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That map and the link to the Tufts article was brought up in another forum as well just a few days ago. Supposedly the author won some sort of prize, which is surprising. The accompanying text is very political. That "El Norte" stuff is racist. I like the label the far west . . . for the Dakotas, Kansas and Nebraska, LOL! That's not how they identify themselves. And we in the far west and our "corporate masters", LOL! He needs to get out of Boston more.
I fail to see how the El Norte stuff is racist. The article isn't about how people identify themselves, it is about the culture and beliefs in various regions. I didn't see the other thread, but I would like to know where it is.
I would say there are cultural divides within the nation from say where I live to someone in Long Island, NY but enough to make us different nations? No... If anything the nation would be divided by say a "cultural" divide (there are differences from the Southwest and New England, let's be realistic, but not very many) AND political which is the biggest divide here that no one has brought up yet.
In my generation, Millennials, politics has become such a denominator to MOST issues it's hard to ignore. I know way too many people my age in particular but across all generations who will address a member of the other party as "ignorant", "backwards", etc. and won't even associate with them at all. If you notice a lot of the people who post in the General U.S. forum who are asking for a conservative or liberal place are generally younger. It's actually a huge factor for people my age which is really disappointing, since they won't live somewhere traditionally red or blue not realizing there are liberal and conservative pockets everywhere. And it's polarizing the country IMO. This alone would create more than four different nations, as most states themselves have huge divides between their red and blue counties. A couple good examples of this that I can think off at the top of my head would be Western Washington and Eastern Washington. From what I've heard they are very different politically and maybe even culturally especially since people have plagued Seattle and Portland thinking it's some kind of hipster haven. That would be a divide. Maybe even Northern California and Southern California are different enough to have a divide. To me, if I had to make divisions, it would be WAY more than four.
Despite that, we are still an united nation. Remember Europe is about the same size as the mainland and look how different Spain is from Ukraine. Sweden to Italy. Greece to Iceland. Portugal to Scotland. The only two state comparisons I can think of that might be that stark of a difference would be Alaska to Hawaii. And that's an if. As others have mentioned we are fairly homogenous in the cultural realm.
At the risk of repeating an earlier post, the answer is no. This is because these four regions have States that fit into two or more regions and can't be categorized. This is one of the elements that make up a great country. And the fact that all four of these regions are full of people from other regions makes this even more clear.
In 1981 Joel Garreau published a book entitled The Nine Nations of North America.
That book created a LOT of attention on this subject, and it fascinated me. I never got rid of my copy of the book, and I am holding it in my hand right now.
35 years ago, he said that nine distinct American Nations exist, based on shared culture and values rather than on national or state lines or even physical environments.
The 9 Nations he identifies are:
Quebec Includes not only Quebec but also some of Eastern Ontario and Northern Maine New England Also includes some of the eastern Canadian provinces The Foundry What we now call the "Rustbelt" Dixie Historically Confederate states plus a little bit more to the west Mexamerica Southern California and what we think of now as the "Southwestern" states The Bread Basket What is typically thought of as the Midwest, dipping into OK and TX and central Canadian provinces The Empty Quarter The non-Coastal "West" and much of central and western Canada and Alaska Ecotopia The west coast from central California up to Anchorage The Islands Southern Florida and the Caribbean Islands, including Cuba
(Found this image on Wikipedia - it is not the image on the cover of Garreau's book so I'm not sure if this is a copyrighted image or not)
Here's an article he wrote for the New York Times, published July 2014.: Nine Nations of North America, 30 Years Later - NYTimes.com In the article he basically says that from his perspective, the 9 Nations have stayed pretty much the same, and that he is seeing that people are again talking about the concept of different nations in America.
I mostly agree with his perspective, although I think I would move the Breadbasket lines a little further east and not so far south.
I would say there are cultural divides within the nation from say where I live to someone in Long Island, NY but enough to make us different nations? No... If anything the nation would be divided by say a "cultural" divide (there are differences from the Southwest and New England, let's be realistic, but not very many) AND political which is the biggest divide here that no one has brought up yet.
In my generation, Millennials, politics has become such a denominator to MOST issues it's hard to ignore. I know way too many people my age in particular but across all generations who will address a member of the other party as "ignorant", "backwards", etc. and won't even associate with them at all. If you notice a lot of the people who post in the General U.S. forum who are asking for a conservative or liberal place are generally younger. It's actually a huge factor for people my age which is really disappointing, since they won't live somewhere traditionally red or blue not realizing there are liberal and conservative pockets everywhere. And it's polarizing the country IMO. This alone would create more than four different nations, as most states themselves have huge divides between their red and blue counties. A couple good examples of this that I can think off at the top of my head would be Western Washington and Eastern Washington. From what I've heard they are very different politically and maybe even culturally especially since people have plagued Seattle and Portland thinking it's some kind of hipster haven. That would be a divide. Maybe even Northern California and Southern California are different enough to have a divide. To me, if I had to make divisions, it would be WAY more than four.
Despite that, we are still an united nation. Remember Europe is about the same size as the mainland and look how different Spain is from Ukraine. Sweden to Italy. Greece to Iceland. Portugal to Scotland. The only two state comparisons I can think of that might be that stark of a difference would be Alaska to Hawaii. And that's an if. As others have mentioned we are fairly homogenous in the cultural realm.
I agree. There are more similarities than differences, everywhere.
In 1981 Joel Garreau published a book entitled The Nine Nations of North America.
That book created a LOT of attention on this subject, and it fascinated me. I never got rid of my copy of the book, and I am holding it in my hand right now.
35 years ago, he said that nine distinct American Nations exist, based on shared culture and values rather than on national or state lines or even physical environments.
The 9 Nations he identifies are:
Quebec Includes not only Quebec but also some of Eastern Ontario and Northern Maine New England Also includes some of the eastern Canadian provinces The Foundry What we now call the "Rustbelt" Dixie Historically Confederate states plus a little bit more to the west Mexamerica Southern California and what we think of now as the "Southwestern" states The Bread Basket What is typically though of as the Midwest, dipping into OK and TX and central Canadian provinces The Empty Quarter The non-Coastal "West" and much of central and western Canada and Alaska Ecotopia The west coast from central California up to Anchorage The Islands Southern Florida and the Caribbean Islands, including Cuba
(Found this image on Wikipedia - it is not the image on the cover of Garreau's book so I'm not sure if this is a copyrighted image or not)
Here's an article he wrote for the New York Times, published July 2014.: Nine Nations of North America, 30 Years Later - NYTimes.com In the article he basically says that from his perspective, the 9 Nations have stayed pretty much the same, and that he is seeing that people are again talking about the concept of different nations in America.
I mostly agree with his perspective, although I think I would move the Breadbasket lines a little further east and not so far south.
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I remember that, too. What a doofus! A lot has changed in 35 years, despite what he thinks. Oil was discovered in Wyoming, fracking in N. Dakota. The steel industry collapsed in his "foundry". Colorado and Utah's populations have boomed.
Bear in mind that his criteria was "shared culture and values". So I would argue that he is still correct with his identified nations, whether or not specific areas still have a machine based economy anymore or whether or not other areas aren't "empty".
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother
In 1981 Joel Garreau published a book entitled The Nine Nations of North America.
That book created a LOT of attention on this subject, and it fascinated me. I never got rid of my copy of the book, and I am holding it in my hand right now.
35 years ago, he said that nine distinct American Nations exist, based on shared culture and values rather than on national or state lines or even physical environments.
The 9 Nations he identifies are:
Quebec Includes not only Quebec but also some of Eastern Ontario and Northern Maine New England Also includes some of the eastern Canadian provinces The Foundry What we now call the "Rustbelt" Dixie Historically Confederate states plus a little bit more to the west Mexamerica Southern California and what we think of now as the "Southwestern" states The Bread Basket What is typically thought of as the Midwest, dipping into OK and TX and central Canadian provinces The Empty Quarter The non-Coastal "West" and much of central and western Canada and Alaska Ecotopia The west coast from central California up to Anchorage The Islands Southern Florida and the Caribbean Islands, including Cuba
(Found this image on Wikipedia - it is not the image on the cover of Garreau's book so I'm not sure if this is a copyrighted image or not)
Here's an article he wrote for the New York Times, published July 2014.: Nine Nations of North America, 30 Years Later - NYTimes.com In the article he basically says that from his perspective, the 9 Nations have stayed pretty much the same, and that he is seeing that people are again talking about the concept of different nations in America.
I mostly agree with his perspective, although I think I would move the Breadbasket lines a little further east and not so far south.
If there are different nations hidden in our country, this is the closest to them in truth of any I've seen.
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(Found this image on Wikipedia - it is not the image on the cover of Garreau's book so I'm not sure if this is a copyrighted image or not) 
