Mobile is the only seaport of Alabama. The landlocked fresh water harbor formed by the lower 5 miles of the Mobile River, is connected with the Gulf by a 30-foot channel and has ample anchorage. Mobile was founded in 1702 and was the capital of the French Province of Louisiana until 1720. The name was taken from the Mobile or Maubila Indians who then occupied the region. By the Treaty of Paris (1763) Mobile was ceded to Great Britain; in 1780 it was captured by a Spanish force; in 1813 it was seized for the United States by General James Wilkinson.
Biloxi is both a summer and winter resort with more than the usual seaside and country sports. Its vegetation growing down to the water’s edge, includes gigantic old live-oaks, dripping with Spanish moss, long leaf pines, magnolias, oleanders, camphor trees and palms. Biloxi has been under five national flags (France, Spain, England, the Confederacy, and the United States) and two state flags. In 1699, Pierre le Moyne d’Iberville (1661-1706) built Fort Maurepas across the bay from the present city and the settlement there was the first capital of the French Territory.