Physical features and natural resources

the Atlantic Plain – a coastal lowland which runs from New England to the middle of Texas, in the
north the Plain is only a narrow coastal strip, but it gradually widens and along the Gulf coast it
includes all large parts of the Southern states; most of the Atlantic Plain has poor soil, but it has
fertile citrus-growing period and the Cotton Belt in the South; along the Gulf coast natural crude oil
and gas reserves are found.

the Piedmont – a gently rolling fertile plateau, narrow in the north and broader in the south; along
the eastern edge of the Piedmont is the fall line, where rivers form waterfalls – grain and textile
mills, first industrial cities; on its western side the Piedmont rises to the Appalachians (much eroded
mountains from Canada to Alabama that separate the Eastern Seaboard from the interior; contain
minerals, building stone)

west of the Appalachian highlands lies the Central Lowland – a vast area stretching from the New
York State west to central Texas and north to Canada, resembles a huge irregular bowl rimmed by
the Great Lakes and highlands; natural resources are soil and fossil fuels

the Great Plains – a band of semi-arid territory almost 500 miles wide between Canada and Mexico;
broadly rolling, badlands, buffalo grass, high-yield farm country, low-grade brown coal,
environmentally damaging strip-mining

the Cordillera – mountain chains and basins and plateaus; the Cordillera have 2 branches, the
Rockies and the Pacific ranges; surrounding the Plateau is the desert Southwest; the Northern
Rockies include the largest wilderness area; the Columbia Basin – remarkable canyons of the Snake
and Columbia Rivers; the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the California’s central valley – rich soils; the
San Andreas Fault – major earthquake zone which caused the 1906 quake that leveled San
Francisco; North America’s highest peak – Mt McKinley (20,320 ft); Alaska – broken plateaus, fairly
flat valleys, cold inland climate. The American Cordillera are world famous for veins of precious
metals: the gold of the Sierra and Yukon, the Comstock silver lode of Nevada, copper, lead; the
Colorado Plateau contains uranium, oil shade and soft coal.

the natural riches of Hawaii – are vegetable rather than mineral, commercial forests, tropical
farming, temperate climate, volcanic mountains, moderate rainfalls.

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Coastlines and river systems

o coastlines, harbors, ocean currents and network of lakes and rivers

o the shallow waters of the Continental Shelf off the North Atlantic coast known as the Great
Banks contain many kinds of fish
o the Mid-Atlantic coast from New York City to Maryland has a warmer climate b/c of the
Florida Current
o the great Eastern water systems are those that drain the Central Lowland: the Mississippi
with its major tributaries and the Great Lakes – St Lawrence system
o on the west coast limited rainfall and scant mountain run-off dry up all but three river
systems, the Columbia, the Colorado, and the San Joaquin-Sacramento, before they reach
the sea; they do not support shipping, supplying electrical power to several states

Conservation and recreation areas

o people concentrate in relatively small areas

o some parts of the country are not suitable for urbanization b/c of climate and difficult
topography
o others have been set aside as recreation areas or wildlife preserves – great variety of
national, state and local parks and open spaces
o Yellowstone National Park – the 1st nature preserve, created by Congress and put under
federal control in 1872
o Congress established the National Park Service in 1916

Climate

o arctic and tropical climates

o middle latitudes: wide variations in temperature and rainfall
o the more distant the place is from an ocean, the more it has extreme temperature extremes
o the Cordillera mountain system limits the moderating influence of the Pacific to a narrow
strip along the West Coast
o rainfall: cloudburst, hailstorms, tornadoes, and blizzards

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the seasons

o the Rockies: cold, sparking weather in the plains and lowlands, storms at its southern edge,
in summer – hot humid weather
o along the Pacific: winters – overcast and drizzly, summers – mild temperatures and sunny
weather, rainless
o the Northeast, Upper Midwest: falls - mild days, frosty nights, violently weather, hurricane
seasons

The regions: cultural geography

o cultural borders rarely coincide w/ political units

o a unique mixture of traits

Native-American cultural regions

o hunting, fishing, farming and gathering

o maize cultures – corn as the most important staple of the Indians’ diet
o more extensive and highly developed agriculture
o housing constructed of wood, bark and thatch
o well-known cultural groups: the Iroquois, Huron, Mohican, Delaware (in the North) and the
Powhatan, Cherokee and Natchez (South)
o the prairies and Great Plains known as the Plains or Bison Region: riverbank farming, small-
game hunting, gathering, communal buffalo hunts; horses; tipi; warrior hunting-class
o the Southwest: adobe pueblos; tracing ancestry through the female line
o potlatch – several days of feasting during which a leading family gave its guests extravagant
gifts
o various Inuit groups are the native peoples of today’s Alaska and Aleutian Islands
o Hawaiians: tropical forests, irrigation,
o a concept of territory ownership (dependence on the land)

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Cultural regions in the contemporary US

homogenizing effects of popular mass culture, modern transportation, urbanization, centralization

of the economy and the government, different attitudes toward environmental protection, energy
use, sexual orientation, and abortion

The Northeast

o densely populated, highly urban, changing to a high-tech service economy, economic

competition
o economic centers: New England and the Mid-Atlantic
o original settlers: establishing a model religious community, so-called Puritan work ethic,
optimistic individualism, self-improvement, thrift, hard work
o New England Yankees: fishermen and travelling peddlers, clipped-ship builders and sailors,
mill owners, factory workers, higher education and research, lucrative industries
o the Erie Canal joining Lake Erie w/ NYC
o a variety of ‘smokestack’ industries
o racially and ethnically mixed cities (Buffalo is Polish)
o the ‘Rust Belt’

The South

o the region includes the eleven states that formed the Confederacy during the Civil War
o 2 sub-regions: the Lowland South on the Coastal Plain and the Upland South in the
Piedmont, Southern Appalachians and Ozarks
o economic transformations, migrations
o the southern Lowland: Englishmen came for economic rather than religious or political
reasons; the climate and soil suitable for growing and exporting cash crops (cotton, tobacco
plantations) that required much manual labor but offered huge profits; dispersed
settlements, a few urban centers; Africans b(r)ought for permanent slavery; improved
machinery; Industrial Revolution made cotton ‘king’
o contrasts between the industrializing North and the slave South → the Civil War → war,
defeat, occupation by Union armies
o natural resources: iron ore, oil, gas, pine forests
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 o urban industrial South: ‘Sunbelt’ attracts financial, high-tech, and media industries to
growing population centers
o Southerners remain less educated, more religious and more conservative

The Midwest

o includes the states bordering the Great Lakes and 2 tiers of states west of the Mississippi
River from Missouri and Kansas north to Canada
o the Great Lakes states: many manufacturing centers (the Industrial Midwest) and farms
o the two western tiers of states are called the Agricultural Midwest
o the American heartland of family farms, small towns, provincial and optimistic center that
mediates between the other regions
o economic and environmental recovery, despite problems w/ unemployment, slums and
urban blight
o the reputation of being conservative
o opposed the spread of slavery and nominated Lincoln for the presidency, prominent in the
opposition to the Vietnam War

The West

o represents possibility, freedom, self-reliance, the future

o made up from 3 parts: the Southwest, the Mountain States, and the Pacific Coast
o the Southwest: New Mexico, Arizona; Spanish-Mexican and Native-American communities;
cattle and sheep ranching; metropolitan areas; warm, dry climate; mining, petroleum
industry; tourism, national parks, gambling and entertainment industries
o the Pacific Coast: the 1849 Gold Rush; the Silicon Valley – complex of computer firms; the
Napa Valley wine district; the LA metropolis – Hollywood film and media conglomerates,
aerospace companies, large Asian and Latino population
o Hawaii and Alaska are in the continental West

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Serious American worries: crime, healthcare, drug abuse, hunger and homelessness, environmental
issues.