Alabama is nestled in the centre of the Deep South region with Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida as its neighbours. It is an extremely diverse state rich in history, culture and scenery. A land of cotton and antebellum mansions, Civil War Battlefields and Civil Rights conflicts, oak trees draped in Spanish moss and bayous brimming with crawfish; sun-drenched beaches, virgin forests and the mountains of the Appalachia.

The state is probably best known for its key role in Civil Rights. It was in Montgomery, Alabama’s capital, where the Civil Rights Movement gathered pace under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the history of this movement can be followed in key museums and landmarks around the state, most notably in Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham. The state is also the birthplace of Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, a powerful novel dealing with racial issues in the 1930’s. Montgomery was also the first Confederate Capital and was where the first shot was ordered on Union troops thus starting the Civil War conflict.