Why does the Southeast extend further west than the Northeast? (plantation, agriculture)
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Just curious why there are several states in the Southeast that if you were to go north of you'd be in the midwest. It seems like geographically the more Eastern Midwest states could be considered the Northeast even if they aren't culturally similar. Does this just have to do regions getting named before the US had expanded out west? Thoughts?
I think the real underlying question here is: why does the southern half of the country seem to keep a unified culture as you move west, much longer than the northern half of the country does?
Slavery is probably a major reason. I don't think the Southern states thought of themselves as all that similar until after the Civil War when they all suffered the same economic blow and national humiliation. I think there's even linguistic evidence that (rural) Southern accents are much stronger now than in pre-Civil War times, which is likely a reflection of a stronger regional identity.
Also, the culture that the Northeast is known for is heavily dependent on urbanization and, historically, shipping. That culture obviously can't permeate as far inland as plantation agriculture can.
The southeast would be the southern Atlantic coastal states. Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia...not to be confused with the traditional "South", of which it is a part. Since these states must conform to the southwest trend of the Atlantic coast, Atlanta is west of Detroit. Florida extends further westward along the Gulf (Panhandle) because it generally conforms to the boundaries of Spanish (and British) colonial East and West Florida and did not become a state until 1845. Alabama was already established as a state since 1819. The northeast mostly bumps into Canada.
I think a combination of population density and culture. To me, IL is less similar to NY than MS is to FL. Also, it should be noted that the northest extends further east than the southeast does, in other words, you are comparing different starting points, so judging how far west they go in not a fair comparison.
Lastly, for purposes of covering a certain general area, you want you population sizes to be as similar as possible. So if the US gov't needs to have a social security office in each region (just as an example), you want to have somewhat equal population service areas. Given the lower density of the Southeast, they needed to go further west.
I would think most people nationally and internationally that do not have a interest in geography would think of the US regions as Northeast, Midwest, South and West.
It's historical/cultural. The south obviously includes mostly Confederate states (obviously with some exceptions), while the northeast is the original 13 colonies NOT in the south, while the "midwest" was, for a while, considered the "northwestern territories", solidifying it as "separate" from the northeast. Over time, each region obviously formed its own identities.
Any sub-categorizations are newer obviously and used as per analytic needs.
Last edited by sad_hotline; 08-02-2019 at 10:09 AM..
Why is there even a United States today? It never would have happened if you didn't have a long coastline on the Atlantic paralleled by the long stretch of the Appalachians. How unique was this piece of land? Well, for starters: can you think of anywhere in the Americas that truly had developed a settler colonial society other than this one spot?
If cities had walls for protection, so did the 13 colonies. Only in such a setting with no exposure to the west could Europeans have been able to "replace" native Americans by sending them packing. That's why the French and Spanish never were able to truly colonize any of their lands while the Brits were (even though neither of those nations had the desire to use America for settlement). The concept of colonial settler society was born in the 13 colonies.
Here's a little tidbit that I am sure many would find interesting: Atlanta became Georgia's capital in 1877. No, that wasn't a typo. I didn't mean to say 1777. Savannah and a few other cities served as the state's capital before that. So Georgia was like Masschhusetts: the largest cities and the state capitals, Savannah and Boston, were both on the Atlantic coast.
So why did a far inland city like Atlanta become not only the state's largest city by far and state capital to boot? And how did it manage to do so with no navigable body of water?
You can't find harbor in Atlanta, but that doesn't mean topography was unkind to it. Its location is a gem. from the northern most tip of colonial America in the Maine portion of Massachusetts all the way south almost to Atlanta, there was no good route to cross the Appalachians. In Atlanta, you could cross it. So when rail replaced boat as the key way to travel west, Atlanta became the Chicago of the South and got into rail road big time. That is why the location was so prime during the Civil War. It can also in part explain why during the rise of the Sun Belt/New South, Atlanta became an air hub and why it was essential for Delta for connections from the eastern seaboard west across the plains that headed towards the Mississippi.
It's all about the Appalachians. It's why Pennsylvania doesn't really relate to Ohio nor Virginia to Kentucky....but Georgia and Alabama cotton up to each other very well.
You can't go without flow. Georgia had it; PA and VA, not so much.
Why is there even a United States today? It never would have happened if you didn't have a long coastline on the Atlantic paralleled by the long stretch of the Appalachians. How unique was this piece of land? Well, for starters: can you think of anywhere in the Americas that truly had developed a settler colonial society other than this one spot?
If cities had walls for protection, so did the 13 colonies. Only in such a setting with no exposure to the west could Europeans have been able to "replace" native Americans by sending them packing. That's why the French and Spanish never were able to truly colonize any of their lands while the Brits were (even though neither of those nations had the desire to use America for settlement). The concept of colonial settler society was born in the 13 colonies.
Here's a little tidbit that I am sure many would find interesting: Atlanta became Georgia's capital in 1877. No, that wasn't a typo. I didn't mean to say 1777. Savannah and a few other cities served as the state's capital before that. So Georgia was like Masschhusetts: the largest cities and the state capitals, Savannah and Boston, were both on the Atlantic coast.
So why did a far inland city like Atlanta become not only the state's largest city by far and state capital to boot? And how did it manage to do so with no navigable body of water?
You can't find harbor in Atlanta, but that doesn't mean topography was unkind to it. Its location is a gem. from the northern most tip of colonial America in the Maine portion of Massachusetts all the way south almost to Atlanta, there was no good route to cross the Appalachians. In Atlanta, you could cross it. So when rail replaced boat as the key way to travel west, Atlanta became the Chicago of the South and got into rail road big time. That is why the location was so prime during the Civil War. It can also in part explain why during the rise of the Sun Belt/New South, Atlanta became an air hub and why it was essential for Delta for connections from the eastern seaboard west across the plains that headed towards the Mississippi.
It's all about the Appalachians. It's why Pennsylvania doesn't really relate to Ohio nor Virginia to Kentucky....but Georgia and Alabama cotton up to each other very well.
You can't go without flow. Georgia had it; PA and VA, not so much.
Good post.
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