Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 5
Regional Dynamics
From the Atlantic to the Great Lakes, 16 Northeastern states and the District of
Columbia form the “core” of the national territory. In 1930 the population of that
core was half the population of the United States, though only 12% of its area. In the
second half of the 19th century, this part of the country went through rapid
industrialization and earned the nickname Manufacturing Belt.
The 20th century was characterized by a gradual redeployment of the US
population to other parts of the territory, making the country's settlement more
polycentric. This chapter describes the reconfiguration of the United States.
A division into regions does not apply easily to the United States because of the
country's recent settlement and the high rate of mobility of its population. Some
large groups of states, however, constitute clearly identified regions with a firmly
established image. Several proposals for divisions have been suggested, each with
its own justification, but none is really satisfactory, since no region has clear
boundaries, and there are no visible changes as one travels from one region to
another.
Consider a division into five large regions based mostly on cultural criteria,
solely for the purpose of simplifying the description of the dynamics of the
settlement of the US. Two of these regions have an indisputable historical and
cultural personality (see Figure 5.1). It is easy to identify the 11 states of the West,
with its mountains, the history of its Westward expansion, and the Pacific coast, and
which was the final destination of many internal migrants until the 1980s. The
