through what was likely the Mobile Bay area, encountering [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]s who fled and burned their towns at the approach of the expedition. This response was a prelude to the journeys of Hernando de Soto, more than eleven years later.<ref name="conquest">Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile : The New History of Alabama's First City'', pages 7-14. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref>

=== European exploration into the region ===
[[Image:Battle of Mobile Bay map.jpg|thumb|right|Mobile Bay during the [[American Civil War]].]]
Hernando de Soto explored the area of Mobile Bay and beyond in 1540, finding the area inhabited by indigenous [[Mississippian culture]] people. During this expedition his forces destroyed the fortified town of [[Mabila|Mauvila]], also spelled Maubila, from which the name Mobile was later derived.<ref name="maubilianind">{{cite web|title=The Old Mobile Project Newsletter|publisher=University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies|url=http://www.usouthal.edu/archaeology/pdf/issue-17.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.usouthal.edu/archaeology/pdf/issue-17.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=2007-11-19}}</ref> It was a town of the paramount [[Chief Tuscaloosa]], located in inland Alabama, well to the north of the current site of Mobile. The next large expedition was that of [[Tristán de Luna y Arellano]], in his unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent colony for Spain nearby at [[Pensacola]] in 1559.<ref name="conquest"/>

Although Spain's presence in the area had been sporadic, in 1702 [[France|French]] colonists created a deep-sea port at [[Dauphin Island]] and founded French [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]]'s capital at [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], a few miles north of Mobile Bay on the [[Mobile River]]. Following a series of floods, the original settlement of ''Fort Louis de la Mobile'' was relocated in 1711 to the head of Mobile Bay.<ref name=MoMfort>{{cite web
  | title=''Historic Fort Conde''
  | work=MuseumOfMobile.com
  | url=http://www.museumofmobile.com/html/other_museums.php
  | access-date=2007-05-06}}</ref>

=== Role in wars ===
During the [[American Civil War]] Mobile Bay was used as a major port for [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runners]] bringing in badly needed supplies for the Confederacy. On August 5, 1864, Admiral [[David Farragut]] led a [[United States|Union]] flotilla through [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] defenses and sealed off one of the last major Southern ports of the bay in the [[Battle of Mobile Bay]]. A number of Civil War-era shipwrecks remain in Mobile Bay, including ''[[American Diver]]'', [[CSS Gaines|CSS ''Gaines'']], [[CSS Huntsville|CSS ''Huntsville'']], [[USS Philippi (1863)|USS ''Philippi'']], [[CSS Phoenix|CSS ''Phoenix'']], [[USS Rodolph (1863)|USS ''Rodolph'']], [[USS Tecumseh (1863)|USS ''Tecumseh'']], and [[CSS Tuscaloosa (ironclad)|CSS ''Tuscaloosa'']].<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks |last=Gaines |first=W. Craig |year=2008 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-3274-6 |pages=1–8 }}</ref>

[[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile's]] role as a seaport has continued to the present day, though the commodities have changed through time. [[Cotton]] was the chief commodity in the nineteenth century. During the [[Second World War]], Mobile's shipbuilding industry expanded, and the city's population surged as both black and white migrants moved there for work. Growth has been rapid since then.

=== Natural disasters in the area ===
The city has endured several devastating hurricanes in its history, the most recent being [[Hurricane Frederic]] in 1979 and [[Hurricane Katrina]] in 2005. Areas of low elevation, including the downtown business district, have been flooded repeatedly in hurricanes. However, much of the city is at an elevation exceeding {{convert|200|ft|m}} above sea level, which is unusually high for the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

On September 13, 1979, [[Hurricane Frederic]] entered the bay with winds reaching {{convert|145|mph}}, destroying the bridge to Dauphin Island. On August 28–29, 2005, [[Hurricane Katrina]] pushed a massive [[storm surge]] into Mobile Bay; it measured {{convert|16|ft|m|1}} high at [[Bayou La Batre]] (Alabama), with higher waves on top, and {{convert|12|ft|m|1}} high at Mobile, at the far northern end of the 31-mile-long Mobile Bay. Thousands of boats, piers, and beach houses were damaged by waves exceeding {{convert|22|ft|m|1}} high, and the [[battleship]] {{USS|Alabama|BB-60|6}} was pushed off her moorings, leaving her listing to port (tilted to the left). Downtown Mobile was flooded several feet, and the south-end towns of [[Bayou La Batre]] and [[Bon Secour, Alabama|Bon Secour]] were severely damaged. Dozens of vessels of various sizes were left stranded inland.