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What do you all think of this division of North America into nine distinct "nations":
1. New England (including Atlantic Provinces in Canada, not including CT suburbs of NY)
2. The Foundry (the old economic and population center of the continent, triangulated between New York, Chicago, and Toronto. Largely where the "rust belt" is today)
3. Dixie (The South, obvious)
4. Breadbasket or the Granary (the largely agricultural land west of the manufacturing belt-Chicago- and north/west of "Dixie" going west until the arid land of CO/NM/WY/MT)
5. The Islands (the Caribbean and south Florida)
6. Mexamerica or LA-Mex (Mexico, Texas border areas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California)
7. Ecotopia or the Pacific Rim (the West Coast north of Los Angeles, west of the Cascades, largely the Pacific Northwest)
8. The Empty Quarter or Marlboro Country the huge expanse of arid, still largely undeveloped land- with the exception of Denver, Salt Lake, and Vegas- that makes up a huge portion of the western and northern areas of the continent)
9. Quebec
What do you think of the more recent 1991 book "The Day America Told the Truth" which adds a new "nation" by splitting Dixie in two: Old Dixie
and The New South (the Atlantic states from the DC metro down to north of Miami, with VA, NC, GA, and FL having changed drastically from "Old Dixie" with a lot more transplants, tourism, national exposure, economic vibrancy, diverse population, etc.)
nation of "Liberty"- (new england, eastern new york , nj, delaware, maryland, dc, eastern pennsylvania.) the cradle of the old anglo-saxon yankee culture. large irish and italian immigrant communities. mostly liberal and progressive. some areas are considered "rust belt", but mostly becoming gentrified and turning towards the high tech sector.
nation of "Labor"- (western ny, western pennsyl, ohio, some of west virginia, indiana, illinois, wisconsin, minnesota, iowa, most of missouri, michigan) the real "rust belt". old centers of industry and shipping. lrage german/nordic immigrant population. sensible middle of the road politics. support for labor unions. farming in rural areas. distinct nasal accent around great lakes and minnesota, fading out as one progresses south.
nation of "Dixie"- (virginia, most of west virginia, carolinas, florida, georgia, alabama, louisiana, mississippi, arkansas, eastern gulf texas, kentucky, tenessee, parts of missouri) distinct southern drawl, largely anglo and scots-irish population, unique food such as sweet tea and grits. protestant churchs. conservative politics. historic center of slavery.
Dixie disputed areas- (south louisiana and south florida) areas within dixie but are dominated by catholic french and cuban cultures respectively. less conservative in character than the rest of dixie.
Dixie northern borderlands- (southern illinois and indiana, northern kentucky, cincinatti, parts of west virginia) areas that share some qualities of dixie and some of "labour". areas within are claimed by both nations. accents, archetecture and political views here are a mishmash of both nations.
nation of "heartland"- (north-east/central texas, oklahoma, kansas, nebraska, dakotas, some eastern parts of montana, wyoming and colorado) The true "Bible belt". largely rural areas that tend to be very traditional in political and religious views. Aging population. farming-based economy. oil industry dominates towards the south of this nation.
nation of "deseret"- (utah, souther idaho, northern arizona, parts of nevada) Largely Mormon....nuff said. a distinct area with a distinct culture
nation of "the northwest"- (washington, oregon, northern california, some of idaho, western montana and wyoming, most of colorado) Hippies, pot and tree-huggers in the cities. liberterian cowboys in the rural areas. urban areas tend to be vibrant and growing. the least religious part of america. people are independant thinkers, wether they be right-leaning or left-leaning, they are passionate about the ideas they've formed and will defend them by protest.
nation of "aztlan"- (southern california, most of nevada, arizona, new mexico, west texas, some of southern colorado) terrirtory won from mexico. large hispanic population. warm climate...hot deserts. sprawling sunbelt cities. tends to be moderate-liberal in politics.
I disagree with it....the Dixie influence in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana IMO is VERY exaggerated on this map. In Missouri, they extend it to practically just outside St. Louis. Now I've lived here for 20 years, and you are not in Dixie upon leaving the city limits, not even close!
While one may quibble about the boundaries, I really do believe there are very distinct cultural regions of the US and that the map is a good way to start thinking about them and how they influence national politics etc.
What do you all think of this division of North America into nine distinct "nations":
I think we already fought a war over this about 150 years ago and a lot of people got killed.
What's the point? Everyone knows there are some regional differences, but there's so much mobility, internal migration, electronic interconnection, and mass-market consumerism ("United States of McWalMart"?) nowadays that it's silly to think any individual region has a true "national" identity, even though some might like to think so.
What do you all think of this division of North America into nine distinct "nations":
1. New England (including Atlantic Provinces in Canada, not including CT suburbs of NY)
2. The Foundry (the old economic and population center of the continent, triangulated between New York, Chicago, and Toronto. Largely where the "rust belt" is today)
3. Dixie (The South, obvious)
4. Breadbasket or the Granary (the largely agricultural land west of the manufacturing belt-Chicago- and north/west of "Dixie" going west until the arid land of CO/NM/WY/MT)
5. The Islands (the Caribbean and south Florida)
6. Mexamerica or LA-Mex (Mexico, Texas border areas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California)
7. Ecotopia or the Pacific Rim (the West Coast north of Los Angeles, west of the Cascades, largely the Pacific Northwest)
8. The Empty Quarter or Marlboro Country the huge expanse of arid, still largely undeveloped land- with the exception of Denver, Salt Lake, and Vegas- that makes up a huge portion of the western and northern areas of the continent)
9. Quebec
What do you think of the more recent 1991 book "The Day America Told the Truth" which adds a new "nation" by splitting Dixie in two: Old Dixie
and The New South (the Atlantic states from the DC metro down to north of Miami, with VA, NC, GA, and FL having changed drastically from "Old Dixie" with a lot more transplants, tourism, national exposure, economic vibrancy, diverse population, etc.)
Thoughts?
Northern Virginia is definitely New South- but come to Richmond Virginia, and its VERY Old South. Its like Charleston and Savannah with its huge magnolia trees and climate. Richmond is like an upper South city that should have been in the Deeper South. Its just a world apart from the rest of Virginia. They even did an article about this in the New York Times.
The CommonCensus Map Project (http://commoncensus.org/maps/national_1280.gif ) breaks things down a little finer than the Nine Nations angle. It concentrates largely on population centers that "define" a given geographic area. Interesting for comparison, if nothing else.
Here is the more sensible split: 1) EastWest Coast Nation 2)Heartland Nation.
I think that this is nonsense. There are conservative rural parts of the east and west coast (I'm thinking of rural New Hampshire and rural California) and there are urban liberal parts of the midwest -- hell, look at my location. That is right bud, there is something in the middle of beyond that myopic view of one giant farm. Perhaps I'll ride my bicycle on the way home past the memorial to the Haymarket riots and contemplate exactly what us 'heartlanders' accomplished (how are you liking your 8 hour work day?).
...actually, I ride my bicycle past the memorial the Haymarket riots everyday, so that really wouldn't be much of a change in my commute.
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