Demographic patterns
Favourable and unfavourable regions
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
As an area of late exploitation, North America does not have the high settlement densities
of Europe and Asia. The continent’s population, however, continues to grow and is concentrated
in regions of comparative advantage, such as the coasts, lowlands, and humid and temperate
zones. The enormous expanses of the Canadian Shield and of mountainous terrain have
discouraged continuous settlement in nearly half of the continent. Settlement is even more
problematic in the frost-ridden areas of the Arctic coastal plain and the Mackenzie and Hudson
Bay lowlands. Similarly, drought conditions in much of the western parts of the continent limit
their use, while the disease-ridden, wet, tropical lowlands of Central America remain relatively
empty. Furthermore, some of these sparsely populated areas are becoming emptier, as those who
seek better economic and social opportunities move to already crowded regions.
These more densely populated areas include the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Nova Scotia to
Florida; the humid, cool temperate belt of southern Canada, with its warm summers; the vast
warm temperate zone of the United States centred in the Mississippi-Ohio drainage basin; the
mild, moist Pacific Coast from southern British Columbia south to California; and the temperate,
yet warm, and well-watered Mexican Plateau and similar portions of Central America. Within
these privileged areas, growth is concentrated still further in the large cities, especially those
associated with the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia, the Hudson-Mohawk gap, the Great
Lakes–St. Lawrence system, the Ohio River basin, the middle Mississippi basin, Puget Sound
and the Fraser River delta, and the California coast.
Geographic distributions
The role of Canada
Canada’s share of the total continental population is small (less than 10 percent), and, with
some two-fifths of the continent’s land area, its overall population density is low. Most of
Canada—the shield, the northern Appalachians and Cordilleras, and the tundra and boreal forest
zones—is almost devoid of inhabitants. Population is concentrated toward the south, around the
Bay of Fundy, the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, the southern prairies, and the
Columbia and Fraser valleys. Wealth is still based on iron, nickel, and other metals; oil and
natural gas; hydroelectric resources; and grains, livestock, fish, and forest products. Much of its
manufacturing industry depends on these resources. Mechanization and automation give a high
per capita production, and it produces far more food and various raw materials than it can
consume and thus sells much abroad.
A member of the Commonwealth, Canada has a population that is still about one-fourth
British in ancestry and about three-fifths English-speaking. The fact that about one-fourth of the
population is French-speaking reflects Canada’s origin from the two founding nations of France
and Great Britain. Although most Canadians are native-born, immigration is still a major factor.
By the early 21st century about one-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born, with the non-
British (including Africans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and U.S. citizens) significantly
outnumbering the British among the new settlers. Canada is thus a bilingual multicultural
country, with strong attachments to Britain and other western European countries. It is dependent
economically on the United States, the source of the great majority of foreign investment and of
more than three-fifths of Canada’s imports and the destination for some three-fourths of its
exports. Ontario is the leading destination for immigrants and internal migrants, but Alberta,
British Columbia, Quebec, and the largest cities also are attracting new residents. Some four-
fifths of the national population lives in urban areas, with about one-fourth in the metropolitan
areas of Montreal and Toronto, the leading industrial and business centres.
The role of the United States
The United States dominates the continent, with considerably more than half the total
continental population. Unlike the other countries of North America, most of its area is habitable,
even though the many mountainous and arid regions are almost unpopulated. The average
density is much higher than that of Canada, though still low compared with Europe or Asia.
Historically, the most heavily populated section comprised the Middle Atlantic states, New
England, and the Great Lakes states, but in the second half of the 20th century California,
Florida, Arizona, and Texas underwent rapid relative growth rates. This influx can be attributed
in part to the attraction such amenities as a mild winter climate have for people retiring to those
areas, but it also has resulted from the flourishing of high-technology manufacturing and service
industries.
Even though the strong shift to the southern and western states has come to dominate
migration, other population flows have emerged. Notable among these have been the increases in
northern New England. Most metropolitan areas still receive more migrants than they lose—both
foreign and domestic—but overall urban growth rates have lessened markedly since 1950.
Indeed, since the late 1960s a near equilibrium has existed in the exchange of migrants between
urban and rural areas, and nonurban environments have become increasingly appealing to many
Americans.
The United States has developed its service sector more fully than any other New World
country, with the overwhelming preponderance of its working population thus employed. Less
than one-fifth of all workers are in manufacturing and construction, and the remainder are
engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, fishing, and lumbering. The per capita
consumption of material goods in the United States is among the highest in the world.
Immigration is supplying an increasingly large share of the country’s population increase;
the birth rate has dropped below the replacement level. Among native-born groups, fertility has
been highest among Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and such religious groups
as the Mormons. Less than one-fifth of all African Americans remain in the rural South, as most
now live in the larger cities, predominantly in overcrowded inner-city areas. Blacks now
constitute the largest single group in many large American cities and represent a majority
population in a number of them. The inner-city concentration of Blacks and Hispanics, one of the
more conspicuous features of urban life in North America, has been paralleled by a strong white
population shift to the suburbs. A large percentage of the U.S. population growth has been in
metropolitan suburbs, thus often exacerbating the problems of the inner city.
Despite the leveling effects of modern means of communication and travel and the impact
of large national and multinational firms, the United States retains much regional diversity in its
culture. Even though new regional patterns may emerge—as in southern California or the
Hispanic-influenced Southwest—the five principal traditional culture areas of New England, the
Midland, the South, the Midwest, and West remain recognizable in a variety of ways. Such
cultural complexes are the products of differences in the ethnic identity and social backgrounds
of their inhabitants, the date and place of their arrival, and the interaction with physical habitats
and historical circumstance that vary from place to place. Perhaps the most closely studied of the
relevant phenomena have been the various dialects of a rapidly evolving American English, a
language that is clearly distinct from British English and subtly different from Canadian English;
and these dialects—and subdialects, such as the speech of New York City, New Orleans, or
Philadelphia—tend to coincide with other markers of regional identity. Enough also has been
learned about the regional aspects of building construction—including barns, fences, farmsteads,
cemeteries, and the layouts of towns and villages—to affirm the existence of the older and newer
culture areas. A striking 20th-century development has been the emergence of what are called
“voluntary regions”—i.e., places to which people of similar tastes or aptitudes tend to gravitate.
Some of these regions are relatively large (such as southern Florida, the Ozarks retirement
region, or the Kentucky Bluegrass region), but much smaller localities (such as cities in Nevada
and Arizona, certain college communities, winter-sport developments in the Rockies, or research
complexes in places like North Carolina’s Research Triangle) have acquired their unique
populations and distinctive ways of life.
In one major cultural respect the United States has become unique: the sheer number and
diversity of its religious denominations. All the world’s major religions and sects are
represented, and other groups are constantly appearing. Many of these churches were imported
from the Old World, but a large number are domestic in origin. Although Protestantism accounts
for a large majority of denominations and population, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest
single religious community; it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all church members in the
United States, but many of its adherents and parishes tend to practice the faith in their own ethnic
fashion. There remain significant minorities of Americans professing other faiths—notably
Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—as well as less familiar ones, and, like
Protestants and Catholics, these groups often are split along ethnic or doctrinal lines. Certain
denominations are closely identified with general culture areas. This is true for the Southern
Baptists, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, and, most prominently, the Mormons of Utah and
portions of neighbouring states. Other denominations that were once localized have become
national in scope, such as the Presbyterians who once were clustered in western Pennsylvania
and other zones of Scotch-Irish settlement and the Unitarians who were most closely identified
with portions of New England. There is also a significant portion of Americans who are
religiously unaffiliated.
