Do Richmond people feel an affinity to Baltimore? Baltimore from a Richmond comparitive?

[skeddy]

the South begins in Richmond ...

[Magicstar1]

Originally Posted by skeddy

the South begins in Richmond ...

You are entitled to your opinion, but I disagree. There are many reasons that the south does not begin in Richmond. You have to consider which people made settlements in what places where and which cultures they brought with them. Considering this, you could either say that Baltimore is the start of the south or, that the south starts around Raleigh. Either way, Richmond is firmly within whatever region you place it in. However, it could be said that the southern part of the Richmond metro (South of Chesterfield) is the beginning of the south due to its southern border with the Chesapeake Black Belt region which connects with the deep southern black belt.

Historically, settlers who came to the Chesapeake Bay expanded across Eastern and Central Virginia, Eastern and Central Maryland, and around the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. These settlers came directly from the West Country and the West Midlands of England and came to make money from tobacco farming and processing. At first, labour was provided by indentured servants. African Slavery came later. Unlike West Indies style slavery, servitude was not based entirely on race. Many African Americans who lived in the region were never enslaved. Many free blacks could own land and even own slaves of their own. Many cities were established along tributaries as trading posts such as Baltimore and Richmond. These cities became very industrial and thrived off of processing tobacco and textile. This boom in industry attracted many immigrants to the larger cities. These immigrants were mostly of Jewish and Eastern European ancestry. This region today is served by the nations capital which benefits the region economically. However, its rapid growth compared to the surrounding region is causing the traditional Chesapeake culture to fade away. However, the region is still very unique and retains many of its oldest defining elements. The region is currently one of the wealthiest areas of the country.

The rest of the south outside of the Appalachian Mountains was settled by British Slave lords coming from the Caribbean. While some of the settlers did come directly from Europe, most had already owned slaves and had plantations in the West Indies. These settlers sought to establish a West Indies style Plantation system in the United States. These settlers were able to expand across the Eastern United States to Texas, as far north as the Pamlico Sound where they were bounded by Chesapeake settlers, and as far south as Florida where they were bounded by the Spanish. In accordance with the West Indies Plantation system, slavery was entirely based on race. Outside of Urban Charleston, free African Americans were rare. Cities in this region such as Charleston or Savannah, were mainly used as places were the wealthiest planters could go to relax. Industry was mainly confined to shipping cotton produced on plantations. Due to the mild climate, cotton thrived in this region. It is because of this that planter established large sprawling plantations with lots of slaves. In most areas, slaves outnumbered whites by far. In areas along the coast, African American slaves were able to develop a unique dialect of English which still included lots of West African elements. It was developed as slaves had little contact with whites, and needed a way to communicate with the other slaves, and their master. Many of the slaves came from the same part of Africa which aided communication with other slaves. This African influence was not confined to slaves, Upper Class whites had a dialect which included African elements as well. It can be traced back to the Caribbean which is where many of the settlers came from before coming to the United States. While inland and Gulf Coast areas had less African cultural influence on plantations, the abundance of slaves in some areas made African contribution to the culture inevitable. Today, the region is largely poor as many of the African Americans are impoverished or have moved north. The descendants of wealthy planters are small in number and have either moved away or are confined to old cities such as Charleston. Many have also moved to increasingly prosperous cities in the South such as Charlotte or Atlanta and even to Florida where the winter is almost completely free of frost.


These areas have a lot in common but those are some of their differences. You can say that Richmond is both Southern and Mid-Atlantic, you could say that it is solidly Mid-Atlantic and the south starts in North Carolina or you could say that Baltimore is the start of the South. However, in my opinion, Richmond is not the beginning of the South in any way. Richmond is too disconnected historically from the Deep South and too close culturally and geographically to the Chesapeake Bay. The settlers in Richmond and Baltimore are almost entirely the same.