mobile

Mobile, city, United States

Mobile (mōbēl`, mō`bēl'), city (1990 pop. 196,278), seat of Mobile co., SW Ala., at the head of Mobile Bay and at the mouth of the Mobile River; inc. 1814. Mobile is one of the country's major ports, the only seaport in Alabama, and the second largest city in the state. It has an important history as a shipping and shipbuilding center. The city's economy is primarily based on its oil refineries and industries that produce paper, textiles, aluminum, and chemicals. There is also iron smelting. Commerce through the port of Mobile increased greatly following the completion of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in 1984.

A settlement was founded on the site of Mobile in 1710 by the sieur de Bienville, and it was the capital of French Louisiana from 1710 to 1719. The British held it from 1763 to 1780, when Bernardo de Gálvez took it for Spain. Mobile was seized for the Americans by Gen. James Wilkinson in 1813. During the Civil War, ships from Mobile evaded the Union blockade until Admiral Farragut's victory at Mobile Bay (1864); Gen. E. R. S. Canby captured the city in Apr., 1865.

Mobile has many beautiful antebellum homes and magnificent gardens. Also noteworthy are a Roman Catholic cathedral, the city hall (1858), and Marine Hospital (1842). Of historical interest are the homes of Admiral Raphael Semmes and Gen. Braxton Bragg, the headquarters of Gen. Canby, and forts Morgan and Gaines at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Mobile is the seat of Spring Hill College (the oldest in the state), the Univ. of Mobile, and the Univ. of South Alabama. A Coast Guard aviation training center and Battleship Memorial Park, with the USS Alabama and the USS Drum submarine, are there. The colorful annual Mardi Gras was begun in the early 1700s; the Azalea Trail Festival dates from 1929. The Bankhead Tunnel lies under the Mobile River.

Bibliography

See C. Donelson, Mobile: Sunbelt Center of Opportunity (1986).

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mobile, in art

mobile (mō`bēl), a type of moving sculptural artwork developed by Alexander Calder in 1932 and named by Marcel Duchamp. Often constructed of colored metal pieces connected by wires or rods, the mobile has moving parts that are sensitive to a breeze or light touch; it can be designed to hang from the ceiling or stand free on the floor. Mobiles became popular in the 1950s for interior decoration.

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mobile

Abstract sculpture that has moving parts, driven either by motors or by the natural force of air currents. Its revolving parts create a new visual experience of constantly changing volumes and forms. The term was initially suggested by Marcel Duchamp for a 1932 Paris exhibition of such works by Alexander Calder, who became the mobile's greatest exponent.

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Mobile

City (pop., 2000: 198,915), southwestern Alabama, U.S. Situated on Mobile Bay at the mouth of the Mobile River, the site was explored by Spaniards in 1519. French colonists built a fort near the river's mouth in 1702. It served as the capital of French Louisiana until about 1719. It was ceded to the British in 1763 and captured by the Spanish during the American Revolution. It was seized by the U.S. during the War of 1812 and incorporated as a town in 1819. During the American Civil War it was an important Confederate port, but Federal forces won the Battle of Mobile Bay and captured the city. The state's only seaport, it is a major industrial and manufacturing centre and the site of several institutions of higher education.

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Remote, portable, on-the-go. The term "mobile" used by itself is wireless parlance for the client device, such as a cellphone, PDA or laptop. See mobile computing and mobile platform.