The heart of the spring wheat belt is North Dakota, and the crop is also common in eastern Montana and in Canada’s Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. 1.8%. The items below represent only a few titles that are available about the North America realm. The Pacific Coast region is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity, yet it is home to the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States and is known for its rich, diverse economic base. The region has a harsh climate and is removed from the major population centers of Canada and the eastern United States. What region is it part of? Identify the following key places on a map: Archibold, R. C., “Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration,” New York Times, April 23, 2010, accessed September 20, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/us/politics/24immig.html. Los Angeles is the quintessential automobile city. This region, especially the Great Plains, is experiencing a period of long-term population decline and aging. b) It incorporates the subsidiary cores of California, Texas, and Florida into a continent-wide network. In Arizona, strong centrifugal forces have been in play because of its tough legal measures against illegal immigration. According to the 2010 census, about 46 percent of New Mexico’s population was Hispanic or Latino, and in Texas and Arizona the figures were 37 percent and 30 percent, respectively (US Census Bureau). This map was produced from Geographic Information System (GIS) files prepared by the USGS National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB).The GMNA Resources Site has the geospatial files, map images, publication documentation, and informational resources.. Los Angeles is a highly decentralized city, unlike cities in other parts of North America that formed during other transportation regimes. This land-use pattern was common throughout French Canada and can even be seen today in the United States in former French colonies such as Tennessee and Louisiana. As settlement and colonization expanded, people moved steadily westward, still primarily situating close to waterways. Physically, this region is immense, including the state of Alaska plus most of Canada. The water shortage is happening even though Las Vegas has managed to reduce per capita water usage by raising prices for water and creating incentives to remove grass lawns. The northeast region contains many human characteristics, such as: The Statue of Liberty- A model of lady liberty that is made of copper which rusted into the color green it is today (copper rusting is called "patina"). Race and Ethnicity in the Northeast (Region) Race and Ethnicity#1. The center of the continent contains a relatively level agricultural region: the Midwest and the Great Plains. The three Southwestern states have been recipients of Sun Belt migrations over the past few decades, as people have moved to the Southwest for tertiary-sector jobs and for the region’s warm climate. Twenty-one federally recognized tribes with more than 250,000 people (4.9 percent of the state’s population) live in Arizona, and their reservations and traditional communities make up more than one-fourth of the state’s land. The Mountain West is growing rapidly, especially in its urban and suburban areas. They are small in number and traditionally make a living by hunting and fishing. Agriculture and mining have been in decline in the South, while tertiary and quaternary industries have attracted new migrants to the region’s urban and suburban areas. Where would they be most prominent? We identify nine regions: the North American Core, the Maritime Northeast, French Canada, the South, the Southwest, the Pacific Hinge, the Western Frontier, the Continental Interior, and the Northern Frontier. See the recommended library items below to begin your research. 66.6%. This region is typically thought of as two subregions: California and the Pacific Northwest. Although Great Britain obtained all that land from France in 1763 following the French and Indian War, enough French inhabitants occupied part of that territory that the region did not automatically become English speaking. The economic core of North America is located in the Middle Atlantic States. 998k. The economic core of North America has traditionally been in the US Northeast and its surrounding territory. Across the border to the north, Vancouver is Canada’s third-largest metropolitan area with over two million residents. Three-fourths of Arizona’s population live in the Phoenix or Tucson metropolitan area. The dominant city in this region is Chicago, which developed as a market town for the livestock and grain produced in the surrounding states and was linked to its hinterland through a complex network of rail lines. Las Vegas recycles 94 percent of all sewage water, which is the highest rate in the United States. North America - North America - The economy: Few episodes in human history have been more remarkable than the economic transformation of North America since about 1700. The Houston metropolitan area is not far behind with 6.1 million residents. Hoefer, M., Nancy Rytina, and Bryan C. Baker, “Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2008,” Department of Homeland Security, accessed September 20, 2011, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2008.pdf. Within these regions are all the major types of biomes in the world. One unique characteristic of the farms in French Canada is their size and shape. The Pacific Northwest is home to major corporations such as Boeing (whose headquarters recently moved to Chicago), Microsoft, and other famous companies such as Starbucks, Amazon.com, REI, T-Mobile, Costco, and Eddie Bauer. It is called the core area because it contains the largest cities and capitals, has the leading financial markets, largest number of corporate headquarters, dominate media centers, prestigious universities Surrounding this is a stable platform where the basement is covered by sediment; and surrounding that are a series of orogenic zones. The North American Plate is made up of a thick granitic core that extends from the Atlantic Ridge to the Pacific Plate. North America is the World’s third-largest continent – 24,474,000 km² covering approximately 16.5% of the Earth’s land and 5% of the Earth’s surface. This is putting stress on the physical environment (particularly its water resources) and made the region susceptible to the real estate bubble collapse. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Nearly all the growth is occurring in urban and suburban areas. This has fueled a period of urbanization and economic growth, and the newfound prosperity has helped integrate the South into the nation’s economy. What is fueling this growth? Three of … The Pacific tectonic plate is moving northward relative to the North American plate. In Nunavut, the native population is about 85 percent of the total 30,000 residents, living in a territory the size of Western Europe. Today, North America is home to the citizen s of Canada, the United States, Greenland, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the island countries and territories of the Caribbean Sea and western North Atlantic Ocean. Before the Civil War, the coastal plain was dedicated to plantation agriculture using African slave labor. The other residents are more recent immigrants who are there to exploit the land’s natural resources. Explain how physical geography has contributed to economic activities. Figure 4.35 Navajo Dancer Performing the Eagle Dance. Often, our ideas about geography are determined by a variety of factors, from political borders to shared cultural experie… The core region contains the Manufacturing/Rust Belt, which was once the main manufacturing region for North America but suffered decline with the advent of the information age. A significant percentage of the population of North America (85 percent) is made up of the three countries, i.e., the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Meanwhile, cities such as Detroit and Cleveland have suffered from deindustrialization and have experienced a major population decline since the 1950s. This land includes some of the most fertile agricultural land in the entire world and has been dubbed America’s breadbasket. Most of northern Quebec is sparsely populated because of the lack of quality soil for agriculture, but a paper and pulp industry based on its forests has developed over the twentieth century, as well as hydroelectric power generation. Tourism has been increasing as a source of revenue, especially in places such as Prince Edward Island, in which tourism is the dominant economic activity. The North American Manufacturing Core Manufacturing is found throughout the more populated New England and the Canadian Maritimes overlap with the Northeastern Core because its major city—Boston—is considered the northern edge of the megalopolis. Today the region has a more diverse economic base, including recreation and tourism, finance, telecommunications, and health care. It developed into a major city in the mid-twentieth century at the time that automobile ownership had become common, and people who lived in the area tended to move to suburbs that were connected to each other by an extensive highway system. The South had little urbanization or industrialization at the time of the Civil War. The Southwest has a strong Hispanic heritage and was part of Spain’s Mexican colony before England established colonies on the East Coast (the first Spanish settlers arrived in New Mexico in 1598). From what plants to grow and how to grow them, join our society to read the latest Rock Garden Quarterly or engage in our annual Seed Exchange. 11.9%. What have been some of the traditional economic activities in the American South? Well into the twentieth century, the region remained rural and economically deprived. Los Angeles is the second-largest US city after New York. However, the rapid growth of the West since 1990 has come at a cost. This table is used to do regional classification in a variety of contexts at the Wikimedia Foundation. Most of the region’s population is urban, and Los Angeles and its metropolitan area is by far the largest area of settlement. We promote the cultivation, conservation, and knowledge of rock garden plants, their value, habits and geographical distribution. The city decreased in population by 25 percent just between 2000 and 2010. The states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are considered the Southwest. The mountains of western New England have been particularly attractive for the development of ski resorts, and the coasts of New England are popular for summer vacationing. Silicon Valley, near San Francisco, is a key area for high-tech research and Internet commerce. Figure 4.39 The Pacific Ocean from Venice Beach in Los Angeles. Twelve percent of the US population lives in California (thirty-seven million people), and the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area has nearly eighteen million people. In 2008, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics estimated that Arizona had one of the fastest-growing illegal immigrant populations in the country at 8.4 percent of the population (Hoefer, M., et. As of early 2011, three of the five states with the highest foreclosure rates were in this region (Nevada, Utah, and Idaho), and the others were bordering states (Arizona and California). Maine is the least densely populated state in this region; about 90 percent of its land is forested, making it the most forested of the fifty United States. This region, anchored by North America’s largest metropolis, New York, is the economic heart of the United States and Canada and home to more than a third of each country’s population. South of Boston, the low-lying states of New England were the center of colonial settlement in the region and were the birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution. Most inhabitants of the northern portions of North America live in the forested areas rather than in the frozen Arctic. North American Core This region is synonymous with the American Manufacturing belt and serves as link of spatial economies of both US and Canada. There is no grass to mow, and cactus and palm trees are common. Map courtesy of US Department of Agriculture. This physical map of the US shows the terrain of all 50 states of the USA. Select the geographic realm to view related library resources. The North America Core Core of both countries: Contains largest cities, each country’s capital, economic and media centers, hubs of research and education, and major transportation systems Contains more than 1/3 of each country’s population When other parts of the country are still frozen in the winter months, the fields of the Central Valley are already producing bountiful harvests. The water for irrigation comes from the continent’s largest aquifer, the Ogallala Aquifer. About 21 percent of Canadians speak French as their mother tongue, including about 80 percent of Canadians living in the province of Quebec. As explained in Section 4.4.3 “British versus French Canada”, France was the first European country to colonize the coastal regions of what is now Canada, the St. Lawrence River Valley, most of the land surrounding the Great Lakes, and the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys, south to the Gulf of Mexico. The Pacific Coast represents a large population center a continent away from what we consider the North American core. Why is there a difference between where spring wheat and winter wheat is grown? Understand the patterns of population growth or decline for the various regions. The greatest east-west distance in the 48 contiguous states of the country is 4,500 km. The Pacific Coast region is also famous for its agriculture. It houses over half of Canada’s population which leads us to the problem. The irrigated farmland in the valley produces all types of nontropical crops and is the largest US producer of tomatoes, grapes, almonds, and other foods. Vancouver began as a logging town but developed into its position as the Asian gateway to Canada because of its port, the busiest in Canada. Nearly one-third of its residents are of Chinese origin, and more than half its population speak a language other than English at home. The Pacific Coast includes the coastal portions of California, Oregon, and Washington, plus the southwestern portion of British Columbia in Canada. A biome is a community of animals and plants spreading over an extensive area with a relatively uniform climate. Throughout most of its history, the people of Quebec have been rural farmers, eking out a living on less-than-ideal land in a place with a short growing season. Downtown Philadelphia’s city hall is an example of the urban qualities of the megalopolis that extends from Boston to Washington, DC. World Regional Geography by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. In the air, soil, and water. For example, Nevada’s population grew 32.3 percent from 2000 to 2009, which is more than three times as much as the United States as a whole (9.1 percent). The climate of the Southwest is more arid and receives a high amount of sunlight throughout the year. Under such a definition, part of Mexico must be included in Central America, although that country lies mainly in North America … The Midwest and the Great Plains make up North America’s breadbasket. Large farming operations exist where water is available for irrigation. Boundaries of the North American Manufacturing Core Megalopolis, and the group of large urban regions between Milwaukee and Chicago on the west, and Cleveland and Pittsburgh on the east. Scope: population of the United States and the Northeast. Besides agriculture, the economic base of the Pacific Coast is quite diverse and rich. Grand Canyon National Park – Grand Canyon Eagle Dancer – CC BY 2.0. It developed as the region’s most important city in the mid-nineteenth century, as it controlled access through the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. 6.66M. Henk Sijgers – A direct line to city hall – CC BY-NC 2.0. 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