Download 1 - Shrek

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The geography of the United States
Geographical regions and natural landscapes. American regionalism.
Cultural regions in America.
Forty-nine states in the United States (all except Hawaii) lie on the North American continent; 48 of these (all except Alaska) are
contiguous and form the continental United States.
The U.S. shares borders with Canada and Mexico,
The western half of the northern boundary is exactly at 49° N (apart from Alaska being more north and Vancouver Island, Canada
reaching more south). At the eastern half the northern boundary is more south, except for Lake of the Woods, the most northerly part
of the U.S. apart from Alaska. In the United States, there are Extreme Points that extend farther than any other area of land. Each
point extends the farthest in a certain direction.
Area
The U.S. is the world's third largest country after Russia and Canada with an area roughly:
 slightly smaller than Canada
 slightly more than one and a quarter times the size of Australia
 slightly less than 39 and half times the size of the United Kingdom
 14.3 times the size of the French Republic
 half the size of Russia or
 three-tenths the size of Africa
 half the size of South America
 slightly larger than Brazil or China
 two and a half times the size of Western Europe
Physical geography
The geography of the United States varies across its immense area. Within the contential U.S., eight distinct physiographic divisions
exist, though each is composed of yet small physiographic subdivisions. These major divisions are the:
 Laurentian Highlands - part of the Canadian shield that extends into the northern United States Great Lakes area.
 Atlantic Plain - the coastal regions of the eastern and southern parts includes the continental shelf, the Atlantic Coast and the
Gulf Coast.
 Appalachian Highlands - lying on the eastern side of the United States, it includes the Appalachian Mountains, Adirondacks
and New England province.
 Interior Plains - part of the interior contentintal United States, it includes much of what is called the Great Plains.
 Interior Highlands - also part of the interior contentintal United States, this division includes the Ozark Plateau.
 Rocky Mountain System - one branch of the Cordellian system lying far inland in the western states.
 Intermontane Plateaus - also divided into the Columbia Plateau, the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range Province, it is
a system of plateaus, basins, ranges and gorges between the Rocky and Pacific Mountain Systems. It is the setting for the
Grand Canyon, the Great Basin and Death Valley.
 Pacific Mountain System - the coastal mountain ranges and features in the west coast of the United States.
The Atlantic coast of the United States is, with minor exceptions, low. Here, lie the Atlantic Plain and Appalachian Highlands. The
Appalachian Highland owes its oblique northeast-southwest trend to crustal deformations which in very early geological time gave a
beginning to what later came to be the Appalachian mountain system. This system had its climax of deformation so long ago
(probably in Permian time) that it has since then been very generally reduced to moderate or low relief. It owes its present day altitude
either to renewed elevations along the earlier lines or to the survival of the most resistant rocks as residual mountains. The oblique
trend of this coast would be even more pronounced but for a comparatively modern crustal movement, causing a depression in the
northeast resulting in an encroachment of the sea upon the land. Additionally, the southeastern section has undergone an elevation
resulting in the advance of the land upon the sea.
While the east coast is relatively low, the Pacific coast is, with few exceptions, hilly or mountainous. This coast has been defined
chiefly by geologically recent crustal deformations, and hence still preserves a greater relief than that of the Atlantic.
The low Atlantic coast and the hilly or mountainous Pacific coast foreshadow the leading features in the distribution of mountains
within the United States. The east coast Appalachian system, originally forest covered, is relatively low and narrow and is bordered on
the southeast and south by an important coastal plain. The Cordilleran System on the western side of the continent is lofty, broad and
complicated having two branches, the Rocky Mountain System and the Pacific Mountain System. In between these, lie the
Intermontaine Plateaus. Heavy forests cover the northwest coast, but elsewhere trees are found only on the higher ranges below the
Alpine region. The intermontane valleys, plateaus and basins range from treeless to desert with the very arid region being in the
southwest.
Both the Columbia River and Colorado River rise far inland near the easternmostmembers of the Cordilleran system, and flow
through plateaus and intermont basins to the ocean.
The Laurentian Highlands, the Interior Plains and the Interior Highlands lie between the two coasts, stretching from the Gulf of
Mexico northward, far beyond the national boundary, to the Arctic Ocean. The central plains are divided by a hardly perceptible
height of land into a Canadian and a United States portion. It is from the United States side, that the great Mississippi system
discharges southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The upper Mississippi and some of the Ohio basin is the semi-arid prairie region, with
trees originally only along the watercourses. The uplands towards the Appalachians were included in the great eastern forested area,
while the western part of the plains has so dry a climate that its native plant life is scanty, and in the south it is practically barren.
Elevation extremes:
 Lowest point: Death Valley, Inyo County, California 282 feet below sea level (-86m)
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 Highest point: Mount McKinley, Denali Borough, Alaska 20,320 feet above sea level (+6,194m)
Cultural regions
The continental U.S. is often subdivided into six major cultural regions which not so coincidentally often share common natural
features and terrain as well as similar ethnic groups. Those regions are:
 New England - One of the regions first settled by European immigrants, this region lies in the upper north-east of the U.S.
geographically. New England is dominated by rocky uplands and sandy outwash plains and with a climate having stark
seasonal changes.
 Mid-Atlantic - Another region settled earlier on in the U.S. history and home to the capital of the United States,
Washington, D.C. Its geography is varied, including forested ridges and marshy lowlands.
 South - Culturally perhaps the most different of the states, the South still maintains an identity developed prior to and during
the Civil War. The South consists mostly of low coastal areas drained by comparatively few rivers. There is a wide band of
piedmont soil, mostly thick clay, and forbidding mountain mazes.
 Midwest - This region was settled during the late 1700s and early 1800s well after the east coast. Many of these states lie on
the Great Plains.
 Southwest - The Southwest has a drier climate than the Midwest. The population is less dense and, with strong SpanishAmerican and Native American components, more ethnically varied than neighboring areas. Outside the cities, the region is
a land of open spaces, much of which is desert. The magnificent Grand Canyon is located in this region, as is Monument
Valley.
 Western states - The west is home to the pacific coast of the United States as well as many gorges, plateaus and mountain
ranges, the most famous being the Rocky Mountains.
Climate
Climate: mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the Mississippi
River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January
and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
Terrain: vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska;
rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii
Natural resources
Natural resources: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten,
zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber
Land use: arable land: 19% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 25% forests and woodland: 30% other: 26% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 207,000 sq km (1993 est.) Natural hazards: tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity around Pacific Basin;
hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the midwest and southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires
in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska, a major impediment to development.
States of the United States
At the Declaration of Independence, the United States consisted of 13 states. In the following years, this number has grown steadily
due to expansion to the west, conquest and purchase of lands by the American government, and division of existing states to the
current number of 50 U.S. states:
 Alabama
 Hawaii
 Massachusetts
 New Mexico
 South Dakota
 Alaska
 Idaho
 Michigan
 New York
 Tennessee
 Arizona
 Illinois
 Minnesota
 North Carolina
 Texas
 Arkansas
 Indiana
 Mississippi
 North Dakota
 Utah
 California
 Iowa
 Missouri
 Ohio
 Vermont
 Colorado
 Kansas
 Montana
 Oklahoma
 Virginia
 Connecticut
 Kentucky
 Nebraska
 Oregon
 Washington
 Delaware
 Louisiana
 Nevada
 Pennsylvania
 West Virginia
 Florida
 Maine
 New Hampshire
 Rhode Island
 Wisconsin
 Georgia
 Maryland
 New Jersey
 South Carolina
 Wyoming
New England
The New England region of the United States is located in the northeastern corner of the country. Boston is its business and cultural
center and its most populated city. The region includes the following states:
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 Connecticut
 Maine
 Massachusetts
 New Hampshire
 Rhode Island
 Vermont
New England is perhaps the most well-defined region of the United States, with more uniformity and more shared heritage than other
regions of the country. But, while there is cultural and historical uniformity throughout the whole region, Northern and Southern New
England differ in the fact that the former is more rural whereas the latter is very urban. This difference has always existed, however,
even when the region was young, and thus does not imply a growing or changing trend, but rather the result of historical population
patterns.
Together, the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions are generally referred to as the Northeastern region of the United States.
History
The name New England dates to the earliest days of European settlement: in 1616 Captain John Smith described the area in a
pamphlet "New England." The name was officially sanctioned in 1620 by the grant of King James I to the Plymouth Council for New
England. The region was subsequently divided through further grants, including the 1629 royal grant of "Hampshire" which was
issued for "makeing a Plantation & establishing of a Colony or Colonyes in the Countrey called or knowen by ye name of New
England in America."
Aside from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, or "New Scotland", New England is the only North American region to inherit the
name of a kingdom in the British Isles. New England has largely preserved its regional character, especially in its historic sites. Its
name is a reminder of the past, as many of the original English-Americans have migrated further west.
Politics
The early European settlers of New England were English Protestants fleeing religious persecution.
A derivative of meetings held by church elders, town meetings were an integral part of governance and remain so today in towns
across New England. At such meetings, any citizen of the town may discuss issues of the day with other members of the community,
and vote on them. This is the most direct democracy in the United States today, and the form of dialogue has been adopted under
certain circumstances elsewhere.
In the colonial period and the early time of the republic, New England leaders like John Hancock, John Adams, and Samuel Adams
joined those in Philadelphia and Virginia to direct the country. At the time of the Civil War, New England and the Midwest combined
against slavery, eventually ending the practice in the United States. In the twentieth century, the region remained a source of political
thought and intellectual ferment in the nation.
Today, the dominant party in New England is the Democratic Party, which holds control over a vast majority of the region. However,
both New Hampshire and Maine have a significant Republican electorate, with both states represented in the U.S. Senate by two
Republicans each. In the 2000 presidential election, Democratic candidate Al Gore carried all of the New England states except for
New Hampshire, and in 2004, John Kerry, a native New Englander himself, carried all six New England states for the Democrats.
Education
New England contains some of the oldest and most renowned institutions of higher learning, including Harvard University, Yale
University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Amherst College, Williams College,
Wesleyan University, Bowdoin College, Middlebury College, Wellesley College, Smith College, Tufts University, Boston College,
Boston University, and Brandeis University. The number and renown of secondary and postsecondary schools in the region is
unequaled by any other. The first college in America, Harvard, was founded at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1636. A number of the
graduates settle in the region after school, providing the area with a well-educated population and one of its most valuable resources.
Population
As some of the original New England settlers migrated westward, immigrants from Canada, Ireland, Italy, and eastern Europe moved
into the region. Massachusetts in particular has the highest concentration of persons of Irish heritage in the country. Today, although
the region has attracted many Jewish and Asian-American residents, it has a far smaller proportion of African-Americans and
Hispanic Americans than the rest of the country. Though Connecticut and Massachusetts have populations of those groups closer to
the national average, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are largely populated with people of European descent. The region has
remained consistently openminded towards other backgrounds however, a tradition which has continued from the abolitionist days of
William Lloyd Garrison and Charles Sumner to the region's recent controversial legal battle in legal relationships between
homosexual couples.
The bulk of the region's population is concentrated in southern New England, which contains Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut. The most populous state is Massachusetts, whose population is centered mostly around its political and cultural capital,
Boston; whereas Western Massachusetts is less densely populated and more spread out. The resulting effect is a minor cultural divide
between urban New Englanders, typically Bostonians, and rural New Englanders, who hail from western Massachusetts, Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Maine.
The coastline is more urban than western New England, which is typically rural, even in urban states like Massachusetts. These
characteristics of the region's population are due mainly to historical factors; the original colonists settled mostly on the coastline of
Massachusetts Bay. The only state without access to the Atlantic Ocean, Vermont, is also the least-populated. After nearly 400 years,
the region still maintains, for the most part, its historical population layout.
Three of the four most densely populated states in the United States are in New England. In order, the four most densely populated
states are: New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. As a result, southern New England is an integral part of the
BosWash megalopolis.
Culture
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The first settlers of New England were focused on maritime affairs such as whaling and fishing, rather than more continental
inclinations such as surplus farming.
As the oldest of the American regions, New England has developed a distinct cuisine, dialect, architecture, and government. New
England cuisine is known for its emphasis on seafood and dairy; clam chowder, lobster, and other products of the sea are among some
of the region's most popular foods.
Despite a changing population, much of the original spirit of the region remains. It can be seen in the simple, woodframe houses and
quaint white church steeples that are features of many small towns, and in the traditional lighthouses that dot the Atlantic coast. New
England is also well known for its mercurial weather and its crisp chill. (Mark Twain is quoted as saying "If you don't like the weather
in New England, just wait a few minutes.") For its vibrant colored foliage in autumn, the region is a popular tourist destination. As a
whole, New England tends to be progressive in its politics, although somewhat Puritan in its personal mores. Due to the fact that so
many recent European immigrants live in the region and due to the influence of the many universities, the region often shows a
greater receptivity to European ideas and culture than the rest of the country.
The region has remained consistently openminded towards other backgrounds, a tradition which has continued from the abolitionist
days of William Lloyd Garrison and Charles Sumner to the region's recent controversial legal battle in regarding relationships
between homosexual couples. As of 2005, Massachusetts permits gay marriages, and Vermont and Connecticut allow for civil unions
between gay couples, putting the region at the forefront of this most recent American civil rights struggle. Although New England has
always been one of the more socially progressive regions of the United States, its internal cultural and social battles have always been
somewhat paradoxical. Its fervent abolitionism, for instance, was often met with intense racism on the part of its recently-immigrated
Irish population. It was Alexis de Tocqueville who noted, in the 1830s, that New England was one of the only regions of the United
States to have properly separated religion from its government, an ironic mixture of the region's heavy Puritan and Catholic
backgrounds and strong tradition of direct democracy.
Bars and pubs, especially those with Irish themes, are popular social scenes. Closer to Boston, musicians from Ireland often tour pubs,
playing traditional Irish folk music, usually with a singer, a fiddler, and a guitarist. In the rural parts of the region, people socialize
through typical common activities such as church, sports, and town government.
The overall feeling of the region can be described as decidedly European, with the region's colonial past still alive and thriving
through tourism, the hundreds of historic sites that dot region, and the rich cultural traditions that have endured and developed over
centuries. Long-time and native residents are typically knowledgeable of the history of the region, and proud of it, as well. The oftenparodied dialect of the region is most commonly known as Boston English, although, in reality, this accent is reserved mostly for the
coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine.
Economy
In the twentieth century, most of New England's traditional industries have relocated to states or foreign countries where goods can be
made more cheaply. In more than a few factory towns, skilled workers have been left without jobs. Largely around Boston in the ring
of Route 128, the gap has been partly filled by high technology industries, in particular biotech. Education, high technology, financial
services, tourism, and medicine, continue to drive the local economy.
In the southwestern Connecticut counties of Fairfield and New Haven the economy is more closely associated with New York City.
The area is considered part of the expansive New York Metropolitan Area and the economy is more often viewed as an extension of
the New York suburbs as opposed to rest of New England. For years many residents of southwestern Connecticut have crossed the
state line each day to work in Manhattan. More recently, New Yorkers have begun to travel into Connecticut as part of a reverse
commute to many of the job centers developed in the suburbs.
Literature
New England has always received a great deal of attention from American writers like Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Edgar Allan Poe, John Irving and Arthur Miller. Largely on the strength of local writers like Thoreau, Boston, Massachusetts was for
some years the center of the U.S. publishing industry, before being overtaken by New York in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Boston remains the home of publishers Houghton Mifflin and Pearson Education, among others, as well as the literary magazine The
Atlantic Monthly.
New England is also the setting for most of the gothic horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft, mostly because he lived his life in Providence,
Rhode Island. Places like Dunwich, Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, Miskatonic and Salem are featured quite often in his stories. This
may also be because of the anglophile's desire to find a part of his own country most analogous to England.
More recently, author Stephen King has also used the small towns of the New England state of Maine as the setting for much of his
horror fiction, with much of the action taking place in or near the fictional town of Castle Rock.
Modern author Rick Moody has set many of his works in southern New England, focusing on wealthy families of suburban
Connecticut's Gold Coast and their battles with addiction and anomie.
Mid-Atlantic States
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The Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America, located in the northeastern section of the country, includes the following
states and district:
 Delaware
 Maryland
 New Jersey
 New York
 Pennsylvania
 Washington, D.C.
 Virginia
These areas provided the young United States with heavy industry and served as the "melting pot" of new immigrants from Europe.
Cities grew along major shipping routes and waterways. Such flourishing cities included New York City on the Hudson River,
Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay.
As defined by the US Census Bureau, the Mid-Atlantic is a division of the U.S. Northeast region, and comprises New Jersey, New
York, and Pennsylvania. Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. are treated as being in the U.S. South region.
History
The Mid-Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of people than New England. Dutch immigrants moved into the lower Hudson
River Valley in what is now New York State. Swedes went to Delaware. English Catholics founded Maryland, and an English
Protestant sect, the Friends (Quakers), settled Pennsylvania. In time, all these settlements fell under English control, but the region
continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.
Early settlers were mostly farmers and traders, and the region, called the Middle Colonies, served as a bridge between North and
South. Philadelphia, midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental Congress, the convention of
delegates from the original colonies that organized the American Revolution. The same city was the birthplace of the Declaration of
Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787.
The South
Geography
As defined by the Census Bureau, the Southern region of the United States includes 16 states, and is split into three smaller units, or
divisions: The South Atlantic States, which are Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and
West Virginia (plus the District of Columbia); the East South Central States of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee; and
the West South Central States of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
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The largest city in the region is Houston, Texas, when measured in terms of population within city limits. The largest metropolitan
area is the Washington, D.C. area, which includes Baltimore, Maryland. The Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area is also slightly
larger than Houston.
The region has numerous climatic zones ranging from temperate, to sub-tropical, to tropical, to arid. Many crops grow easily in its
soils and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Some parts of the South, particularly the Southeast, have
landscape characterized by the presence live oaks, magnolia trees, jessamine vines, and flowering dogwoods.
History
Settled predominately by British colonists in the early 17th century; the South, as it came to be known, developed as a culturally
separate region of the United States. Early in its history, tobacco became one of the prime cash crops, while after the 1790s, cotton
cultivation predominated. Also, the enslavement of Africans and their descendents as farm labor brought new sectional differences to
the South. Integral in the political history of the United States, the South supplied many of the United States' early military and
political leaders, including nine of its first fifteen presidents.
Politics, populism and conservatism
While after the American Civil War and Reconstruction, Southerners often identified with the populist Democratic Party, this has
changed in recent years (especially after the rise of special interests in the Democratic Party in the 1970s and the conservative
realignment of the Reagan presidency) in the 1980s. As a result, the Republican Party has benefitted from Southern support, in large
measure due to the evangelical Christian vote.
Although the South as a whole defies stereotyping, it is nonetheless known for entrenched political populism and conservatism.
Additionally, support for traditional causes is often found in the South, including in resistance to same-sex marriage and abortion.
Culture
Race relations
As the effects of slavery and racism fade, a new regional identity has developed through such events as the annual Spoleto Music
Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Race relations continue to mark a
heavily contested issue in the South, however, seen in debates over the inclusion of the Confederate flag in many state flags of the
region.
Religion
The South, perhaps more so than any other industrial culture in the world, is highly religious, resulting in the reference to the South as
the "Bible Belt", from its prevalence of evangelical Protestantism, conservative Catholicism, and other Christian faiths.
Cuisine
As an important feature of Southern culture, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. The variety
of cuisines range from Tex-Mex, Cajun and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina & Memphis
styles of Barbeque. Non-alcoholic beverages of choice include "iced tea", and various soft drinks, many of which had their origins in
the South (e.g. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and Dr Pepper). Lagers and Pilsners are generally preferred to heavier/darker beers due to the
predominance of hot climate. Texas is also the center of a burgeoning wine boom, due to its climate and well drained limestone based
soils, particularly in the Texas Hill Country.
Traditional African-American Southern food is often called "soul food"; in reality there is little difference in the traditional diet of
Southerners. Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such
as Chinese, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialites, so-called "home
cooking" establishments.
Symbolism, Disagreements, and the Future of the South
Fights over the old "Rebel Flag" of the conquered Confederacy still occur from time to time, and it and other reminders of the Old
South can sometimes be found on automobile bumper-stickers, on t-shirts, and flown from homes.
Cultural Variations
 Areas having an influx of outsiders may be less likely to hold onto a distinctly Southern identity and cultural influences. For
this reason, urban areas during the war were less likely to favor secession than agricultural areas. Today, due in part to
continuing population migration patterns between urban areas in the North and South, even historically "Southern" cities like
Atlanta, Richmond, and Charleston, have assimilated regional identities distinct from a "Southern" one.
 In many ways Texas has one foot in the South, and one in the Southwest. Its major cities have a very culturally diverse
population, including Hispanic and Asian-Americans. Also, prior to its statehood in 1907, Oklahoma was "Indian Territory."
The majority of the Native American tribes in Oklahoma sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Similar to Texas
in that it has a Southwestern influence, Oklahoma holds strong ties to Southern culture, evidenced by dialect, religion,
politics, cuisine, etc. It is geographically often grouped with the Midwest, but culturally is truly more Southern, especially in
the eastern part of the state.
 Southern Louisiana, having been colonized by France and Spain rather than Great Britain, has different cultural traditions,
especially within the Cajun, Creole, Latin American and Caribbean influenced culture of southern Louisiana. Importantly,
the Gulf Coast regions of Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Florida also share a similar French/Spanish colonial
history, but lack the heavy concentration of French influences present in Louisiana.
 Florida has had rapid population growth due to retirees from the North and immigrants from Latin America. Miami, Florida
has become more a part of the culture of the Caribbean, with a large influx of immigrants from Cuba, and also Puerto Rico,
Haiti and other parts of Latin America. Often, non-Hispanic whites and native-born African-Americans have migrated north
to find higher wages, lower costs of living, and cultures where they feel more comfortable. While southern and central
Florida are seen by many as not truly part of the South in terms of culture, the Florida Panhandle and northeastern areas of
Florida remain culturally tied to the South. An unofficial "Southern line" can be drawn at or just south of Ocala, Florida;
below this line, the culture of the areas can be described as much more "Northern."
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
Portions of southern Ohio are advocated as "Southern", evidenced by the state's civil rights law that includes "persons of
Appalachian ancestry" among the categories against which discrimination is prohibited. This group of Ohioans are generally
concentrated in the southeastern part of the state, with "Appalachians" being viewed as separate from "Southerners" by many
observers. Many Southerners do not recognize Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland as "Southern" due to their
allegiance to the Union during the Civil War.
 The culture of Northern Kentucky is more Midwestern than Southern, as this region is culturally and economically attached
to Cincinnati. It should also be noted that many in Kentucky (generally, those in western and northern areas) do not believe
themselves to be Southerners, historically or culturally. Conversely, Southern Indiana is more Southern than it is
Midwestern, as it is culturally and—particularly in southwestern Indiana—economically attached to Louisville, Kentucky.
 Similarly, Southern Illinois, notably (Little Egypt and Buda), is more Southern than it is Midwestern. It forms a coherent
cultural region with the Missouri Bootheel, northeast Arkansas, Kentucky's Purchase, and West Tennessee.
 Many do not consider Maryland and Delaware to be culturally Southern states; their cultural designation is disputed due to
their proximity to both North and South. Those who view them as Southern cite the fact that although neither state joined the
Confederacy, slavery remained legal in them until ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, and that the Mason-Dixon line,
long considered to be the border between North and South, is in fact the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. Today, they are
sometimes grouped with Southern states for corporate and governmental administrative regions. However, Baltimore,
Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, and Newark, Delaware lie along the Northeast Corridor, which further separates them
from the South, and ties them to a culture that has little in common with Southern culture. In addition, they are much more
liberal than any other region in the defined South, sharing political trends with the Northeastern states.
 Northern Virginia has been largely settled by Northerners attracted to job opportunities resulting from expansion of the
federal government during and after World War II. Still more expansion resulted from the Internet boom around the turn of
the 21st century. Economically linked to Washington, D.C., residents of the region tend to consider it part of the North, as do
Southerners. However, it remains politically somewhat conservative, as opposed to Washington's suburbs across the Potomac
River in Maryland, which are generally politically quite liberal.
The Midwest
The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. The term originated in the 19th century, along with
'Middle West' and 'Heartland', and referred to generally the same areas and states in the middle of the country. The heart of the
Midwest is bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, the 'Old Northwest' (or the 'West') referring to
the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, which comprised the original Northwest Territory, but are now
(somewhat confusingly in this context) called the East North Central States by the United States Census Bureau. The Northwest
Territory was created out of the ceded English (formerly French, and Native American) frontier lands by the Continental Congress
just before the U.S. Constitution was ratified under the Northwest Ordinance. The Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery and
religious discrimination, and promoted public schools and private property. As Revolutionary War soldiers from the original colonies
were awarded lands in Ohio and migrated there and to other Midwestern states with other pioneers, including many immigrants from
central and northern Europe, the area became the first thoroughly American region. The Midwest region today refers not only to states
created from the Northwest Ordinance, but also may include states between the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains and
north of the Ohio River.
Though definitions vary, any definition of the Midwest would include the Northwest Ordinance 'Old Northwest' states and often
includes many state that were part of the Louisiana Purchase. The state of the Old Northwest are also known as 'Great Lakes states'.
Many of the Louisiana Purchase states are also known as Great Plains states. The Midwest is defined, by the U.S. Census Bureau as
these 12 states:
 Illinois: Old Northwest, Ohio River and Great Lakes state
 Indiana: Old Northwest, Ohio River and Great Lakes state
 Iowa: Louisiana Purchase
 Kansas: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains and "border state"
 Michigan: Old Northwest, and Great Lakes state
 Minnesota: eastern part Old Northwest, and Great Lakes state; western part Louisiana Purchase
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 Missouri: Louisiana Purchase and once, a "border state"
 Nebraska: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
 North Dakota: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
 Ohio: Old Northwest, Ohio River and Great Lakes state
 South Dakota: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
 Wisconsin: Old Northwest, and Great Lakes state
The region's largest city is Chicago, the nation's third largest city; other important cities in the regions include Cleveland,
Indianapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. Those cities and the farms of Kansas and Iowa loom large
in any imaginative description of the Midwestern soul.
Because The Northwest Ordinance region, comprising the heart of the Midwest, was the first large region of the United States which
prohibited slavery (the Northeastern states emancipated slaves four decades into the 19th century), the region remains culturally apart
from the country and proud of its free pioneer heritage. The regional southern boundary was the Ohio River, the border of freedom
and slavery in American history and literature (See: Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; Beloved, by Toni Morrison).
The region was shaped by the relative absence of slavery (except for Missouri), pioneer settlement, education in one-room free public
schools, and democratic notions brought with Revolutionary War veterans, Protestant faiths and experimentation, and agricultural
wealth transported on the Ohio River riverboats, flatboats, canal boats, and railroads. The canals in Ohio and Indiana opened so much
of the Midwestern agriculture that it launched the world's greatest population and economic boom foreshadowing later "emerging
markets". The commodities that the Midwest funneled into the Erie Canal down the Ohio River contributed to the wealth of New
York City, which overtook Boston and Philadelphia. New York State would proudly boast of its "Inland empire" — the Midwest —
and would become known as the Empire State. The Midwest was predominantly rural at the time of the Civil War, dotted with small
farms across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, but industrialization, immigration, and urbanization fed the Industrial Revolution, and the
heart of industrial progress became the Great Lakes states of the Midwest. German, Scandinavian, Slavic and African American
immigration into the Midwest continued to bolster the population there in the 19th and 20th centuries, though generally the Midwest
remains a predominantly diverse, Protestant region. Large concentrations of Catholics are found in the big cities like Chicago and
St._Louis because of Irish, Italian, and Polish immigrants in the 1800s.
Midwestern or Heartland influence is felt in Pittsburgh (an old pioneer town), West Virginia (which seceded from Virginia),
Louisville (an industrial city on the Ohio River) and, with some irony, in former states where slavery was legal or tolerated before the
Civil War, including Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, though most of these
cities and states are not truly Midwestern. Parts of Colorado and Utah were settled by Midwestern migrants, and retain some
"Heartland feeling", and because of trade ties, the province of Ontario has some cultural affinity to the Midwest. Generally, though,
the region is bounded by the Ohio River, through the Great Plains to the Rockies and Canada.
The term West was applied to the region in the early years of the country. During this time, the vast majority of the population lived
east of the Appalachian Mountains, but the country's borders stretched west all the way to the Rocky Mountains. Later, the vast region
west of the Appalachians was divided into the Far West (now just the West), and the Middle West. Some parts of the Midwest have
also been referred to as North West for historical reasons (for instance, this explains the Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines and the
former Norwest Bank), so the current Northwest region of the country is called the Pacific Northwest to make a clear distinction.
The Midwest term is used sometimes interchangeably with the Heartland term to refer to "Mid-America" and its citizens, "MidAmericans". Heartland states would seem to increasingly include states like Arkansas and Oklahoma, whom Atlanta-based CNN
referred as the location of the "tragedy in the Heartland". Because the middle of the country has sometimes lagged the Coasts and
Sunbelt states in agriculture and industry, the poverty of Southern border states and the religious character there leads some to include
these states, like Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas in a definition of the "Heartland". Many Southerners and
Westerners might be included in the "Heartland" definition as well, though strong regional affiliations with the old Confederacy and
the Rocky Mountains usually trump those associations.
Geography
These states are sometimes denigrated as being relatively flat, either heavily developed into urbanized areas or left in pastoral
agriculture, and demarcated by the surveyor's grid imposed by the ordinances, and most easily seen by residents of the coasts in
airplanes as they fly over "flyover" country. States like Colorado and Utah sometimes get lumped into the region for these reasons.
Among the westernmost states listed, residents of the eastern agricultural areas generally consider themselves part of the Midwest,
while residents of the remaining ranching areas usually do not. Of course, exact boundaries are nebulous and shifting.
History
The Midwest is a cultural crossroads, and was perhaps the largest American "Melting Pot".
Starting in the 1790s, Revolutionary war veterans and settlers from the original 13 colonies moved there in response to government
land grants. The Ulster-Scots Presbyterians of Pennsylvania (often through Virginia) and the Dutch Reformed, Quaker, and
Congregationalists of Connecticut were among the earliest pioneers to Ohio and the Midwest, though by the time of the Civil War,
European immigrants bypassed the East Coast to settle directly in the interior: German Lutherans to Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and
eastern Missouri, Swedes and Norwegians to Wisconsin and Minnesota, and Poles, Hungarians, and German Catholics and Jews to
Midwestern cities. In the 20th century, African American migration from the South into the Midwestern states changed cities
dramatically, as factories and schools enticed families by the thousands to new opportunities.
The region's fertile soil made it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops such as corn, oats, and, most
importantly, wheat. In the early days, the region was soon known as the nation's "breadbasket".
Two waterways have been important to the Midwest's development. The first and foremost was the Ohio River which flowed into the
Mississippi River. Spanish control of the southern part of the Mississippi, and refusal to allow the shipment of American crops down
the river and into the Atlantic Ocean, halted the development of the region until 1795.
The river inspired two classic American books written by a native Missourian, Samuel Clemens, who took the pseudonym Mark
Twain: Life on the Mississippi and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Today, Twain's stories have become staples of Midwestern lore.
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The second waterway is the network of routes within the Great Lakes. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 completed an all-water
shipping route, more direct than the Mississippi, to New York and the seaport of New York City. Lakeport cities grew up to handle
this new shipping route. During the Industrial Revolution, the lakes became a conduit for iron ore from the Mesabi Range of
Minnesota to steel mills in the Mid-Atlantic States. The Saint Lawrence Seaway later opened the Midwest to the Atlanic Ocean.
Inland canals in Ohio and Indiana constituted another great waterway, which connected into the Great Lakes and Ohio River traffic.
Culture
Education is another of the region's strongest legacies. Top ranking universities include the University of Michigan, Northwestern
University, and Notre Dame University among many others. A cluster of top-ranking liberal arts colleges in the Midwest include
Oberlin College, Carleton College, Macalester College, Grinnell College, Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Denison
University and Earlham College. Despite the more conservative mores of the region, several leftist liberal arts colleges such as
Antioch College are located in the Midwest.
Midwesterners are alternately viewed as open, friendly, and straightforward, or stereotyped as unsophisticated and stubborn. The
former values probably stem from the freedom-loving heritage of the free states in the region, and from belief in widespread education
and tolerance. The latter values probably stem from the stalwart Calvinist heritage of the Midwestern Protestants and pioneers who
settled the area, and in the mind of people on the coasts, this continuing religious appeal strikes many as anti-intellectual. For the
religious adherents, though, this heritage is loving and inspirational. The Midwest remains a melting pot of Protestantism and
Calvinism, mistrustful of authority and power.
The Bible Belt, some say, starts in the South and ends in the Midwest. In fact, religious attendance is lowest in the United States in the
Industrialized Midwest and in the Southeast, and highest in coastal cities like Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, due to strong
Catholic and African-American congregations there, and in the Southern and Midwestern strip from Texas to the Dakotas, where
socialization in rural communities often starts at church services. Hence the "Bible Belt" going "across the middle of the country" is
an archaic description of what is in fact a "Bible strip" going North to South in the Plains, and two "Bible Buckles" on the coasts.
The rural heritage of the land in the Midwest remains widely held, even if industrialization and suburbanization have overtaken the
states in the original Northwest Territory. Given the rural, antebellum associations with the Midwest, further rural states like Kansas
have become icons of Midwesternism, most directly with the 1939 film, the Wizard of Oz.
Midwestern politics tends to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes peppered with protest, especially in minority communities or
those associated with agrarian, labor or populist roots.
Because of African-American immigration from the South, the Midwest hosts the largest African-American urban population found in
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Toledo, Dayton, and other cities. The
combination of industry and cultures, Jazz, Blues, and Rock and Roll, led to an outpouring of musical creativity in the 20th century in
the Midwest, including new music like The Motown Sound from Detroit and house music from the south side of Chicago. Rock and
Roll music was first identified as a new genre by a Cleveland radio DJ, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is now located in
Cleveland.
Political trends
The Midwest gave birth to one of America's two major political parties, the Republican Party, which was formed in the 1850s and
included opposition to the spread of slavery into new states as one of its agendas. The rural Midwest is a Republican stronghold to this
day. Hamilton County, the home of Cincinnati, is the only urban county in American which has voted predominately Republican at
the close of the 20th century. From the Civil War to the Depression and World War II, Midwestern Republicans dominated American
politics and industry, just as Southern Democrat planters dominated antebellum rural America and as Northeastern financiers and
academics in the Democratic party would dominate America from the Depression to the Vietnam War and the height of the Cold War.
Cincinnati and the Midwest are home to the Underground Railroad center, to denote the anti-slavery passions and heritage of the
Midwest and all of America.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the region also spawned the Populist Movement in the Plains states and later the Progressive
Movement, which largely consisted of farmers and merchants intent on making government less corrupt and more receptive to the
will of the people. The Republicans were unified anti-slavery politicians, whose later interests in invention, economic progress,
women's rights and suffrage, freedman's rights, progressive taxation, wealth creation, election reforms, and temperance and
Prohibition eventually clashed with the Taft-Roosevelt split in 1912. Similarly, the Populist and Progressive Parties grew out
intellectually from the economic and social progress claimed by the early Republican party. The Protestant and Midwestern ideals of
profit, thrift, pioneer self-reliance, education, democratic rights, and religious tolerance eventually manifested into different political
beliefs, and no matter the current political reallignment, the Midwest remains a political battleground over thoroughly American ideas
and ideals.
Perhaps because of their geographic location and heritage of pioneers and Revolutionary War veterans, many Midwesterners have
been sometime adherents of Washington's ideal of isolationism, the belief that Americans should not concern themselves with foreign
wars and problems. Protectionism was also promoted by Midwestern politicians to protect native industry from free trade. Other
Midwesterners, though, led to America greater internationalism, and eventually, belief in free trade. In the current era, Midwesterners
wrestle with free trade beliefs along with protecting industrial jobs. The overexpansion of industry in the Midwest led to the "Rust
Belt" era when productivity stagnated and employment declined. The loss of jobs among union households and the plight of the
unemployed in the inner cities in the Midwest led to greater demands to protect jobs.
The Midwest today
Today, the wealth of the coastal regions and the growth of the Sunbelt, as well as the invention of the air conditioner, have contributed
to a sense of unease in the Midwest. The abandonment by many industries of the Midwest, in favor of the South, has led some to refer
to the Midwest as the Rust Belt. As the East, South, and West retain colonial memories, the Midwest mainly remembers its American
pioneer heritage. The Midwest remains, with the South, a disproportionately large source of soldiers for the United States military,
and remains a thoroughly patriotic and American center.
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Because of massive black migration in the 20th century, the Midwest continually wrestles with poverty and racism. However, more
than other, richer regions, the Midwest has perhaps made the best progress to date, with prominent African-American authors,
teachers, and politicians forging a way into the American system just as other immigrants to the region did in earlier generations.
Though its pioneer, religious, and economic heritage tends toward libertarianism and freedom, its geography in the center of America
causes Midwesterners to be disproportionately concerned with the future of the federal government and America in general — East,
South, and West. Conversely, the nation looks to the central and centrist Midwest to implicitly solve the inevitable political and
geographic arguments of the wide-ranging nation. For these reasons, the truly pervasive culture of the Midwest remains powerful, but
subservient to a larger American culture. Perhaps it can be said that the Midwest is America's youngest and most idealistic regional
offspring.
Southwest United States
The Southwest region of the United States is drier than the adjoining Midwest in weather; the population is less dense and, with
strong Spanish-American and Native American components, more ethnically varied than neighboring areas. Outside the cities, the
region is a land of open spaces, much of which is desert. The magnificent Grand Canyon is located in this region, as is Monument
Valley. This region contains many of the Indian reservations including the Navajo, various Apache tribes, and Hopi Zuni Pueblo
people. Most of the Southwest once belonged to Spain or Mexico but ownership was ceded to the United States in the events
preceding and following the Mexican American War of 1846-48, and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.
States always considered southwestern (bright red):
 Arizona
 New Mexico
States sometimes considered southwestern (dark red):
 California
 Nevada
 Utah
 Colorado
 Texas
Texas is in some ways also a part of the U.S. South, as it shared that region's view of States Rights, taxes and tariffs, and slavery; and
membership in the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. It is also unusual in having for a time been an
independent nation, the Republic of Texas. The American Civil War dragged six months longer in Texas than in the rest of the nation,
primarily in the southern tip of Texas, where Mexican gold coins had displaced the worthless Confederate dollar, and smugglers
profitted in the North-South trade with Mexico. During the Civil War, the only way to get Southern cotton through the Union
blockade to its European markets was to sell it to a Mexican intermediary, who would then ship it on a neutral flagged Mexican
vessel. Because of this the Union sought to gain control of the Rio Grande and a number of battles were fought in the area, including
the very last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch.
Mexican heritage continues to exert a strong influence on the U.S. Southwest, which is a convenient place to settle for immigrants
(legal or illegal) from farther south. The regional population is growing rapidly, with Arizona in particular rivaling the southern states
as a destination for retired Americans in search of a warm climate.
Population growth in the hot, arid Southwest has depended on two human artifacts: the dam and the air conditioner. Dams on the
Colorado and other rivers, and aqueducts such as those of the Central Arizona Project have made it possible to develop large areas of
farmland with irrigation and have brought water to once-small towns such as Las Vegas, Nevada, Phoenix, Arizona, and
Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowing them to become metropolises. Las Vegas is renowned as a world center for gambling, while
Santa Fe, New Mexico, the historic center of government for much of the Southwest is famous as a center for the arts, especially
painting, sculpture, and opera. Another system of dams and irrigation projects waters the California Central Valley, which is noted for
producing large harvests of fruits and vegetables.
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The West
The U.S. West region refers to what are now the westernmost states of the United States.
As defined by the Census Bureau, the Western region of the United States includes 13 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. This includes all those states through
which the Continental Divide passes (Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico), as well as all other states further
west.
Alaska and Hawaii, being detached from the other western states, have few similarities with them, but are usually also classified as
part of the West. Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah or regions of those states are sometimes also
considered part of the Southwest United States, while Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington or regions of those states are
sometimes considered part of the Pacific Northwest, and California, Oregon and Washington are considered the West Coast of the
United States. However, The West region can be divided into 2 regions: the Pacific States and the Mountain States.
The largest city in the region is Los Angeles, located on the West Coast. Other West Coast cities include San Diego, San Jose, San
Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. Prominent cities in the Mountain States include Denver, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City.
Geography
Natural geography
The West is the most geographically diverse region of the country, with several geographical regions running north to south. Along
the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges, which are usually not very tall. They collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving
in from the ocean. Even in relatively arid central California, the Coast Ranges squeeze enough water out of the clouds to support the
growth of coast redwoods.
East of the Coast Ranges lie several intensively cultivated fertile valleys, notably the San Joaquin Valley of California and the
Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Beyond the valleys lie the Sierra Nevada in the south and the Cascade Range in the north. These mountains are some of the highest in
the United States. Mount Whitney, at 4,421 metres (14,505 feet) the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states, is in the Sierra Nevada.
The Cascades are also volcanic. Mount Rainier, a volcano in Washington, is also well over 4,392 metres (14,000 feett aprox). Mount
St. Helens, a volcano in the Cascades erupted explosively in 1980. These mountain ranges are quite wet, capturing most of the
moisture that remains after the Coast Ranges, and creating a rain shadow.
East of these great mountain ranges is a vast arid land, encompassing much of Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The Mojave Desert and
Sonoran Desert are two of the many deserts found here.
Beyond the deserts lie the Rocky Mountains. In the north, they run immediately east of the Cascade Range, so that the desert region
does not reach all the way to the Canadian border. The Rockies are hundreds of miles wide, and run uninterrupted from New Mexico
to Alaska. The tallest peaks of the Rockies, some of which are over 4,250 metres (14,000 feet aprox.), are found in central Colorado.
East of the Rocky Mountains begin the Great Plains, a vast grassy plateau sloping gradually down to the forests near the Mississippi
River.
Human geography
Most of these states are growing rapidly. The coastal strip includes several major cities, but the areas between the Rocky Mountains in
the east and the Sierra Nevada are still thinly populated. In 2000, Wyoming was the least populous state, with population of 493,782
while California was the most populous, with 33,871,648.
Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became a national issue, agencies of the
federal government own and manage vast areas of land. (The most important among these are the National Park Service and the
Bureau of Land Management within the Interior Department, and the U. S. Forest Service within the Agriculture Department.)
National parks are reserved for recreational activities such as fishing, camping, hiking, and boating, but other government lands also
allow commercial activities like ranching, lumbering and mining. In recent years some local residents who earn their livelihoods on
federal land have come into conflict with the land's managers, who are required to keep land use within environmentally acceptable
limits.
History and Culture
Facing both the Pacific Ocean and the Mexican border, the West has been shaped by a variety of ethnic groups. Hawaii is the only
state in the union in which Asian Americans outnumber residents of European stock, and Asians from many countries have settled in
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California and other coastal states in several waves of immigration since the 1800s. The southwestern border states – California,
Arizona, and New Mexico – all have large Mexican-American populations, and the many Spanish placenames attest to their history as
former Mexican territories. The West also contains much of the Native American population in the USA, particularly in the large
reservations in the mountain and desert states.
Alaska – the northernmost state in the Union – is a vast land of few, but hardy, people, many of them native; and of great stretches of
wilderness, protected in national parks and wildlife refuges. Hawaii's location makes it a major gateway between the US and Asia and
a center for tourism. Some members of its substantial Native Hawaiian population are resentful of American sovereignty over the
island chain.
In the Pacific Coast states, the wide areas filled with small towns, farms, and forests are supplemented by a few big port cities which
have evolved into world centers for the media and technology industries. Now the second largest city in the nation, Los Angeles is
best known as the home of the Hollywood film industry; the area around Los Angeles also became a major center for the aerospace
industry beginning with World War II. Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles – as well as the San Francisco Bay Area, including
Silicon Valley – California has become the most populous of all the states. Oregon and Washington have also seen rapid growth.
The desert and mountain states have relatively low population densities, and developed as ranching and mining areas which are only
recently becoming urbanized. Most of them have highly individualistic cultures, and have worked to balance the interests of urban
development, recreation, and the environment. Culturally distinctive points include the large Mormon population of Southeastern
Idaho, Utah, Northern Arizona and Nevada, the extravagant casino resort towns of Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, and of course the
many Native American tribal reservations.
Major settlement of the western territories by migrants from the states in the east developed rapidly in the 1840s, largely through the
Oregon Trail and the California gold rush of 1849; California experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it was
admitted to statehood in 1850 without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory. The 1850s were marked by
political controversies which were part of the national issues leading to the Civil War, though California had been established as a
non-slave state in the Compromise of 1850; California played little role in the war itself due to its geographically distance from major
campaigns. In the aftermath of the Civil War, many former Confederate partisans migrated to California through the end of the
Reconstruction period.
The history of the American West in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and
cinema of the United States. The image of the cowboy, the homesteader and westward expansion took real events and transmuted
them into a myth of the west which has influenced American culture since at least the 1920s.
Writers as diverse as Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Zane Grey celebrated or derided cowboy culture, while artists such as Charles
Remington created western art as a method of recordation of the expansion into the west. The American cinema in particular created
the genre of the western movie, which films in many cases use the west as a metaphor for the virtue of self-reliance and an American
ethos. The contrast between the romanticism of culture about the west and the actuality of the history of the westward expansion has
been a theme of late Twentieth and early Twenty First century scholarship about the west. Cowboy culture has become embedded in
the American experience as a common cultural touchstone, and modern forms as diverse as country and western music and the works
of artist Georgia O'Keefe have celebrated the supposed sense of isolation and independence of spirit inspired by the unpopulated and
relatively harsh climate of the region.
As a result of the various periods of rapid growth, many new residents were migrants who were seeking to make a new start after
previous histories of either personal failure or hostilities developed in their previous communities. With these and other migrants who
harbored more commercial goals in the opening country, the area developed a strong ethos of self-determinism and individual
freedom, as communities were created whose residents shared no prior connection or common set of ideals and allegiances. The open
land of the region allowed residents to live at a much greater distance from neighbors than had been possible in eastern cities, and an
ethic of tolerance for the different values and goals of other residents developed. California's state constitutions (in both 1849 and
1879) were largely drafted by groups which sought a strong emphasis on individual property rights and personal freedom, arguably at
the expense of ideals tending toward civic community.
In recent decades, Western cities' reputation for diversity and tolerance has been marred by segregation, along with accusations of
racial profiling and police brutality towards minorities, sometimes leading to racially based riots. Nevertheless, perhaps because so
many westerners have moved there from other regions to make a new start, as a rule interpersonal relations remain marked by an
individualistic, "live and let live" attitude. The western economy is varied. California, for example, features both agriculture and hightechnology manufacturing as major sectors in its economy.
Politically, the West is far from unified. Major urban centers, particularly along the Pacific Coast, lean towards the Democratic Party,
although their suburban areas tend toward a bipartisan makeup. The interior states of the Rocky Mountains and the deserts are more
heavily Republican. As the fastest-growing demographic group, Latinos are hotly contested for both parties, but currently lean
Democratic; the subject of illegal immigration remains a major issue in the political importance of this segment of the populace. In
terms of the electoral college, California and Hawaii are typically strong blue states (Democratic), and Washington leans Democratic.
Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska are generally red states (Republican), and Colorado and Arizona lean Republican.
Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico are hotly contested swing states.
Parts of the Mainland West has been exaggerated as the Wild West.
The French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss has written of the "mental click" he feels when arriving in the United States: an
adjustment to the enormous landscapes and skylines. The so-called lower 48 states (all but Alaska and Hawaii) sprawl across 4,500
kilometers and four time zones. A car trip from coast to coast typically takes a minimum of five days -- and that's with almost no stops
to look around. It is not unusual for the gap between the warmest and coldest high temperatures on a given day in the United States to
reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit (about 40 degrees Celsius).
The United States owes much of its national character -- and its wealth -- to its good fortune in having such a large and varied
landmass to inhabit and cultivate. Yet the country still exhibits marks of regional identity, and one way Americans cope with the size
of their country is to think of themselves as linked geographically by certain traits, such as New England self-reliance, southern
hospitality, midwestern wholesomeness, western mellowness.
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This chapter examines American geography, history, and customs through the filters of six main regions:
 New England, made up of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
 The Middle Atlantic, comprising New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.
 The South, which runs from Virginia south to Florida and west as far as central Texas. This region also includes West
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and
parts of Missouri and Oklahoma.
 The Midwest, a broad collection of states sweeping westward from Ohio to Nebraska and including Michigan, Indiana,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, parts of Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and eastern Colorado.
 The Southwest, made up of western Texas, portions of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and the southern interior
part of California.
 The West, comprising Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and
Hawaii.
Note that there is nothing official about these regions; many other lineups are possible. These groupings are offered simply as a way
to begin the otherwise daunting task of getting acquainted with the United States.
REGIONAL VARIETY
How much sense does it make to talk about American regions when practically all Americans can watch the same television shows
and go to the same fast-food restaurants for dinner? One way to answer the question is by giving examples of lingering regional
differences.
Consider the food Americans eat. Most of it is standard wherever you go. A person can buy packages of frozen peas bearing the same
label in Idaho, Missouri, and Virginia. Cereals, candy bars, and many other items also come in identical packages from Alaska to
Florida. Generally, the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables does not vary much from one state to the next. On the other hand, it
would be unusual to be served hush puppies (a kind of fried dough) or grits (boiled and ground corn prepared in a variety of ways) in
Massachusetts or Illinois, but normal to get them in Georgia. Other regions have similar favorites that are hard to find elsewhere.
While American English is generally standard, American speech often differs according to what part of the country you are in.
Southerners tend to speak slowly, in what is referred to as a "Southern drawl." Midwesterners use "flat" a's (as in "bad" or "cat"), and
the New York City patois features a number of Yiddish words ("schlepp," "nosh," "nebbish") contributed by the city's large Jewish
population.
Regional differences also make themselves felt in less tangible ways, such as attitudes and outlooks. An example is the attention paid
to foreign events in newspapers. In the East, where people look out across the Atlantic Ocean, papers tend to show greatest concern
with what is happening in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and western Asia. On the West Coast, news editors give more attention to
events in East Asia and Australia.
To understand regional differences more fully, let's take a closer look at the regions themselves.
NEW ENGLAND
The smallest region, New England has not been blessed with large expanses of rich farmland or a mild climate. Yet it played a
dominant role in American development. From the 17th century until well into the 19th, New England was the country's cultural and
economic center.
The earliest European settlers of New England were English Protestants of firm and settled doctrine. Many of them came in search of
religious liberty. They gave the region its distinctive political format -- the town meeting (an outgrowth of meetings held by church
elders) in which citizens gathered to discuss issues of the day. Only men of property could vote. Nonetheless, town meetings afforded
New Englanders an unusually high level of participation in government. Such meetings still function in many New England
communities today.
New Englanders found it difficult to farm the land in large lots, as was common in the South. By 1750, many settlers had turned to
other pursuits. The mainstays of the region became shipbuilding, fishing, and trade. In their business dealings, New Englanders gained
a reputation for hard work, shrewdness, thrift, and ingenuity.
These traits came in handy as the Industrial Revolution reached America in the first half of the 19th century. In Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island, new factories sprang up to manufacture such goods as clothing, rifles, and clocks. Most of the money
to run these businesses came from Boston, which was the financial heart of the nation.
New England also supported a vibrant cultural life. The critic Van Wyck Brooks called the creation of a distinctive American
literature in the first half of the 19th century "the flowering of New England." Education is another of the region's strongest legacies.
Its cluster of top-ranking universities and colleges -- including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke,
Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan -- is unequaled by any other region.
As some of the original New England settlers migrated westward, immigrants from Canada, Ireland, Italy, and eastern Europe moved
into the region. Despite a changing population, much of the original spirit of New England remains. It can be seen in the simple,
woodframe houses and white church steeples that are features of many small towns, and in the traditional lighthouses that dot the
Atlantic coast.
In the 20th century, most of New England's traditional industries have relocated to states or foreign countries where goods can be
made more cheaply. In more than a few factory towns, skilled workers have been left without jobs. The gap has been partly filled by
the microelectronics and computer industries.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC
If New England provided the brains and dollars for 19th-century American expansion, the Middle Atlantic states provided the muscle.
The region's largest states, New York and Pennsylvania, became centers of heavy industry (iron, glass, and steel).
The Middle Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of people than New England. Dutch immigrants moved into the lower
Hudson River Valley in what is now New York State. Swedes went to Delaware. English Catholics founded Maryland, and an English
Protestant sect, the Friends (Quakers), settled Pennsylvania. In time, all these settlements fell under English control, but the region
continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.
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Early settlers were mostly farmers and traders, and the region served as a bridge between North and South. Philadelphia, in
Pennsylvania, midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental Congress, the convention of
delegates from the original colonies that organized the American Revolution. The same city was the birthplace of the Declaration of
Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787.
As heavy industry spread throughout the region, rivers such as the Hudson and Delaware were transformed into vital shipping lanes.
Cities on waterways -- New York on the Hudson, Philadelphia on the Delaware, Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay -- grew dramatically.
New York is still the nation's largest city, its financial hub, and its cultural center.
Like New England, the Middle Atlantic region has seen much of its heavy industry relocate elsewhere. Other industries, such as drug
manufacturing and communications, have taken up the slack.
THE SOUTH
The South is perhaps the most distinctive and colorful American region. The American Civil War (1861-65) devastated the South
socially and economically. Nevertheless, it retained its unmistakable identity.
Like New England, the South was first settled by English Protestants. But whereas New Englanders tended to stress their differences
from the old country, Southerners tended to emulate the English. Even so, Southerners were prominent among the leaders of the
American Revolution, and four of America's first five presidents were Virginians. After 1800, however, the interests of the
manufacturing North and the agrarian South began to diverge.
Especially in coastal areas, southern settlers grew wealthy by raising and selling cotton and tobacco. The most economical way to
raise these crops was on large farms, called plantations, which required the work of many laborers. To supply this need, plantation
owners relied on slaves brought from Africa, and slavery spread throughout the South.
Slavery was the most contentious issue dividing North and South. To northerners it was immoral; to southerners it was integral to
their way of life. In 1860, 11 southern states left the Union intending to form a separate nation, the Confederate States of America.
This rupture led to the Civil War, the Confederacy's defeat, and the end of slavery. (For more on the Civil War, see chapter 3.) The
scars left by the war took decades to heal. The abolition of slavery failed to provide African Americans with political or economic
equality: Southern towns and cities legalized and refined the practice of racial segregation.
It took a long, concerted effort by African Americans and their supporters to end segregation. In the meantime, however, the South
could point with pride to a 20th-century regional outpouring of literature by, among others, William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Robert
Penn Warren, Katherine Anne Porter, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor.
As southerners, black and white, shook off the effects of slavery and racial division, a new regional pride expressed itself under the
banner of "the New South" and in such events as the annual Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and the 1996
summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Today the South has evolved into a manufacturing region, and high-rise buildings
crowd the skylines of such cities as Atlanta and Little Rock, Arkansas. Owing to its mild weather, the South has become a mecca for
retirees from other U.S. regions and from Canada.
THE MIDWEST
The Midwest is a cultural crossroads. Starting in the early 1800s easterners moved there in search of better farmland, and soon
Europeans bypassed the East Coast to migrate directly to the interior: Germans to eastern Missouri, Swedes and Norwegians to
Wisconsin and Minnesota. The region's fertile soil made it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops such as
wheat, oats, and corn. The region was soon known as the nation's "breadbasket."
Most of the Midwest is flat. The Mississippi River has acted as a regional lifeline, moving settlers to new homes and foodstuffs to
market. The river inspired two classic American books, both written by a native Missourian, Samuel Clemens, who took the
pseudonym Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Midwesterners are praised as being open, friendly, and straightforward. Their politics tend to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes
peppered with protest. The Midwest gave birth to one of America's two major political parties, the Republican Party, which was
formed in the 1850s to oppose the spread of slavery into new states. At the turn of the century, the region also spawned the
Progressive Movement, which largely consisted of farmers and merchants intent on making government less corrupt and more
receptive to the will of the people. Perhaps because of their geographic location, many midwesterners have been strong adherents of
isolationism, the belief that Americans should not concern themselves with foreign wars and problems.
The region's hub is Chicago, Illinois, the nation's third largest city. This major Great Lakes port is a connecting point for rail lines and
air traffic to far-flung parts of the nation and the world. At its heart stands the Sears Tower, at 447 meters, the world's tallest building.
THE SOUTHWEST
The Southwest differs from the adjoining Midwest in weather (drier), population (less dense), and ethnicity (strong Spanish-American
and Native-American components). Outside the cities, the region is a land of open spaces, much of which is desert. The magnificent
Grand Canyon is located in this region, as is Monument Valley, the starkly beautiful backdrop for many western movies. Monument
Valley is within the Navajo Reservation, home of the most populous American Indian tribe. To the south and east lie dozens of other
Indian reservations, including those of the Hopi, Zuni, and Apache tribes.
Parts of the Southwest once belonged to Mexico. The United States obtained this land following the Mexican-American War of 184648. Its Mexican heritage continues to exert a strong influence on the region, which is a convenient place to settle for immigrants (legal
or illegal) from farther south. The regional population is growing rapidly, with Arizona in particular rivaling the southern states as a
destination for retired Americans in search of a warm climate.
Population growth in the hot, arid Southwest has depended on two human artifacts: the dam and the air conditioner. Dams on the
Colorado and other rivers and aqueducts such as those of the Central Arizona Project have brought water to once-small towns such as
Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowing them to become metropolises. Las Vegas is
renowned as one of the world's centers for gambling, while Santa Fe, New Mexico, is famous as a center for the arts, especially
painting, sculpture, and opera. Another system of dams and irrigation projects waters the Central Valley of California, which is noted
for producing large harvests of fruits and vegetables.
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THE WEST
Americans have long regarded the West as the last frontier. Yet California has a history of European settlement older than that of most
midwestern states. Spanish priests founded missions along the California coast a few years before the outbreak of the American
Revolution. In the 19th century, California and Oregon entered the Union ahead of many states to the east.
The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. All of its 11 states are partly mountainous, and the ranges are the sources of
startling contrasts. To the west of the peaks, winds from the Pacific Ocean carry enough moisture to keep the land well-watered. To
the east, however, the land is very dry. Parts of western Washington State, for example, receive 20 times the amount of rain that falls
on the eastern side of the state's Cascade Range.
In much of the West the population is sparse, and the federal government owns and manages millions of hectares of undeveloped
land. Americans use these areas for recreational and commercial activities, such as fishing, camping, hiking, boating, grazing,
lumbering, and mining. In recent years some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come into conflict with
the land's managers, who are required to keep land use within environmentally acceptable limits.
Alaska, the northernmost state in the Union, is a vast land of few, but hardy, people and great stretches of wilderness, protected in
national parks and wildlife refuges. Hawaii is the only state in the union in which Asian Americans outnumber residents of European
stock. Beginning in the 1980s large numbers of Asians have also settled in California, mainly around Los Angeles.
Los Angeles -- and Southern California as a whole -- bears the stamp of its large Mexican-American population. Now the second
largest city in the nation, Los Angeles is best known as the home of the Hollywood film industry. Fueled by the growth of Los
Angeles and the "Silicon Valley" area near San Jose, California has become the most populous of all the states.
Western cities are known for their tolerance. Perhaps because so many westerners have moved there from other regions to make a
new start, as a rule interpersonal relations are marked by a live-and-let-live attitude. The western economy is varied. California, for
example, is both an agricultural state and a high-technology manufacturing state.
THE FRONTIER SPIRIT
One final American region deserves mention. It is not a fixed place but a moving zone, as well as a state of mind: the border between
settlements and wilderness known as the frontier. Writing in the 1890s, historian Frederick Jackson Turner claimed that the
availability of vacant land throughout much of the nation's history has shaped American attitudes and institutions. "This perennial
rebirth," he wrote, "this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society,
furnish the forces dominating American character."
Numerous present-day American values and attitudes can be traced to the frontier past: self-reliance, resourcefulness, comradeship, a
strong sense of equality. After the Civil War a large number of black Americans moved west in search of equal opportunities, and
many of them gained some fame and fortune as cowboys, miners, and prairie settlers. In 1869 the western territory of Wyoming
became the first place that allowed women to vote and to hold elected office.
Because the resources of the West seemed limitless, people developed wasteful attitudes and practices. The great herds of buffalo
(American bison) were slaughtered until only fragments remained, and many other species were driven to the brink of extinction.
Rivers were dammed and their natural communities disrupted. Forests were destroyed by excess logging, and landscapes were scarred
by careless mining.
A counterweight to the abuse of natural resources took form in the American conservation movement, which owes much of its success
to Americans' reluctance to see frontier conditions disappear entirely from the landscape. Conservationists were instrumental in
establishing the first national park, Yellowstone, in 1872, and the first national forests in the 1890s. More recently, the Endangered
Species Act has helped stem the tide of extinctions.
Environmental programs can be controversial; for example, some critics believe that the Endangered Species Act hampers economic
progress. But, overall, the movement to preserve America's natural endowment continues to gain strength. Its replication in many
other countries around the world is a tribute to the lasting influence of the American frontier.
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