Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay is a broad, shallow inlet on the northern Gulf of Mexico. The Mobile and Tensaw rivers flow into its upper end through a maze of wetlands and channels, while barrier islands guard the entrance from the sea. Its waters connect the interior river system with the Gulf coast.

In 1702 French colonists established Fort Louis on the Mobile River upstream of the bay, making it an early capital of Louisiana. Dauphin Island near the bay’s entrance served ships that could not easily navigate the shallow water farther inland. After floods affected the first settlement, the French moved Mobile to the head of the bay in 1711. The bay remained a meeting place for Indigenous peoples, colonists and ships from across the Gulf.