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I disagree. I think there are general cultural, structural and architectural similarities between regions. The Northeast, the Great Lakes Midwest, the Great Plains, the South, the West Coast and the Interior West all share general characteristics within themselves that exclude them somewhat from the rest of the country.
Go out to Dodge City, KS or Rapid City, SD and count the cowboy boots. Then do the same in Youngstown and Ashtabula. Which one is the "real" Midwest?
Because the regions of the United States are loosely grouped into large geographical regions that aren't determined by cultural or other similarities. The geographical regions are further divided into smaller subregions:
West Region - Pacific and Mountain subregions
Midwest Region - West North Central and East North Central subregions
Northeast Region - Middle Atlantic and New England subregions
South Region - West South Central, East South Central, and South Atlantic subregions
I don't think anyone really sits around debating how much alike or different the areas are of each region or subregion. The groupings are determined by location, and there always has to be a cut-off point somewhere for boundaries between regions. This subject has been discussed to death in online forums.
If you divide the country into just four broad regions like those in the map above, it makes sense that Ohio and ND would be in the same large region. The original question of the thread might just as easily have been what Richmond and Dallas had in common that would put them in the same region. For that matter, although the Northeast may be less varied among its sub-regions, you'd probably notice some real differences between northern Maine and south-central PA. That's why these broad regions have sub-regions. The broad regions have characteristics in common that make each distinct from the rest of the country, while the sub-regions feature details that distinguish them from other sub-regions within their larger regions.
Actually, I took Geography of the U.S. in college, and the professor for that class described the Midwest and the Great Plains as separate regions. The differences had to do with climate (drier in the Plains) and the resulting difference in staple crops (corn and soybeans vs. wheat), the population density and number of cities, the forested landscape in most open land in the Midwest not cleared for forming vs. the prairies in the Plains, and the much higher percentage of the Plains economy devoted to agriculture than is the case in the Midwestern economy with its emphasis on manufacturing.
Well, you have to draw the line somewhere. Clearly, the extremes at the end of any specturm are going to seem completely dissimilar. It's like saying how the most conservative Democrat and liberal Democrat (or Republican, if you will) can be in the same party, or how Spain and Russia can be on the same continent, etc. I'm sure you've gone to bed at the end of a long day and said "can this possibly still be the same day as when I got up?". After all, you are technically closer in time to the start of the next day than the beginning of the current day.
That being said, I think there is a major difference between the Great Plains region of the Midwest, and the Great Lakes region of the midwest. They just tend to be grouped together because of their many similarities. Certianly, Ohio is going to have a bit of an eastern flavor and North Dakota a western flavor, but they are both still closer to the midwestern "center of gravity" culturally than the eastern and western centers of gravity, respectively.
Culturally speaking, I'd put Western PA/NY into the same region as Ohio, MI, Illinois. North Dakota I'd put as great plains, a different region from the Great Lakes. MD/DE would be Northeast all the way.
Culturally speaking, I'd put Western PA/NY into the same region as Ohio, MI, Illinois. North Dakota I'd put as great plains, a different region from the Great Lakes. MD/DE would be Northeast all the way.
Well...it's a good thing you aren't making the decisions. How silly to start dividing states into different regions.
Because the regions of the United States are loosely grouped into large geographical regions that aren't determined by cultural or other similarities. The geographical regions are further divided into smaller subregions:
West Region - Pacific and Mountain subregions
Midwest Region - West North Central and East North Central subregions
Northeast Region - Middle Atlantic and New England subregions
South Region - West South Central, East South Central, and South Atlantic subregions
I don't think anyone really sits around debating how much alike or different the areas are of each region or subregion. The groupings are determined by location, and there always has to be a cut-off point somewhere for boundaries between regions. This subject has been discussed to death in online forums.
The most helpful element of this map is that it does at least a decent job of maintaining some semblance of the culture of the geographical regions of the United States.
Go out to Dodge City, KS or Rapid City, SD and count the cowboy boots. Then do the same in Youngstown and Ashtabula. Which one is the "real" Midwest?
The Dakotas and Kansas. Eastern OH has a lot of eastern influences, and you'll find a lot of cowboy boots in rural Indiana and Illinois too. There's not much of a difference culturally between Western Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Nebraska. It's all Midwestern corn belt territory.
I would say the western Dakotas have much more in common with a state like Montana then a place like Ohio!
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How silly to start dividing states into different regions.
