Module 3
North and Middle America
a. Introducing the Realm
North America is divided into a number of physical regions with distinct
landforms. The western part of the continent is marked by north-south mountain ranges in
the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Mountains and Valleys physiographic provinces, with
the Intermontane Basins and Plateaus in between. The eastern portion of North America
is defined by the ancient Appalachian Highlands, a mountain range that is much less
rugged than the Rockies but with no less influence on the history and development of the
United States. The interior of the continent is characterized by plains—the Interior
Lowlands and the Great Plains. To the north is the Canadian Shield, geologically the
oldest part of North America, and a sparsely populated area with poor soils. At the
southern and eastern edge of the continent is the Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain, a relatively
flat zone that extends from New York to Texas.
The climates of the United States and Canada include the frigid type E climate of
the tundra of northern Canada and Alaska, the tropical type A climate of southern Florida
and Hawaii, the type C climates of the humid eastern United States, the seasonal type D
climates of the northern United States and most of Canada, and the arid type B climates
of the Southwest and Great Plains. In general, there are two different climate patterns
common in North America. The first pattern is that temperatures get warmer as you travel
from north to south and get closer to the equator. The second pattern is that there is a
decrease in precipitation as you move from east to west across the continent until you
reach the Pacific Coast, where rainfall is abundant again.
The second climate pattern is created by the rain shadow effect of the western
mountain ranges. As wet air masses move from the Pacific Ocean over the North
American continent, they run into the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. The Cascade
ranges of Washington state and Oregon cut off moisture from falling on the leeward side
of the mountains; thus eastern Washington state and eastern Oregon are semiarid. The
western United States experiences a strong rain shadow effect. As the air rises to pass the
mountains, water vapor condenses and is released as rain and snow. This means that west
of these mountain ranges there is much more precipitation than to their east, resulting in
arid and semiarid lands. The entire Great Plains of the western United States are affected
by the rain shadow effect and have a semiarid type B climate.
Both the United States and Canada are products of European colonialism. North
America was inhabited by many Native American groups before the Europeans arrived.
Complex native societies, federations, and traditional local groups faced the European
invasion. While the Native American population of North America was robust at the time
of the European encounter, within a few generations, these native peoples were
systematically killed by diseases and the European invaders.
The Europeans—mainly the Spanish, French, and British—left a strong imprint
on their North American colonies. The oldest colonial city in North America is St.
Augustine, Florida (1565), founded by Spain when Florida was a remote portion of the
Spanish Americas. Spain also had outposts in what are now California, Arizona, New
Mexico, and Texas. The forms of settlement characteristic of those areas were similar to
the Spanish colonies of Central America. While Spain governed what is now the southern
United States, France ruled Canada and much of the interior of the North American
continent. The French first came to Canada in the late 1500s to engage in fishing in the
North Atlantic and soon expanded their reach by creating a fur trade in the area
surrounding the Great Lakes and throughout the Mississippi River system.
Although there were fewer settlers from France than from other European
countries—especially in what became the United States—this French era left behind
place names (Baton Rouge and Detroit), patterns of land use, and a French-speaking
population in Canada, mainly in Quebec. Despite the early influence of Spain and France
in North America, most North Americans speak English as their native language as a
result of Britain’s colonial dominance in the United States and Canada. The earliest
permanent British colony, Jamestown, was founded in 1607 in what became Virginia.
The British built up a successful empire in the New World. Their thirteen American
colonies became populous, economically robust, and militarily strong enough to gain
independence in 1776. Canada functions as an independent country but remains part of
the British Commonwealth.
The U.S. population surpassed the 300 million mark in 2006. As of 2021, the U.S.
population had grown to over 330 million, and Canada had about thirty-eight million
people. The U.S. population is growing by about 2.5 million people each year. A little
less than half the growth can be attributed to immigration and the rest to birth rates. The
pace of growth is slower than the world average but more rapid than many other
industrialized countries such as those in Europe.
The population is not uniformly spread over North America, nor are the
population growth rates the same in all locations. Most Canadians live in near proximity
to the U.S. border. The North American population tends to be clustered in cities, with
over 80 percent of U.S. citizens residing in urban/suburban areas. Additionally, over
time, the population has been moving southward and westward. The U.S. states
experiencing the greatest rates of population growth include those located on the southern
portion of the eastern seaboard, as well as Texas, Nevada, Utah, California, Oregon, and
Washington. Three states—California, Texas, and Florida—accounted for about a third
of the entire U.S. population growth since 1990. Still, the Northeast is the most densely
populated area of the country thanks, in large part, to the megalopolis that forms the
corridor and encompasses the cities from Washington, DC, north to Boston, including
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. The largest concentration of Canadians
lives in the most southern-reaching province of Ontario. For this reason, the province of
Ontario is often referred to as South Canada.
In general, the population of minorities is growing most rapidly. Some of the
fastest-growing populations in the United States are Latinx. Another interesting factor in
population growth is the increase in life expectancy. As more people live longer, the
growth of the segment of the population reaching sixty-five has doubled in the last fifty
years. However, it appears that the growth of this population segment is slowing. Of this
group, the greatest increase was seen in people aged eightyfive years and older. The
American population tends to be on the move. Urbanization has been a trend since about
1950. Until that time, most Americans lived in small towns or more rural settings. The
population density of the cities, and especially the suburban areas, has grown steadily
since that time, bringing about a rural-to-urban population shift. Now a significant
majority of people in North America live in suburban areas. It is not uncommon for
people to move numerous times during their working careers.
Urbanization has brought some challenges. The layout of these areas often makes
owning a car a necessity; thus traffic congestion is a major problem in many suburban
and urban areas. Other issues that have arisen are overcrowded schools, racial tensions,
and a widening economic gap between the wealthy and impoverished. As people move to
the cities, housing and other resources might not be able to meet demand, forcing prices
upward. The gap between the cost of living in an urban area and the population’s ability
to pay has contributed to poverty and homelessness. Environmental issues also abound,
including how to reduce or eliminate smog, manage waste, and ensure adequate clean
water supplies.
b. United States: Early Development and Globalization
With abundant resources and opportunity, the original thirteen colonies prospered
and expanded into what became the fifty U.S. states. The political geography of this
nation was a product of war, treaties, and acquisitions that eventually resulted in the
country extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Fueling the expansion was the
concept of Manifest Destiny: the belief of some Americans that the new nation was
divinely predestined to expand across the continent. The actions of this concept had a
devastating effect on the Native Americans of the continent who held to different beliefs
and traditions than the Europeans. The United States negotiated with France for the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, acquiring millions of acres in the central United States.
Florida was acquired from Spain in 1819, and Texas was annexed in 1845. The British
sold portions of the Pacific Northwest to the United States, and the exact northern
boundary between the United States and Canada was settled in 1846. Through conflicts
with Mexico, large portions of the West were ceded to the United States in the mid-
nineteenth century. Alaska was purchased from the Russians in 1867 for only $7.2
million. Alaska and Hawaii were the last two possessions to enter into statehood, which
they did in 1959.
The European invasion of North America proved devastating to the Native
American populations. Hundreds of Native American groups with well-established ties to
the land were uprooted, challenged, or killed. This pattern of colonialism inherited from
European history was fueled by advancements in technology. The multitude of traditional
societies such as the Iroquois League, Cherokee, Navajo, Sioux, or Ojibwe Nations were
forced to confront the westward advancement of the European invaders. Warfare and
disease were often fatal to the Native American groups who lacked the weapons or
immunity to defend themselves. A common practice was to force native groups to
restricted areas called reservations. Treaties were made and broke as the policies that
favored immigration and European advancement continued.
As the United States developed, it acquired external colonial possessions. With
victory over Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the U.S. government gained
control of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and various Pacific islands. Cuba
and the Philippines later became independent countries, but Puerto Rico and Guam
continue to be under control of the U.S. government. The U.S. Virgin Islands were
purchased from Denmark in 1918 after World War I as a location to provide strategic
military support to protect the shipping lanes through the Caribbean and the Panama
Canal.
The thirteen original colonies are often grouped into three regions, each with its
own economic and cultural patterns. These three areas—New England, the Mid-Atlantic,
and the South—are considered culture hearths, or places where European-American
culture formed and from which it spread. The three regions were source areas for
westward migration, and migrants from these regions carried with them the cultural
traditions of their culture hearths. New England was characterized by poor soils,
subsistence agriculture, and fishing communities and was the birthplace of North
America’s Industrial Revolution. Its largest city was Boston. Settlers from New England
traveled west across New York state and into the upper Midwest and the Great Lakes
region. The MidAtlantic region, focused on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was known for
its fertile soils, prosperous small-scale agriculture, and multinational population.
Prosperous farming led to a vibrant economy and a robust network of towns and cities.
People who wanted to migrate west from this regiontraveled down the Great Valley into
the Appalachian Mountains and across the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, or they
crossed Pennsylvania and traveled west via the Ohio River valley. The heart of the South
was Virginia, a region oriented around plantation agriculture. The South was
overwhelmingly rural, and in time the bulk of its agricultural workforce consisted of
enslaved people brought to the United States from Subsaharan Africa.
Westward migration was spurred along by the gold boom in California (1849) and
by the completion of the transcontinental railroad (1869). The settlement frontier pushed
westward during the course of the nineteenth century and was declared “closed” by the
Bureau of the Census in 1890. This did not mean that settlers were spread uniformly
across the continent by 1890; indeed, vast areas of the Great Plains and the mountain
west remained sparsely populated by Europeans at that time. The Homestead Act of 1862
also encouraged westward migration by offering 160 acres of free land to households
willing to move west. The continental United States had been organized into official
states by the end of the nineteenth century, except Oklahoma (1907), Arizona (1912), and
New Mexico (1912).
Most U.S. residents at its founding in 1776 had roots in Great Britain, with large
numbers from other northern and western European countries and many others from
Africa (most of whom were enslaved people). During the nineteenth century, migrants
continued to immigrate to the United States as its economy grew, especially after the
1830s. Germans and Irish began arriving in large numbers, joining others from Britain
and Western Europe, predominantly those in western Europe. As the century progressed,
others from southern and eastern Europe, from countries such as Italy, Russia, and
Austria, became the most significant stream of immigrants to the United States. These
immigrants were different from the early British immigrants: they practiced Roman
Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Christianity (not Protestantism), they primarily moved to
urban areas, and they found work in the new manufacturing sector growing rapidly in the
Northeast and around the Great Lakes. Very few immigrants came from Latin America or
Asia at that time.
The Industrial Revolution that began in Great Britain in the late eighteenth
century eventually moved across the Atlantic and took hold in the United States. Rapid
industrial growth emerged in the nineteenth century and was focused in the northeastern
United States around the Great Lakes in an area called the Manufacturing Belt.
Mechanized manufacturing began with textiles (New England), moved to steel and other
metals (Pennsylvania and Indiana), and later was dominated by the manufacture of
automobiles (Michigan). Of course, manufacturing would not have been possible without
an abundant supply of power. Coal mining became an important industry in western
Pennsylvania and in Appalachia.
Manufacturing took place in the cities and towns of the Manufacturing Belt. Not
until the second half of the twentieth century did manufacturing move to rural areas; until
then, it was almost entirely an urban activity. As the United States went through its
Industrial Revolution, its population shifted from being almost entirely rural to being
mostly urban. In 1790, only about 5 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas;
by 1920, about 50 percent lived in cities. As the rural-tourban shift took place, the
function and form of U.S. cities also changed.
The tertiary and quaternary economic sectors are often thought of together as the
service sector. In the explanation of how countries gain national income, only primary
and secondary activities produce actual physical products, and manufacturing
traditionally earns the highest value-added profits. Tertiary activities are selective in
gaining national wealth. For example, service activities such as tourism can bring in
national wealth if the visitors are from outside the country. Tourism within a country can
also influence economic conditions by increasing the amount of consumer spending.
During the colonial era and into the nineteenth century, when the majority of
Americans lived on farms and worked in agriculture, most economic activity in the
United States took place within the primary economic sector. Today, the primary sector is
still an important component of the U.S. economy, but far fewer people are employed in
it. For example, less than 1 percent of Americans make their living by farming, but
agricultural output has continued to grow because of advancements in mechanization and
the development of high-tech seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. The United States has
been able to export surplus agricultural output to other parts of the world. Fewer people
work in coal mines than in the past, but because of new mining technologies and methods
such as mountaintop removal, coal production remains high.
The geographic distribution of primary activities depends both on the location of
natural features such as physical geography and climate and on the location of the market
for a particular crop or resource. The nineteenth-century German economist Johann von
Thünen created a model that predicted land use around a central market. In his theory,
land closest to the market would be used to produce crops that were expensive to
transport, such as dairy. Land far from the market would be used for the production of
crops that were less expensive to transport and less perishable, such as grain. The von
Thünen model predicts a series of concentric rings surrounding a central market, with
each ring producing a different kind of crop. If the von Thünen model is applied at a
much larger scale to the United States as a whole, with the densely populated urban zone
from Boston to Washington, DC (called a megalopolis), used as the central market, the
model does a fairly good job predicting the United States’ agricultural land use. Dairy
farms are found close to the market, grain farms are farther away, and ranch lands used
for livestock production are even farther away.
Anything that involves the processing of raw materials—manufacturing—is a
secondary activity. As the United States moved into the Industrial Revolution and into the
mid-twentieth century, the percentage of the U.S. workforce involved in manufacturing
grew from almost nothing until it peaked in the late 1970s. It was the main area of
economic growth for decades. Although manufacturing was present in most areas of the
country, it was focused in the northeastern United States and along the Great Lakes.
Factories were close both to the reserves of labor and to the markets for manufactured
products found in the densely populated Northeast. The steel industry was located in
Pittsburgh and its environs because of the area’s access to iron ore (mined in Minnesota
and transported via the Great Lakes) and to coal (mined in Pennsylvania, West Virginia,
and other parts of Appalachia).
The United States has not only undergone a massive rural-to-urban shift in its
population; intermigration within the United States from one region to another has also
been prevalent. Each of the U.S. regions has witnessed changes in demographics because
of migration patterns. In the agricultural regions of the United States, such as the
Midwest, the migration pattern has been caused by changes in farm technology. Portions
of the United States were opened up for agriculture because of the Homestead Act of
1862, where each person could receive 160 acres from the government to start a farm.
They could keep the acres if they lived on them and farmed them for a period of years. In
the 1800s, 160 acres was enough land to support a family if conditions were appropriate.
The Industrial Revolution brought about improved farm equipment and technology.
Larger and more expensive tractors and improved farming methods pushed the small
farmers to sell out. Farms increased in size and fewer people were required to operate
them. Since fewer farm workers are needed in rural areas, there has been a major rural-to-
urban shift in the population. Central cities are increasing in population, while small
towns and rural areas in the Midwest and across the nation are decreasing in population.
The freedom of personal expression in the United States has supported individual
ingenuity and creative ambition to create the largest economy in the world. U.S.
corporations have become a major force in the world markets. Products and franchises
from the United States are being distributed throughout the world. Items such as fast
food, computers, news networks, and the media have become the products of choice in
countries across the globe. The English language dominates the internet, which has been
heavily influenced by U.S. corporations. The power of the American Dream—the idea
that through hard work anyone can achieve upward mobility and financial success—as it
is portrayed in the U.S. media holds sway in the minds of people both in the United
States and abroad.
U.S. news networks, such as CNN, are so dominant that small countries, having
no resources to create networks, rely on the U.S. networks to deliver their world news.
U.S. fast food franchises, such as McDonald’s, exist in over one hundred countries.
Despite humble beginnings in Arkansas, Walmart grew to become the world’s largest
corporation. It has become the buyer and seller of retail trade that shapes and molds
cultural attitudes and fashions internationally.
The size of the U.S. population (more than 330 million strong as of 2020) and the
country’s vast resource base have allowed it to become a world military superpower.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States became the most powerful military
force in the world. The United States has also dominated the world’s economy and its
communications networks. The advancements of multinational corporations have in
essence enabled the sale of America to the rest of the world. The selling of American
products and the large consumer market in the United States have provided the profits
that have fueled global economic markets.
The United States has become a worldwide franchise of its own. Corporate
colonialism has advanced the American brand to a level that is now synonymous with
consumerism, success, and power worldwide. Media advancements have promoted the
concept of the American Dream across the seven seas. The reaction of the global
community includes both admiration and disdain. Many view Americanism as
interchangeable with globalization. Some welcome it; others reject it. The country of Iran
is an example of this dichotomy. Young people in Iran wearing blue jeans gather in secret
to watch American television programming from a hidden illegal satellite dish, while at
the same time the anti-American forces in their government condemn America as
decadent, immoral, and imperialistic.
Corporate colonialism has become a dominant force impacting the global cultural
fabric. Supporters appreciate access to American goods and services, while opponents
claim that the English language and the American corporate franchise system are
destroying the culture and heritage of untold millions who see their unique traditional
ways of life being overshadowed and destroyed.
Some argue that American television advertisements exemplify a trend that
supports conformity and uniformity in American culture. They contend that America’s
unique cultural diversity, which historically has provided ingenuity and creativity, is
being eroded by the franchising of similar retail products, fast food, professional sports,
and Hollywood entertainment that stifle the creative will of the American people. Others
continue to see opportunities to pursue the American Dream and believe that innovation
and ideas continue to emerge along with these trends.
Many people worry about the future of the American Dream. American culture
continues to evolve as people face changing economic and social conditions. Over the
course of their history, Americans have faced both difficult and prosperous times, and
now the future of this vibrant country is in the hands of the current generation. The
United States has developed into one of the most powerful countries on the planet. Will
the American Dream continue to motivate people in the future? Only time will tell.
c. United States: Population and Religion
Early immigration to America was dominated by people from the British Isles,
resulting in an American population for whom speaking English and practicing Protestant
Christianity was the norm. There were some regional exceptions to this, such as
Catholicism in Maryland and the widespread speaking of German in Pennsylvania, but by
and large English and Protestantism were standard in the American colonies. As migrants
arrived in the United States from non-Englishspeaking countries, within a generation they
learned English and assimilated into American society, giving rise to the idea of the
United States as a cultural melting pot.
People were drawn to the United States by the hope of economic opportunities;
most immigrants were poor and came to the United States to make a living and improve
their financial well-being. They viewed assimilation into mainstream society as a
necessity for success further enhancing the melting pot theory. They believed in the
American Dream—that through hard work, you could achieve upward mobility and
financial success no matter your background. The dream came true for millions of
immigrants but remains out of reach for many who live in poverty. The melting pot
concept has not always recognized the cultural diversity of an immigrant nation and has
had devastating consequences on minority populations, especially native groups. An
alternative approach to an immigrant nation is that of cultural pluralism or the salad bowl
theory where cultural diversity exists side by side and creates a supportive network for
society. Immigration and related cultural issues continue to impact the politics of North
America.
As of 2020, the United States was home to approximately 330 million people and
was the thirdmost populated country in the world after China and India. Among
developed countries, the U.S. population has a higher growth rate at about 1 percent each
year. This is a result of a fertility rate of about 2.1, which is higher than the 1.5 for that of
most European countries. The United States also has a positive net migration rate (more
people immigrating to the United States than emigrating from it). In terms of human
well-being, life expectancy is more than seventy-eight years for men, and the average
woman can expect to live more than eighty years. While this may seem high, especially
when compared with a century ago, life expectancy in the United States is lower than in
forty-nine other countries.
One of the most striking shifts in immigration patterns of the past few decades has
been the dramatic increase in Latinx immigrants to the United States. While there have
long been Spanish speakers living in the United States (recall that Spain colonized
Florida, Texas, and the Southwest before those regions became part of the United States),
for most of American history the Latinx minority had little impact outside of a few areas
of the country. In 1970, Latinx people made up less than 5 percent of the U.S. population,
but by 2020, sixty-one million Latinx people made up about 18.4 percent of the
population. For the first time, Latinx people were the largest ethnic minority in the United
States, surpassing Black people as the largest minority starting with the 2000 U.S. census
(12.5 percent Latinx compared with 12.3 percent Black). The U.S. Latinx population
doubled between the 1990 and 2000 censuses.
Nearly half the Latinx people in the United States live in California or Texas,
although there has been a large increase in the Latinx population outside those states in
the past decade, especially in the South. For example, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and
North and South Carolina all experienced an increase in their Latinx population. All
regions of the country saw double-digit growth rates of their Latinx populations during
that time. In places such as California, the large Latinx population has an especially
significant impact on the economy, politics, and every aspect of social life: more than
one-third of Californians are Latinx (36.6 percent), while 42 percent are non-Latinx
white, 14.1 percent are Asian, and a much smaller percentage are African American (6
percent).
Who are the Latinx people living in the United States? Most were born in the
United States (60 percent), while the rest are immigrants. Two thirds are either from
Mexico or of Mexican descent, while others hail from Central America or the Caribbean.
More Latinx people come from Central America than from South America. Latinx people
work in all professions but are found in professions such as agriculture, construction, and
food service at higher rates than the country’s non-Latinx population.
The draw of opportunities and advantages has always pulled people toward the
United States. While many of the Latin American immigrants enter the United States
legally, there are those who cross into the United States without immigration documents.
The U.S.-Mexican border is about 1,970 miles long and runs through an arid and open
region between the two countries. It is difficult to control the illegal immigration across
this border, as the attraction to American jobs is so compelling that people will risk death
to cross the deserts of the Southwest. Efforts to construct barriers along the border or
control illegal immigration have been political contested issues that have been met with
mixed results.
The issue of illegal immigration was one of the main topics of the 2016 and 2020
U.S. presidential campaign. The Republican Party candidate ran on the controversial
platform to build a solid wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to prevent people from
crossing the border illegally. Protecting a country's borders is a responsibility of every
government. In this case, the issue became more complex because both countries have a
free trade agreement between them and depend on each other for labor and resources.
The percentage of people crossing the desert region to reach the United States is quite
small compared to those who enter the United States through other means. The issues
related to funding the wall versus funding other means of border security and addressing
the immigration issues of neighboring countries.
Most African Americans were concentrated in the South before the Civil War,
where they worked as enslaved people in the cotton and tobacco plantations that
supported the region. In some counties, Black people made up most of the population,
and this did not change when the war was over. Many of the newly freed formerly
enslaved people remained as poor agricultural workers in the South well into the
twentieth century. Even as late as 1910, seven out of every eight African American
people lived in the South.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as the industrialization of
Northern cities was accelerating, the increased need for factory workers was largely met
by immigration from Europe, especially from southern and eastern Europe. However,
when World War I began (1914), European immigration began to slow down. European
immigration then nearly ground to a halt in the 1920s as Americans set quotas in place to
reduce the number of Eastern European immigrants. At that time, the factories in the
Manufacturing Belt continued to need workers, but instead of European workers, they
recruited African Americans from the South.
d. Canada
Canada’s democratic state shares a similar developmental history and economic
status with the United States. Canada had a population of about thirty-eight million in
2020, which is similar to the population of California. Canada is larger in area than the
United States, making it the secondlargest country in the world. However, despite this
vast territory for a relatively small population, more than 90 percent of Canadians live
within 150 miles of the U.S. border. Northern Canada is not considered part of Canada’s
ecumene, or habitable zone, for permanent human settlement. Only a narrow band of
territory in southern and eastern Canada has the climate and physical geography suitable
for agricultural production and widespread settlement. Moreover, Canada’s economy is
so closely tied to that of the United States that it makes sense for people to live close to
the U.S. border.
Type D (continental) climates dominate most of central Canada, with their
characteristically warm summers and cold winters, although the farther north you go, the
cooler the summers are. Canada’s west coast receives the most rainfall—between eighty
and one hundred inches a year—while coastal areas in the Maritime Provinces can
receive up to sixty inches per year. The northern territory of Nunavut barely receives ten
inches per year, usually in the form of snow. Of course, far northern Canada has an arctic
type E climate, and conditions there are so harsh that only a very few people inhabit it.
The cultural influence of the colder climates and the long winter son the people is evident
by the sports that are enjoyed by most Canadian citizens. Ice hockey is Canada’s most
prevalent sport and its most popular spectator sport. Other sports such as curling are also
common in Canada.
Canada has abundant natural resources for its population. The Canadian Shield is
an area of rock and forest that covers much of central Canada around the Hudson Bay.
This region, and the area to the east and west of it, provides timber and minerals for
Canadian industries and for export. In the Maritime Provinces of the east, the main
economic activities include fishing and agriculture. Some of Canada’s best farmland is
located along the St. Lawrence River and in the southern Prairie Provinces of Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The St. Lawrence River region includes dairy farms and
agriculture, which provide food for the larger cities of the region. The province of
Ontario has fertile farmland on the north and east sides of the Great Lakes. The farmland
in the Prairie Provinces has much larger grain and beef operations.
Centered in the province of Alberta is a large region of fossil fuel exploration.
Coal, oil, and natural gas are found there in abundance, and much of it is exported to the
United States for profit. Oil is found absorbed in surface soil called tar sands and is being
extracted for energy. When tar sands are heated, the oil is separated and refined for fuel.
Projections are that there is more oil in the tar sands of Canada than in the underground
reserves of Saudi Arabia. Natural resources have even filtered into the cultural arena:
Edmonton’s professional hockey team is called the Edmonton Oilers.
The names of several provinces indicate the British connection: Nova Scotia
means “New Scotland,” and it was so named by the British when they took over the
island from the French. Prince Edward Island was named for the father of the famous
nineteenth-century British queen, Victoria. You can see remnants of British colonialism
in the way Canadian government is organized. Canada, like many countries of Europe,
including Great Britain, is a parliamentary democracy. The monarch of the United
Kingdom is still the top-ranking government official in Canada, but only as a figurehead.
The queen (or king) appoints a governor general to be her (or his) representative in the
Canadian federal government. Again, this is a symbolic position. There are two
chambers, a House of Commons and a Senate. Members of the House of Commons are
elected and are called members of Parliament (MPs). Senators are appointed to a lifelong
term by the prime minister.
As of 2016, about 58 percent of Canadians spoke English as their primary
language, French was the mother tongue of 22 percent, and another one-fifth of the
population (20 percent) spoke a mother tongue other than English or French.[7] For most
of Canada the lingua franca remains English. The French-speaking portion of Canada is a
reminder of Canada’s history as a French colony. Many of today’s French speakers are
descendants of those earlier French settlers. The proportion of French speakers in Canada
is declining as more and more immigrants (who also have higher fertility rates than
Francophones [French speakers]) arrive from other parts of the world and as more
Francophones begin using English instead of French as their primary language. The new
immigrants (along with native peoples) make up the 20 percent of Canada’s population
who speak neither English nor French as their native language. About 90 percent of
Canadian Francophones live in Quebec, which is a center of French culture in Canada.
The separation between French Canada and British Canada goes back to colonial
times. Beginning in the 1530s, the French were the first to develop fur-trading activities
in the region and colonize what is present-day Canada, calling it New France. The French
claimed much of the St. Lawrence River valley and the Great Lakes region, including the
region that is now Ontario. When Britain began to dominate the eastern coast of North
America in the 1680s, they entered into a series of wars with France. As a result of these
wars, New France was eventually turned over to Britain.
French and English are the two official languages of the Canadian government as
a whole, but the French people in Quebec, fearing that English was dominating the
media, the internet, and industry to such an extent that it was endangering their French
culture, have declared French as the only official language of the province. To combat the
encroachment of English, laws were enacted in Quebec requiring all public advertising to
be in French, or if other languages are used, they must be half the size of the French
letters. All businesses employing more than fifty employees are required to conduct all
business in French. Immigrants who wish to be citizens of Quebec must learn French. All
primary and secondary education takes place in French unless the child’s parents were
educated in English elsewhere in Canada. Civil servants dubbed the “language police”
monitor and enforce the French language laws. A business found to be out of compliance
with the language laws could be fined or shut down. Even though the official language of
Quebec is French, since the national government takes place in both English and French,
some services are still available in Quebec in English.
French Canada does not include the entire province of Quebec. Northern Quebec
has traditionally been native Cree territory. When the initiative for Quebec to secede from
Canada was being considered, an additional initiative was presented by the Cree to
separate northern Quebec from the French region of Quebec. This would have caused the
French separatist region of Quebec to lose major hydroelectric dams and important
mineral and timber reserves. Other regions of Quebec that did not hold a French majority
would then have promoted separating from Quebec and joining Ontario.
Countless place names in Canada, just as in the United States, derive from native
words. For example, the city of Quebec is built at the original head of navigation on the
St. Lawrence River. Its name comes from an Algonquin word for “where the river
narrows.” The word Canada is likely derived from the St. Lawrence Iroquois word
Kanata, meaning “village” or “settlement.” While the French explorer Jacques Cartier
was traveling up the St. Lawrence River in 1535, the native peoples directed him to a
specific village, the future Quebec City, using the word Kanata. He later used Canada to
refer to the general area, and European mapmakers adopted it for the entire region.
Quebec is not the only place where devolutionary forces have been dividing cultural
groups in Canada. In 1999, Nunavut officially broke from the Northwest Territory to
become its own territory. Nunavut has only about 39,000 people in an area larger than
any other province or territory in Canada. It comprises about one-fifth of Canada’s land
area. Most of the people who had claimed the land before the Europeans arrived are Inuit.
Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut, is on Baffin Island near Canada’s east coast.
Not surprisingly, Canada and the United States are each others’ largest trading
partners. Except for some natural-resource industries, most businesses are centered in
Canadian cities to take advantage of the available labor force. Canada is rapidly moving
toward a knowledge-based economy built on innovation and technology. Knowledge-
intensive industries, such as biotechnology and information technology, are on the rise,
and these are typically located in cities to facilitate partnering with universities and other
researchers.
Although Canada is developing into a knowledge-based economy, the foundations
of the Canadian economy have always been its abundant natural resources. Canada’s
primary industries have traditionally been agriculture, fishing, mining, fuel/energy, and
logging/forestry. Success in tapping these natural resources for their economic benefit
allowed the country to double in population since 1960 while the economy has increased
sevenfold. The primary industries now make up less than 10 percent of the gross
domestic product (GDP). Just as in the United States, the most dramatic structural change
in the economy has been the rise of the service sector, which now employs about three-
quarters of all Canadians and generates over 70 percent of the GDP. Canadian
manufacturing has been a strong sector of the economy with close ties to United States
and multinational corporations.
e. Regions of the United States and Canada
The Northeastern Core includes the upper Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and
Michigan); the midAtlantic states of Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey
plus Northern Virginia; and the southern New England states of Connecticut, Rhode
Island, and Massachusetts. It also includes southern Ontario, Canada’s capital (Ottawa),
and its largest city (Toronto). The physical environments of the Northeastern Core are
quite diverse, including the northern Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain, the northern
Appalachians, and the area surrounding the Great Lakes. This region, anchored by North
America’s largest metropolis, New York, is the economic heart of the United States and
Canada and home to more than a third of each country’s population. The megalopolis—
the builtup area from Washington, DC, to Boston—is part of this region. The core region
contains the Manufacturing/Rust Belt, which was once the main manufacturing region for
North America but suffered decline with the advent of the Information Age. The core
region hosts the headquarters of countless corporations, banks, financial markets (e.g.,
Wall Street), universities (from community colleges to the Ivy League), cultural
institutions (e.g., Broadway, world-class museums, dance and music organizations), and
even global organizations such as the United Nations.
New England and the Canadian Maritimes overlap with the Northeastern Core
because its major city—Boston—is considered the northern edge of the megalopolis.
South of Boston, the low-lying states of New England were the center of colonial
settlement in the region and were the birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution.
Southern New England began as an agricultural and fishing colony, and as industry
developed in the nineteenth century, the region attracted European immigrants from
Ireland, Italy, and elsewhere to work in its factories. The highly skilled workforce helped
maintain a strong economy in southern New England, although there have been times of
increased unemployment and economic hardship. Today the region has a more diverse
economic base, including recreation and tourism, finance, telecommunications, and
health care. The mountains of western New England have been particularly attractive for
the development of ski resorts, and the coasts of New England are popular for summer
vacationing.
West of the Canadian Maritimes lies the province of Quebec, the heart of which is
the St. Lawrence River valley, a lowland separating the Appalachian Mountains to the
south from the inhospitable Canadian Shield to the north. As explained, France was the
first European country to colonize the coastal regions of what is now Canada, the St.
Lawrence River Valley, most of the land surrounding the Great Lakes, and the Ohio and
Mississippi River Valleys, south to the Gulf of Mexico. Although Great Britain obtained
all that land from France in 1763 following the French and Indian War, enough French
inhabitants occupied part of that territory that the region did not automatically become
English speaking. The core of French Canada today is the St. Lawrence Valley from
Montreal to the Atlantic coast and west of Montreal to Ottawa and north to the Hudson
Bay. These French speakers, the descendants of the early French settlers, created a
vibrant FrenchCanadian culture. The majority of the of the population of Quebec speak
French.
The South includes the entire southeastern portion of the United States from
Kentucky south to Louisiana, east to Florida, and north to Virginia. The South consists of
most of the Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain and the southern portion of the Appalachian
Highlands. Before the Civil War, the coastal plain was dedicated to plantation agriculture
using labor from enslaved African people. Land not used for plantation crops such as
tobacco, cotton, and rice was typically farmed by poor white people and later by poor
Black people. Some were sharecroppers, while others farmed their own small plots,
especially on the lesser-quality land in Appalachia. The South had little urbanization or
industrialization at the time of the Civil War. Well into the twentieth century, the region
remained rural and economically depressed.
The center of the continent contains a relatively level agricultural region: the
Midwest and the Great Plains. This land includes some of the most fertile agricultural
land in the entire world and has been dubbed America’s breadbasket. The climate gets
progressively more arid as you move to the west within this region, and the type of
agriculture changes with the decrease in precipitation. Closer to the Rocky Mountains,
the land is typically used for raising cattle, but enormous grain farms are found where
water is available (especially through irrigation). The water for irrigation comes from the
continent’s largest aquifer, the Ogallala Aquifer. Water is often pumped to the surface
using a system called center pivot irrigation. The heart of the spring Wheat Belt is North
Dakota, and the crop is also common in eastern Montana and in Canada’s Prairie
Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Winter wheat is common in Kansas
and surrounding states. Farther to the east, where precipitation is more abundant, is the
Corn Belt, focused in Iowa and Illinois.
The states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are considered the Southwest. The
climate of the Southwest is more arid and receives a high amount of sunlight throughout
the year. Desert conditions are integrated with higher elevations in the mountainous
areas. Eastern Texas receives more rainfall from the Gulf of Mexico, and western Texas
and the states of New Mexico and Arizona are quite arid and receive less rainfall. These
conditions are more favorable to cattle ranching than to other agricultural activities.
Large farming operations exist where water is available for irrigation. The warmer
climate has been attractive for development and people emigrating from the colder
regions of the North.
f. Introducing the Realm
Middle America has various types of physical landscapes, including volcanic
islands and mountain ranges. Tectonic action at the edge of the Caribbean plate has
brought about volcanic activity, creating many of the islands of the region as volcanoes
rose above the ocean surface. The island of Montserrat is one such example. The volcano
on this island has continued to erupt in recent years, showering the island with dust and
ash and making habitation difficult. Many of the other lowlying islands, such as the
Bahamas, were formed by coral reefs rising above the ocean surface. Tectonic plate
activity not only has created volcanic islands but also is a constant source of earthquakes
that continue to be a problem for the Caribbean community.
The republics of Central America extend from Mexico to Colombia and form the
final connection between North America and South America. The Isthmus of Panama, the
narrowest point between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, serves as a land bridge
between the continents. The backbone of Central America is mountainous, with many
volcanoes located within its ranges. Much of the Caribbean and all of Central America
are located south of the Tropic of Cancer and are dominated by tropical type A climates.
The mountainous areas have varied climates, with cooler climates located at higher
elevations. Mexico has extensive mountainous areas with two main ranges in the north
and highlands in the south. There are no landlocked countries in this realm, and coastal
areas have been exploited for fishing and tourism development.
Colonialism thrived in the rimland because it consists mainly of islands and
coastal areas that were accessible to European ships. Ships could easily sail into a cove or
bay to make port and claim the island for their home country. After an island or coastal
area was claimed, there was unimpeded transformation of the area through plantation
agriculture. On a plantation, local individuals were subjugated as servants or enslaved
people. The land was planted with a single crop—usually sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, or
fruit—grown for export profits. Most of these crops were not native to the Americas but
were brought in during colonial times. European diseases killed vast numbers of local
Amerindian laborers. The strenuous labor requirements of plantations intensified and
accelerated the Atlantic slave trade. Plantation agriculture in the rimland was successful
because of the import of European technology, forced labor, and local raw materials, as
well as the export of the harvest to Europe for profit.
Plantation agriculture changed the rimland. The Indigenous groups were
decimated because of disease and colonial subjugation, and by 1800s the majority of the
population was of African descent. Native food crops for consumption gave way to cash
crops for export. Marginal lands were plowed up and placed into the plantation system.
The labor was usually seasonal: there was a high demand for labor at peak planting and
harvest times. Plantations were generally owned by wealthy Europeans who may or may
not have actually lived there.
Though the southern region of the Americas has commonly been referred to as
“Latin America,” this is a misnomer because Latin has never been the lingua franca of
any of the countries in the Americas. What, then, is the connection between the southern
region of the Americas and Latin? To understand this connection, the reader needs to
bring to mind the dominant languages as well as the origin of the colonizers of the region
called “Latin America.” Keep in mind that the name of a given country does not always
reflect its lingua franca. For example, people in Mexico do not speak a language called
“Mexican”; they speak Spanish. Likewise, Brazilians do not speak “Brazilian”; they
speak Portuguese. Both Spanish and Portuguese are Latin-based languages.
Though the region of Mexico has been inhabited for thousands of years, one of
the earlier cultures to develop into a civilization with large cities was the Olmec, which
was believed to be the precursor to the later Mayan Empire. The Olmec flourished in the
south-central regions of Mexico from 1200 BC to about 400 BC. Anthropologists call this
region of Mexico and northern Central America Mesoamerica. It is considered to be the
region’s cultural hearth because it was home to early human civilizations. The Maya
established a vast civilization after the Olmec, and Mayan stone structures remain as a
testament to time and have become major tourist attractions. The classical era of the
Mayan civilization lasted from 300 to 900 CE and was centered in the Yucatán Peninsula
region of Mexico, Belize, and Central America. Guatemala was once a large part of this
vast empire, and Mayan ruins are found as far south as Honduras. During the classical
era, the Maya built some of the most magnificent cities and stone pyramids in the
Western Hemisphere. The city-states of the empire functioned through a sophisticated
religious hierarchy. The Mayan civilization made advancements in mathematics,
astronomy, engineering, and architecture. They developed an accurate calendar based on
the seasons and the solar system. The extent of their immense knowledge is still being
discovered. The descendants of the Maya people still exist today, but their empire does
not.
g. Mexico
Mexico is the eighth-largest country in the world in area and is about one-fifth the
size of the United States. Bordered to the north by the United States, Mexico stretches
south to Central America, where it is bordered by Guatemala and Belize. One of
Mexico’s prominent geographical features is the world’s longest peninsula, the 775-mile-
long Baja California Peninsula, which lies betweenthe Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of
California (also known as the Sea of Cortez). The Baja California Peninsula includes a
series of mountain ranges called the Peninsular Ranges.
The Tropic of Cancer cuts across Mexico, dividing it into two different climatic
zones: a temperate zone to the north and a tropical zone to the south. In the northern
temperate zone, temperatures can be hot in the summer, often rising above 80°F, but
considerably cooler in the winter. By contrast, temperatures vary very little from season
to season in the tropical zone, with average temperatures hovering very close to 80°F
year-round. Temperatures in the south tend to vary as a function of elevation.
Mexico is characterized by a great variety of climates, including areas with hot
humid, temperate humid, and arid climates. There are mountainous regions, foothills,
plateaus, deserts, and coastal plains, all with their own climatic conditions. For example,
in the northern desert portions of the country, summer and winter temperatures are
extreme. Temperatures in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts exceed 110°F, while in
the mountainous areas snow can be seen at higher elevations throughout the year.
Mexico is an example of a country with a clear core-periphery spatial
relationship. Mexico City and its surrounding metropolitan centers represent the county’s
core: the center of activity, industry, wealth, and power. Industries and manufacturing
have been traditionally located in this region. The core region has most of the country’s
130 million people (as of 2020). Mexico’s population is about 80 percent urban, which is
similar to the United States. The largest urban areas are found in the core region
The early European control of the land, the economy, and the political system
created conflict for the people of Mexico. The country has experienced domination
followed by revolution at various times, starting with colonial domination, then economic
domination, and lastly political domination. In each historic cycle, revolution and conflict
were followed by change. The result was a mixing and acculturation of the Europeans
and the Amerindians, which created the current mestizo mainstream society. Mestizos
make up about 62 percent of the current population, Europeans make up about 10
percent, and Amerindians make up about 27 percent. More than sixty Indigenous
languages spoken by Amerindian groups are recognized in Mexico. At least seventeen
Indigenous languages are spoken by more than 100,000 people or more in Mexico, most
of them living in the southern part of the country
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), was a 1994 economic
agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico that eliminated or reduced the
tariffs, taxes, and quotas between the countries to create the world’s largest trading bloc
to compete with the European Union and the global economy. In 2020, NAFTA was
updated and renamed the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement or USMCA. Free
trade agreements theoretically allow more corporate investments across borders and
increases foreign ownership of business facilities. It stimulated a shift in the location of
industrial activity and in the migration patterns of people in Mexico. Capitalizing on the
old industrial locations of northern Mexico, such as Monterrey, corporations started to
relocate manufacturing plants from the United States to the Mexican side of the border to
take advantage of Mexico’s low-cost labor. The aspect of cheaper labor was a benefit
understood to bolster corporate profits and reduce product costs. The United States is one
of the world’s largest consumer markets, so these manufacturing plants, called
maquiladoras (also known as maquilas), could benefit both countries.
The illegal drug trade is a multibillion-dollar industry, and Mexico has
traditionally been the transitional area or stop-off point between the South American drug
producing areas and entrance into U.S. markets. Cocaine, marijuana, and more recently
heroin were produced in the Andes Mountains of South America and shipped north to the
United States. Colombian cartels were once the main controllers of illegal drugs in the
Western Hemisphere, but in recent decades, organized crime units in Mexico have
muscled in on the control of drugs coming through Mexico, making deals with their
South American counterparts to become the main traffickers of drugs into the United
States, and the influence and power of Mexican drug cartels has increased immensely
since the demise of the Colombian cartels in the 1990s. Enormous profits fuel the
competition for control. Just as the United States has declared a war on drugs and has
used its Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a main arm in combating the
industry, Mexico has had to address its own issues in the illegal drug trade.
h. Central America
Central America is a land bridge connecting the North and South American
continents, with the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Caribbean Sea to its east. A central
mountain chain dominates the interior from Mexico to Panama. The coastal plains of
Central America have tropical and humid type A climates. In the highland interior, the
climate changes with elevation. As one travels up the mountainsides, the temperature
cools. Only Belize is located away from this interior mountain chain. Its rich soils and
cooler climate have attracted more people to live in the mountainous regions than along
the coast.
High mountain ranges run the length of Central and South America. The Andes
Mountains of South America are the longest mountain chain in the world, and a large
section of this mountain range is in the tropics. Tropical regions usually have humid type
A climates. What is significant in Latin America is that while the climate at the base of
the Andes may be type A, the different zones of climate and corresponding human
activity vary as one moves up the mountain in elevation. Mountains have different
climates at the base than at the summit. Type H highland climates describe mountainous
areas that exhibit different climate types at varying degrees of elevation.
Amerindian groups dominated Central America before the European colonial
powers arrived. The Maya are still prominent in the north and make up about half the
population of Guatemala. Other Amerindian groups are encountered farther south, and
many still speak their Indigenous languages and hold to traditional cultural customs.
People of European background or upper-class mestizos now control political and
economic power in Central America. Indigenous Amerindian groups find themselves on
the lower rung of the socioeconomic ladder.
As of 2020, about 40 percent of the people of Central America live in rural areas,
and because the economy is agriculturally based, family size has traditionally been large.
Until the 1990s, family size averaged as high as six children. As the pressures of the
postindustrial age have influenced Central America, average family size has been
decreasing and is now about half that of the pre-1990s and is declining. For example, the
World Bank reported in 2015 that in Nicaragua the average woman has 2.2 children
during her lifetime. [2] The fertility rate was listed at 7.3 in 1960. Current data indicate
that the fertility rate in 2020 was about 1.81.[3] Rural-to-urban shift is common, and as
the region experiences more urbanization and industrialization, family size will decrease
even more.
Just as Canada, the United States, and Mexico signed the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law in 1994 and updated it with USMCA in 2020, the
United States and five Central American states signed the Central American Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA) in 2006. The agreement was signed by trade representatives from
El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and the United States. The CAFTA-DR
agreement, which includes the Dominican Republic, was ratified in 2007. In 2010, Costa
Rica’s legislature approved a measure to join the agreement. CAFTA is supported by the
same forces that advocate for the corporate colonialism brand of globalization in Mexico.
Central American countries might share similar climate patterns, but they do not
share similar political or economic dynamics. The political geography of the region is
diverse and ranges from a history of total civil war to peace and stability. The growing
pains of each country as it competes and engages in the global economy often cause
turmoil and conflict. Each state has found a different path, but each has dealt with similar
issues with varying degrees of success. Barriers to progress range from political
corruption to gang violence. Stability has come to the communities that have found new
avenues of gaining wealth and creating a higher standard of living
In the late 1900s, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua experienced devastating
civil wars that divided their people and destroyed their economies. All three have been
working to push forward in the twenty-first century with a focus on stability and
economic growth. In the Mayan state of Guatemala, the 1960–1996 civil war was fought
between the right-wing Ladinos (urbanized mestizos and Maya) and the left-wing rural
Amerindian Mayan majority. The genesis of this war was democratically elected
president Jacobo Arbenz’s social reforms, which conflicted with the interests of the U.S.-
based United Fruit Company. In 1954, U.S.-backed forces, funded by the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), overthrew Arbenz and laid the groundwork for civil unrest
for the next four decades. Right-wing and left-wing death squads terrorized the country
until the latter 1990s, when the Catholic Church brokered a peace accord. The poor and
devastated country is now moving forward on its path to recovery. Economic growth has
included an increase in coffee and cacao production. Tourism has become a growing
sector of the economy. The highland interior of the country has earned the title of “The
Land of Eternal Spring” because of its mild climate and scenic terrain. Highland lakes,
volcanic peaks, and Mayan ruins are all part of the country’s attraction.
In the coffee republic of El Salvador, the civil war of 1979–1992 was fought
between the government-backed wealthy land-owning elite and those who worked the
land and lived in poverty. A few powerful families owned almost the entire country.
Coffee is a major export crop for El Salvador, a country with a mild climate at its higher
elevations. There are over twenty major volcanic peaks with a few of them currently
active. Arabica coffee grows well at these elevations in the rich volcanic soil. To protect
their economic interests, U.S. coffee companies backed the wealthy elite in El Salvador
and lobbied the support of the U.S. government. U.S. military advisors and CIA support
aided El Salvador’s government forces. At the same time, those living in poverty in El
Salvador were soliciting support from Nicaragua and Cuba, which were backed by the
Soviet Union.
