The Northeast: Center of Power JS.The Environment of the Northeast

KN.Hawaii: America in a South Seas Setting

This textbook divides the United States into five regions: the Northeast, South, Midwest, West, and Alaska and Hawaii.

The Northeast contains eleven states plus the District of Columbia. The Northeast only contains 5 percent of the nation’s land, but 20 percent of its people, most of them living in the series of large metropolitan areas from Boston to New York to Washington. The Appalachian Highlands are the main physical feature, along with the narrow Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Appalachians are divided in New York by the Hudson-Mohawk Trough, where the Erie Canal was built in 1825, leading to increased development of and trade with the Midwest and cementing New York City as the nation’s leading city. The other major Northeastern cities grew by developing on harbors and exporting the products of their hinterlands – agriculture for Philadelphia and Baltimore, and timber and fish for Boston. American industry originated in Rhode Island and rapidly spread throughout the Northeast. Textiles and iron and steel were early industries in the region, and today sectors such as biotechnology, publishing, and printing are important. Manufacturing has declined in importance to the Northeast as services and “white-collar” jobs such as finance, education, science research, journalism, and advertising now dominate the economy.

Fourteen states make up the South. Most of this region is classified as plains, but the southern reaches of the Appalachians and the Interior Highlands are rugged. The South has a lower population density than the Northeast, and fewer large urban areas. The region does have a fairly large number of medium-sized cities, however. The South is less ethnically diverse than the rest of the country, though it does have a large African-American population and a growing Hispanic presence, especially in Texas and Florida.

The South has historically relied on agricultural products such as tobacco and cotton, but farms have lessened in importance in recent decades. Agriculture has been supplanted by industrial development, particularly in the Piedmont. Textiles are the main products, but a wide variety of other industries also operate in the region. Oil and gas extraction is the dominant industrial sector along the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic base of the U.S. Navy is located in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.

The Midwest comprises twelve states, and is generally considered to be the “heartland” of the country. Plains dominate the region, with only small areas of highlands along the periphery. The Midwest is also the nation’s breadbasket, and is blessed with superior soils, most of which developed under grasslands. The Midwest produces a greater around of foods than any other area of comparable size in the world. Corn is the main crop, along with other staples such as wheat and soybeans. Cattle ranching and dairy farming are also important. Despite the enormous agricultural production of the Midwest, most of the region’s population is urban. In fact, the rural plains are experiencing severe population declines. The Midwest is highly industrialized, producing manufactured goods for farmers to use, and many cities developed around the food processing industries. Chicago was such a city, and the food processing sector was later joined by machinery and steel. Chicago also became the hub of a vast transportation network bringing in products from all over the Midwest for shipment. Other important manufacturing cities include Detroit, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.

The West is the largest region of the United States, taking in one-third of the country’s land area. The West’s eleven states are mainly arid and very rugged. Mountain ranges such as the Coast Ranges, Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and the Rockies run north-south, with numerous other ranges and vast plateaus and basins in between. Part of the Great Plains extends into the easternmost sections of the region. The federal government owns much of the land in the West in the form of national parks or military reserves. Irrigation is necessary for most Western agriculture, and the Colorado River is a major source of water for the Southwest. Areas such as California’s Central Valley and Oregon’s Willamette Valley are quite productive agriculturally. The West is strongly urban, with several large metropolitan areas located in or near oases. Areas close to the Pacific Ocean have much more people than the interior. Southern California is the largest population cluster in the West, with a diverse economy ranging from the military to entertainment. The interior mountain states have historically had very few people, but their populations are expanding rapidly, especially in cities such as Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. Mineral extraction and ranching are the main economic activities.

Alaska is the largest state in the country, its chilly climate a testament to its far northern location. It is the most important oil-producing state, and there is ongoing controversy over whether to expand oil drilling into sensitive environmental areas. Hawaii is an island chain in the central Pacific Ocean with a severely altered natural environment. The state relies upon tourism, the military, and agricultural products such as pineapples for revenue.

258. 
     This book breaks down the United States into five regions: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the West, and Alaska and Hawaii. [p. 647]
     

259. 
     Geography’s agenda is often described as “the why of where,” and that certainly applies when we examine why cities developed where they did. The development of U.S. urban places is usually best explained in conjunction with transportation corridors, and economic opportunities. Many cities on the Eastern Seaboard are coastal ports (Boston, New York, Charleston) or so-called fall line cities (Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Richmond), which necessitated a break in bulk, or those that took advantage of water power (Manchester). Navigable waterways and railroads were clearly important determinants to the origin and growth of interior cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and New Orleans, to name just a few. Industrial location near energy resources like coal and iron ore also contributed to the importance of cities like Duluth, Pittsburgh, and Birmingham. The mountainous West demonstrates how break in bulk points along transportation corridors form nodes of growth (Cheyenne, Denver, Reno) adjacent to significant physical barriers, and West Coast cities like San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle illustrate how safe harbors on an otherwise rugged coastline gave access to interior valleys. [pp. 651-652, 661-664, 665-680]
     

260. 
     Most of the Northeast lies in the Appalachian Highlands, with the Atlantic Coastal Plain occupying a narrow strip along the shore. The coastal plain is low and flat with many sand dunes and marshes, and features multiple capes and estuaries. The Appalachian Mountains split in upstate New York by the Hudson-Mohawk Trough. The tallest mountains of the Appalachians in the Northeast occur in northern New England. The coastal plain meets the northern extension of the Piedmont along the Fall Line, where cities such as Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, and Philadelphia have developed. Their positions on the line (along with their proximity to the sea) established them as important ports where goods from inland would be transferred to ships taking those goods to other markets. [pp. 647, 650-651]
     

261. 
     The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, was built along the Hudson-Mohawk Trough from Lake Erie near Buffalo to Albany on the Hudson River. By greatly reducing transportation costs of goods from the Midwest (which wound up in New York City’s ports for shipping to other markets), both the populations of the Midwest and New York boomed. [p. 651]
     

262. 
     Even before the development of the Erie Canal, New York was already the country’s largest seaport, thanks to its possession of a relatively central location, an enormous harbor and an active business enterprise. Easy access to the developing Midwest enhanced New York’s primacy among American cities. New York became the financial center of the United States, and it became an early manufacturing center as well, especially in clothing and textiles. The jobs available in the city lured immigrants from all over Europe and later all around the world, giving New York a large population and a very culturally and ethnically complex nature. [pp. 652-654]
     

263. 
     Parts of the South are hilly and mountainous, especially in the southern reaches of the Appalachians and the Interior Highlands. Most of the rest of the region is classified as plains, with the Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, and the Interior Plains covering large areas. The population density of the South has historically been low, though greater concentrations of people have been found along the Piedmont, which is the center of industrial activity in the South. Soils tend to be mediocre in quality for farming in much of the south, keeping densities low, although the Unglaciated Southeastern Interior Plain from Kentucky to Alabama is more suitable for agriculture. The South has many small- to medium-sized cities but relatively few large urban areas. Among the largest metropolitan regions in the South are Dallas-Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and Houston. [pp. 657-658]
     

264. 
     Most of the soils in the Midwest are exceptionally productive for agriculture. The best soil in the region developed under grasslands, which deposited large amounts of humus. Wind-borne fertile loess soils are also prevalent in the Midwest. The most important crop grown in the Midwest is corn, which is grown largely in the “Corn Belt” from Nebraska to Illinois. Soybeans are prevalent in the region as well, from the Dakotas to Illinois. Wheat is grown across the Dakotas and down to Kansas. Dairy products are important in Wisconsin, hogs in Iowa and Minnesota, and cattle throughout the Plains states, especially Kansas and Nebraska. [pp. 664-665]
     

265. 
     Residents of the U.S. are abandoning their small towns, a trend that began early in the twentieth century and continues. Comparing the most recent (2000) census with the 1900 census shows that 80 percent of U.S. counties lost population, while the country as a whole tripled in size. Although small to mid-size cities are viable and growing, small towns seem to be headed for extinction. This is especially true in the rural Great Plains where the last forty years has witnessed a 21 percent decline in population. Their demise is partially attributed to improvements in transportation and large retailers driving out diverse small businesses, otherwise known as the “Wal-Mart effect.” Some small towns are fighting to stay alive by appealing to international immigrants and offering financial incentives. [pp. 668-669]
     

266. 
     The Midwest’s industrialization was based initially on the region’s great agricultural output. Meat packing, grain milling, and other food processing industries have always been important in the Midwest. Moving agricultural products to markets was also important to the Midwest, so numerous transportation links (canals, railways, highways, airports) also developed. Technological advances for farmers to use spurred on the industrialization and mechanization of the Midwest. Many Midwestern cities are now diversifying their economies. Many of the Midwest’s largest cities (such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, and Kansas City) developed industrial bases to supply agricultural needs. Northeastern manufacturing cities like Manchester Worcester, Hartford, and Pittsburgh once defined the so-called “rust belt,” an area representing job loss in the manufacturing sector. Some, like Pittsburgh, have successfully diversified and emerged as centers of biomedical research, education, and recreation, while others are still struggling. [pp. 654-655, 665-670]
     

267. 
     The West’s general settlement pattern is described as “oasislike” because settlement in the region is clustered in places where water is available. These “oases” are separated from each other by deserts or mountains, which are sparsely inhabited or vacant. The area west of the hundredth meridian is generally arid, with the exception of the Pacific Northwest and high elevations that benefit from orographic precipitation. Supplying water to meet residential, commercial, and agricultural demand has been a challenge for the West for the past half century. Large scale engineering projects such as dam and canal construction have had a short term benefit, but many view their use as a zero-sum game. [pp. 670-674]
     

268. 
     The majority of the West is rugged and arid. High mountain ranges such as the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and the Cascades trend north-south, with numerous smaller ranges and large plateaus or basins lying between them. The paucity of water throughout this region has limited agricultural development. A notable exception is California’s productive Central Valley. The Willamette Valley in Oregon and Puget Sound area in Washington are well-watered areas. There is some limited dry farming. Intense irrigation from rivers such as the Colorado is used to water crops in otherwise fairly dry areas. Much of the available water for agriculture competes with commercial and residential water needs. Cities in this region have developed in places with access to minerals (such as San Francisco and Denver), as well as in areas supported by agriculture (like Los Angeles and Phoenix), logging (Seattle and Portland), and as a refuge (Salt Lake City) or for entertainment (Las Vegas). [pages 670-674]
     

269. 
     Although Alaska is the largest state by area, its population is less than Delaware. Without resorting to the facile explanation of environmental determinism, it is worthwhile to consider the influence of it arctic and subarctic location. Historically, Alaskans have lived in the south and southeastern panhandle where the maritime influence ameliorates a high latitude climate. Half the state’s population live in coastal Anchorage, and the state capital, Juneau, is wedged between the Coast Mountains and the Alexander Archipelago. Natural resources have been an economic mainstay to Alaskans, with fishing, animal furs, gold, timber, and oil providing periodic cycles of opportunity. In addition, the U.S. has had a significant military presence in Alaska since World War II, and tourism to Alaska is becoming increasing popular. [pp. 682-683]
     

270. 
     Hawaii, situated in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) west of California and just south of the Tropic of Cancer, is sometimes called simply “Paradise” because of its year round comfortable climate and relaxed society. Hawaii’s economy is largely dependent on plantation agriculture, the military, and a healthy tourism industry. The state is also the most ethnically diverse in the U.S. insofar as immigration from the Pacific Basin added to the native Hawaiian population and transplants from “the mainland” make it a crossroads of cultures. [pp. 683-684]
     

This chapter should enable your students to…

• 
  Appreciate the wide range of Native American adaptations and ways of life in this region’s diverse environments
  
• 
  Recognize Canada and the United States as countries shaped mainly by British influences but also by a wide range of foreign immigrant cultures
  
• 
  Understand how the United States acquired its vast land empire
  
• 
  View the prosperity of the United States and Canada in part as products of their vast natural resource wealth
  
• 
  Trace the rise of the United States to a position of global economic and political supremacy and to recent rivalries from other giants
  

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