Transcript Regions - RSD 17

North America
Human Geography
How can we organize the Geography of North America?
-By Culture?
-By Landscape?
-By Region?
-Can we combine these features to create Regions with
both physical and cultural landscape?
North American Human Geography
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
How are Cultural systems and identities created?
How are Regions created?
Reminder - Cultural Geography
What is culture?
•
…human-made part of the environment (Melville Jean Herskovitz)
•
…the learned patterns of thought and behaviour characteristic of a
population or society (D.R. Harris)
Cultural trait
Cultural region
Cultural system
collective identity
ethnicity
??????
• Do Canadians and Americans share
the same culture?
• Is there a North American culture or
are there two cultures: Canadian and
American?
–
Physical Features
Regional Traits
1. How does geography create different regional traits?
2. How has history created different cultural regions?
3. How do you connect these different regions & cultures
together to create a common American culture?
5 Themes of
Geography
Region
Region is an area on the earth’s surface
that is defined by certain unifying
characteristics. The unifying
characteristics may be physical, human,
or cultural.
What are the 3 types of regions?
Formal
Functional
Perceptual
Regionalism
• Clusters of like areas that are
distinctive by their uniformity
or description
– How have formal and
perceptual regions in the US
impacted culture and
politics?
How do we define our regions?
1. Legal Regions?
2. Regionalism based on early
settlement patterns?
3. Belt Regions?
4. Cultural Regions?
Regionalism
• Clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their
uniformity or description (similar characteristics,
either physical or human).
– Many regions are perceptual
How do we define our regions?
1. Legal Regions
2. Regionalism based on early settlement patterns
3. Belt Regions
4. Cultural Regions
Regionalism
1. Legal Regions – US census Bureau Regions
2. Regions based on settlement patterns
•
"American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North
America."
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainm
ent/july-dec11/colinwoodard_11-24.html
3. Belt Regions
• Belt Regions of the US – portions of the
country that share certain characteristics.
– First applied to growing regions – follow lines of
latitude and have similar climates, soil conditions.
– Usage has expanded to other economic, climatic
and cultural concentrations.
– Often vague borders
– Ex: Bible Belt, Snowbelt, Sun Belt…
4. Cultural Traits by Region
• EX: Observations of Stephen Fry in Maine….
– Language – accents
– People – hard workers (immigrant heritage)
– Landscape, animals, food (insiders knowledge)
What are some cultural traits that Stephen Fry (British comedian)
observes about Maine?
Maine – 6:30
• http://video.yandex.ru/users/stephenfry-ru/view/5/?cauthor=stephenfry-ru&cid=3
House Types
• Kniffen’s traditional
American house types:
New England
Mid-Atlantic
Southern Tidewater
Cultural Regionalism within State
The Quiet Corner
• noticeably more rustic in character than the more suburban towns to the west
• under populated and isolated in contrast with the rest of Connecticut, with many
of its towns having populations below 5,000.
Greater Hartford
• Not dependent on out-of-state metropolitan areas such as New York City or Boston.
• It is on the fairly level land of the Connecticut River valley with soil less rocky than
that of other areas in the state
Cultural Heritage associated
with human geographic features
• Rural vs. Urban
• Urban - More than 75% of the people of Mexico
live in cities of over 50,000 inhabitants
– contemporary life in its cities has become similar to
that in neighboring United States and Europe.
• Rural - Most Mexican villagers follow the older
way of life more than the city people do
• Blending of Cultures across borders – Tex Mex
– What are at least 3 examples of cultural diffusion occurring along the
Mexican/ US border that Tony Bourdain highlights?
Are we becoming more culturally
unified or do regional traits still exist?
Better Know Your State
Cultural Traits
2. Regions based on settlement patterns
•
"American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North
America."
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainm
ent/july-dec11/colinwoodard_11-24.html
Regions based on early settlement patterns
•
Can you identify the 11 Rival Regional Cultures of North America from the article?
– "American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America."
European Exploration based on
land claims
Colonial
Period
Original Settlements in US - Geographic features impact settlement patterns
• Chesapeake Bay: Economic colonies
– Jamestown (1607)
• New England: Religious colonies
– Pilgrims: Plymouth Bay (1620)
– Puritans: Massachusetts Bay (1630)
• As colonies expanded, geography changed ways of life
1. Went to the Fall Line
• Piedmont (foothills of Appalachian mountains) is hard rock
• Runoff from Piedmont hits soft, flat coastal plains
• Runoff becomes rapids and waterfalls
2. Could not feasibly pass the Fall Line
• Economy based on transporting goods (tobacco, fur, lumber) quickly
to market
• Rapids made river travel impossible for load carrying ships
Fall Line
1.
The Fall Line altered economy and
settlement
Instead, the rapids were used for
water power
Sawmills, grist mills, factories
Population started to rise around the
mills (from surplus food & jobs)
Examples of American Regions
Geography’s impact on regional culture
• Regions: Settlement & economic patterns over time
• Northeast & Old Northwest developed as an
industrial center (higher population density)
– Had the resources: coal, iron
– Had the water power
• Now called the Rust Belt – industry has decreased, people leave
the area
• South developed as commercial crops center (lower
population density)
– Had the better soil
– Had longer growing season
• Commercial crops grew well there: cotton, indigo, rice, tobacco
• Now called the Sun Belt – the people leaving Northeast
retire/move to this region
Impediments to easy transportation
• Mountain Ranges
– The Appalachians - are an old and eroded system that formed
about 300 mya.
– North American Cordillera The cordillera is a complex belt of
mountains and associated plateaus and basins some of which
were formed as recently as 100–65 mya The cordillera extend
from Alaska into Mexico and includes the Pacific Margin on the
west and the Rocky Mountains on the east
• Large distances (even the lowlands area)
– Interior Lowlands - The lowlands extend down the middle of
the continent from the Mackenzie Valley to the Atlantic Coastal
Plain, and include the Great Plains on the west and the
agriculturally productive Interior Plains on the east.
• Original settlement patterns
determined by Geography of the
Region
http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/land/teache
r_resources/webquests.cfm
3. Belt Regions
• Belt Regions of the US – portions of the
country that share certain characteristics.
– First applied to growing regions – follow lines of
latitude and have similar climates, soil conditions.
– Usage has expanded to other economic, climatic
and cultural concentrations.
– Often vague borders
– Ex: Bible Belt, Snowbelt, Sun Belt…
Examples of American Regions
Geography’s impact on regional culture
• Midwest developed into food crop centers
– Northern plains were rocky
• lent to Dairy Belt: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakotas, Montana
– Central plains had rich soil
• Wheat Belt (Texas up to Saskatchewan)
• Corn Belts (Ohio to Iowa)
• West/Pacific
– Mixed economy
• Started as timber in Oregon on up
• Gold/minerals in California and Rocky Mountains
• Now: Hollywood, technology (Silicon Valley), fruits (plus wine)
• Overall, population has shifted westward and southward
• Has meant changes to politics: reapportionment
Belt Regions
• Belt Regions of the US – portions of the
country that share certain characteristics.
– First applied to growing regions – follow lines of
latitude and have similar climates, soil conditions.
– Usage has expanded to other economic, climatic
and cultural concentrations.
– Often vague borders
– Ex: Bible Belt, Snowbelt, Sun Belt…
– *Regions have become more and more perceptual
over time rather than based on climates or
growing conditions….
Perceptual Regions
• Based on Culture or Perceived differences
between different groups.
– Belt Regions?
or
– Historic Regions?
How do we create perceptual regions in the US?
A Moving Population
• Overall, population
has shifted westward
and southward
– Has meant changes to
politics:
reapportionment
• The Northeast has
been losing
Congressional Seats
while the South/ West
has gained seats
• How might this
impact national
politics?
Gerrymandering
• State legislators are often in charge of
submitting new maps of their state’s
congressional districts,
• Gerrymandering is when they redraw the
lines around a favored electorate to help
their friends and fellow party members to
stay in power.
http://www.redistrictinggame.org/
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/gerryma
ndering
Redistricting
• Why does redistricting
occur?
• How can it result in
Gerrymandering?
• What are the effects of
Gerrymandering?
– Examples of
Gerrymandering:
– Why is California’s
Proposition 11 so
controversial?
The Gerrymandering Game:
Tasks:
1. Watch the Introduction on
Gerrymandering
2. Play the Basic level game
- (1 round)
1. What do you observe about what is
required to create the required
districts?
2. Why do you think politicians create
these new lines? (what motivates
them)
3. How does this change the voting
process in these new districts?
Stephen Fry in America
New England
• http://video.yandex.ru/users/stephenfryru/view/5/?cauthor=stephenfry-ru&cid=3
• PBS National Parks:
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx8WbZIWCS
M&feature=channel
What connects Americans Culturally
• Cultural traits and Identity as Americans –
• By region….
• What are some cultural traits that Stephen Fry
(British comedian) observes about Maine?
• Are we becoming more culturally unified or do
regional traits still exist?
Cultural Traits by Region
• Observations of Stephen Fry in Maine….
– Language – accents
– People – hard workers (immigrant heritage)
– Landscape, animals, food (insiders knowledge)
Sources
• http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/northamerican-cultures.cfm
• http://edsitement.neh.gov/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyVEAeUbWbc&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKR_xR8f0Wg&feature=channel
• Route 66
• US Cities and immigration:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OTd2tXZXR4&feature=related
• PBS National Parks:
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx8WbZIWCSM&feature=channel
American Cities
• What is unique about the Development of
American Cities?
• What do American cities need to develop?
• The story of US – 2-9