The University of South Alabama is a young (created in 1963), fast-growing institution. It consists of nine colleges and schools, including a state supported medical school. Approximately 13,000 students make up the student body.
The University of South Alabama is situated in one of the oldest cities in the United States. Mobile Bay was discovered by the Spaniard Hernando de Soto in 1540. The city of Mobile however, located at the north end of the bay, was founded by the French. Originally named Fort Louis de la Louisiana, it was built in 1702 to serve as the first capitol of the colonial French and was under the direction of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
Due to the influence of warm Gulf of Mexico waters, Mobile has a mild, subtropical climate with plenty of rainfall and is currently listed as the city with the highest rainfall totals in the contiguous United States. Thus, greenery abounds.
The area is only 3 meters in elevation and part of the southeastern coastal plain. The Mobile Bay Delta includes 200,000 acres of swamps, river-bottoms, and marshes and is second in size to the Mississippi River Delta. It is formed from confluences of the Mobile, Tensaw, Blakely, and Apalachee Rivers. The Mobile Bay Delta is still wild and relatively unspoiled. Large sections of it are currently under state protection, part of Alabama's Forever Wild Program.