The United States
INTERIOR
NORTHEAST
WEST
MIDWEST
SOUTHWEST
SOUTHEAST
Facts and figures
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
50 states, 50 capitals
Federal constitutional republic
Population > 300 million
Capital: Washington, D.C
Largest city: NYC, pop. > 8 million
Northeast
• Includes: Maine, N.H., Vt., Mass., Conn., R.I. (New
England) plus N.Y., N.J., Penn.
•Rocky coasts to the north; better harbors/shipping
ports to the south
• Regional characteristics:
• Industry and huge cities
• culturally diverse
• Fast-paced lifestyle
• Financial
• Fashion
• media capital of the world
• Cultural icon: White steeple church
Southeast
• Includes: Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Kent., La., Md.,
Miss., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va., W. Va., Wash. D.C.
• Still a “laggin” region overall:
– “Islands of Growth in a Sea of Poverty”
– large urban/rural economic gaps
• Regional characteristics:
– Laid back lifestyle
– significant cultural differences
– religious (Bible Belt)
• Cultural icon: Food
Midwest
• Includes: Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio,
Illinois
• Center of country’s meat and grain production
(America’s “breadbasket”)
• Regional characteristics:
– Rural
– agriculture
– ranching
• Cultural icon:
– Water towers
– grain elevators
Southwest
• Includes: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Texas and southern California
• Economy dominated by mineral exploitation,
oil and agriculture
• Regional characteristics:
– Immigration issues
– big oil business
• Cultural icon:
– Flat roof and adobe construction
Interior
• Includes: Colorado*, Idaho, Montana, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
• Large size, low population density (Big Sky
Country)
• Regional characteristics:
• Wilderness
• high concentration of
indigenous peoples
• Cultural icon: Windmill
West
• Includes: Oregon, Washington, California,
Hawaii, Alaska
• Most cities and agriculture in the southern
portion
• Regional characteristics:
–
–
–
–
–
Hollywood glamour
logging and fishing industry
tourism (Hawaii)
fishing/crabbing and oil
global warming (Alaska)
• Cultural icon: Totem pole
Sub-Regions of North America
Regional and Culture/Environment Tradition
Border Types
•Cultural
•Economic
•Natural
•Combination
Icons of the Cultural
Landscape
•Manmade features than
symbolize the sub-region
Old Economic Core
Eastern Breadbasket
Corn/Soy Beans/Hogs
Breadbasket Cultural Landscape Icons – The Water Tower and Grain Elevator
Western Breadbasket
Wheat and Cattle
Eastern
Breadbasket
Cultural
Landscape
Icons – The
County
Courthouse
Great Plains Breadbasket
•Center of meat and grain
production
•Nearly all economic activity
revolves around
agriculture/ranching
•Corn, wheat, soybeans, pork –
principal products
•Remains of the Manufacturing Belt (see Top 20 cities in
1870)
•Postindustrial quaternary and quinary economic activity,
e.g. Boston and New York City
•Includes the Canadian industrial core
•Agriculture still important in west part of sub-region
Western Core
– agriculture
still
important.
80% of the
land in
Illinois is in
agriculture
•Edge of agricultural dominance, except dairy
•Beginning of tourism and foresty
•Second homes
•Three season tourism
American South
•Undergone the most change in last 100 yrs = Sunbelt urban growth
•Still a “laggin” region overall – “Islands of Growth in a Sea of Poverty” – large
urban/rural economic gaps
•Strong cultural differences
Continental Interior
•Large size, physical diversity, low population density, localized growth issues
•Much of the land is owned by national governments
•Greatest concentrations of indigenous peoples in both countries
•Tourism is of growing importance
American South – Cultural Landscape
Icons (beware of racist values)
Cultural Landscape Icon (new)
American
South –
Cultural
Landscape
Icons (Food)
Cultural border –
Mason Dixon Line
American South
Cultural Landscape Icon – the Smokestack
Sadly defunct
Cultural Landscape Icon (old)
The Southwest
Quebec (French Canada)
•Deep ties to Mexico; early colonization
•Economy dominated by mineral exploitation, oil and agriculture
•Border with Mexico is permeable and shifting
•Western edge is metropolitan southern California
•Francophones – not only Quebec
•No longer just agricultural, full
industrialized and developed
•Heightened sense of nationalism
Cultural Landscape Icon – Flat Roof and Adobe Construction
New England and Canadian Atlantic
•North/South New England split
•Economic and cultural similarities between US and
Canadian portions
•Rapid and severe economic swings
Cultural
Landscape
Icon (US) –
the White
Church with
White
Steeple
Francophone and Anglophone New Brunswick
Pacific Northwest
Cultural Landscape IconQuebec Village Church
Landscape Similarity - which is Maine and which is Newfoundland?
•Physical geography of
narrow coast and interior
mountains
•Most cities and
agriculture in the southern
portion
•Climatically wet – midlatitude rain forests
•Decline of logging and
fishing, rise of high-tech
(southern)
•Garreau’s original
Ecotopia
Cultural Landscape Icon (folk culture) – Totem Pole
John Harmon – G120 – Fall 2003