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North America

Geography 102

World Regional Geography

Chapter 3

Basics

  • World’s largest territorial states

Canada 2nd largest territory

United States 3rd largest territory

  • Federal States

Federal State – a state that brings together a number of different political communities with a common government for common purposes but includes separate "state" or "provincial" or "cantonal" governments for the particular purposes of each community

Canada (based on British parliamentary system) – 10 provinces and 3 territories

United States (separates executive and legislative branches) - 50 states and Puerto Rico, and jurisdiction of Caribbean and Pacific territories

  • Cultural Pluralism

Regional bilingualism – Canada

Racial – United States

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  • Russia is the largest territorial state in the world.
  • Some other countries that we have talked about have been federal states as well: Nigeria.

Basics cont.

  • World’s most urbanized and mobile people

75% population in towns and cities

Most efficient transportation networks on earth

  • Relatively high incomes and very high consumption rates

What commodity does North America’s economy revolve around?

  • One of world’s great manufacturing complexes
  • United States and Canada main trading partners with each other – under what agreement?

On average….

For Canada - 87% of Canada’s exports went to U.S. and 64% of Canada’s imports came form U.S.

For U.S. – Canada is main trading partner

Canada and U.S. depend heavily on one another for raw materials

  • Population trends east-west in Canada and north-south in United States

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  • North American revolves around oil.
  • Population trends east-west in Canada. What does this mean? It means that there are belts of population spreading in an east-west line. This makes sense if we think about Canada’s climate which is the same or colder than the most northern climates in our country. In fact, most people live within 200 miles of the U.S./Canada border. In the U.S., population trends north-south. We have pockets of populations clusters in various large cities throughout the country that defy this trend (think Denver, Colorado) but for the most part things go from north to south. Think about the I-95 corridor. It stretches across the entire seaboard and if you drive along it you hit a major city every hour or so. Now think about I-70, do you hit a major city every hour? Not even close. If you were to travel along I-70, you would have LONG stretches of absolutely nothing.

Physiography
Physiographic Provinces

  • What do you see as you drive from the east to the west coast?
  • Physiographic Provinces - Areas of uniformity in relief, vegetation, soils, climate and other environmental conditions

Gulf/Atlantic Coastal Plain

Piedmont

Appalachian Highlands

Canadian Shield

Artic Coastal Plain

Interior Lowlands

Interior Highlands

Great Plains

Rocky Mountains

Intermontane Basin and Plateau

Pacific Mountains and Valleys

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  • If you ever drive across this country from the east coast to the west coast (or vice versa), you would notice that the landscape changes quite dramatically. You would probably see something like this:
  • Lots of trees and people in the east
  • Appalachian Mountains
  • Beyond the mountains - not so many trees, or people (except in cities), and the beginning of grassland areas and flat land
  • Grassland areas that become larger and larger until you are surrounded by nothing but grassland for miles and miles
  • Rocky Mountains – probably higher than you have ever seen with jagged peaks (and lots of skiing!)
  • After the mountains an area of plateaus (upland areas) and basins (downland areas) would follow where hardly any vegetation grows and which is remote (uninhabited) in most places
  • Another set of mountains – Cascades and Sierra Nevadas
  • Lush, lush, lush vegetation where the world’s only temperate rainforest resides (in Washington state) and more people again
  • And finally another mountain range – Coastal Ranges
  • What you would have just seen are what are termed physiographic provinces that are distinct from one another due to their differing physical geography.

Physiography
Physiographic Provinces U.S.

Appalachian

Highlands

Interior

Highlands

Interior

Lowlands

Gulf-Atlantic

Coastal Plain

Canadian

Shield

Great

Plains

Rocky

Mountains

Interior

Basin & Range

Pacific Mountains

& Valleys

Piedmont

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  • Map of the provinces.

Physiography
Physiographic Provinces

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  • Another map of the provinces. Notice how these physiographic run north-south for the most part.

Physiography
U.S.

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  • These are cool maps because you can see vegetation and the terrain for the U.S. The differences you see would be the physiographic provinces.

Physiography
Climate – U.S.

  • Temperature

Varies latitudinally

Continentality – the variation of the continental effect on air temperatures in the interior portions of the world’s landmasses

The greater the distance an area is from an ocean, the more extreme are its summer and winter temperatures and the drier the climate – why?

  • Precipitation

Decreases towards the west

Except for the West Coast

What is the climate like in Seattle, Washington?

Rain Shadow Effect – the relative dryness of areas downwind of mountain ranges caused by orographic precipitation (mountain precipitation) where moist air masses are forced to deposit most of their water content as they cross the mountains

The humid east vs. the arid west

Maryland vs. Colorado…

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  • Climate in North America varies latitudinally. It is warmer in the South (think Florida) and colder in the north (think Canada).
  • There also is this thing called continentality. Basically, the interior of continents have harsher climates (hotter summers and colder winters) than areas nearer the coasts. Why?
  • Water heats and cools much more slowly than land. Areas that are near water are moderated by this aspect of water. So temperatures are much milder. For example, in Seattle, Washington, average winter temperatures are 40 degrees and average summer temperatures are 70 degrees. However, the interior of continents are not near water or its moderating effect. Since land heats and cools very quickly, this means that summer temperatures are hot and winter temperatures are cold. For example, in Omaha, Nebraska, average winter temperatures are 10 degrees while average summer temperatures are 90 degrees. Compare that to Seattle and you will see what I mean by harsher climates.
  • Speaking of Seattle, let’s discuss the rain shadow effect. In general, precipitation (rainfall, snowfall) decreases as one moves westward, EXCEPT for the west coast where all of a sudden you gets tons of rain and lots of vegetation.
  • Get out your atlas if you have not done so already (notice the location of Omaha and the location of Seattle). Now, locate some other features: Cascades, Coastal Mountains, Pacific Ocean.
  • The rain shadow effect is the term given to the phenomenon where one side of the mountain is wet, and lushly vegetated, while the other side of the mountain is dry, desert-like, and sparsely vegetated.
  • Now, this is why this happens in terms of Seattle. Warm ocean water flows inland from the Pacific. Where does it go? Well, it hits the mountains and it goes up. When moist air rises, it condenses and forms clouds that then rain on what is termed the windward side of the mountain (since the wind comes from this side). This air mass dumps most of its moisture on the windward so when it crests over the mountains there is no moisture left. Hence the leeward side (the name of this mountain side) is usually dry and sparsely vegetated.

Physiography
The Rain Shadow Effect

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  • Clouds are forming over the mountains, but do not come over on the other side.
  • The image on the bottom right shows what we are talking about here. Moist air from the ocean flows in and hits the mountains. This air rises and forms clouds, causing rain to fall and lots of vegetation to grow. As soon as the clouds crest the mountain, however, they dissipate, leaving dry conditions and little to no vegetation.

Physiography

The

Rain

Shadow

Effect

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  • I LOVE this image because is shows the rainshadow effect to a T. The clouds in this image are lying over a mountain. What happens when these clouds crest the mountain? They dissapear.

Physiography
Vegetation Characteristics
Humid East vs. Arid West

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  • What do we mean by humid east and dry west? Look at this vegetation map and you will see. The eastern portion of North America is humid, wet, and heavily vegetated. As one moves further west, however, conditions get drier and more barren. So when we compare Maryland to Colorado here is what we would see. Maryland has LOTS of trees: deciduous and pine dominate. Trees pretty much grow anywhere that space is available. Vegetation is lush and the climate is humid and fairly wet. Colorado on the other hand has sparse tree growth (except in the mountains where there is lots of rain). The majority of Colorado has sparse vegetation and the trees that do grow are stunted, scrubby trees (not the tall, full-leafed trees we are used to here). Colorado is dry and sparsely vegetated. Maryland is characteristic of the humid east and Colorado is characteristic of the dry west.

Physiography
Climate – Canada

  • Canada

Cold temperatures

East of the Rockies - Canada’s moderate climates are the U.S.’s coldest climates

Absence of humid climates (see climate map to the right)

Physiography
Hydrography

  • In the Central portion of North America…

Two major drainage systems between the Rockies and the Appalachians…

Great Lakes drain into the St. Lawrence River

Mississippi/Missouri River Network fed by the Ohio, Tennessee, and Arkansas rivers

  • In the Western portion of North America…

Colorado/Columbia rivers

  • In the Eastern portion of North America…

Short rivers flowing towards the Atlantic Ocean

Fall Line Cities

Cities located at waterfalls – Trenton, NJ; Pawtucket, RI; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Washington D.C.; Richmond, Va; Raleigh, NC; Columbia, SC; Augusta, GA,– why?

The answer lies in understanding physiographic provinces

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  • Let’s go back to physiographic province. In particular we want to discuss the Gulf Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. The Gulf Atlantic Coastal Plain is comprised of very weak rock while the Piedmont is comprised of very strong rock. If a river flows over these two areas, which one will erode faster? Well, the Coastal Plain will erode faster because the rock is weaker.
  • So where the Piedmont meets the Coastal Plain, we see water falls forming due to the difference in the strength of rock that comprises each. Well, this physical feature caused an interesting thing to happen. In the past, many cities/towns were settled where the Piedmont meets the Coastal Plain (see the list of cities in the presentation). These waterfalls that formed represented the farthest point upstream that ships could go (remember, shipping was the major mode of transportation when most of these cities were formed). So, the difference in physiographic provinces affected the early settlement patterns of this country.

Fall Line Cities

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  • Here are three images of our area. Look at the second image and the divide between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain. Remember, this line is termed the Fall Line as this is where waterfalls would form due to the difference in harder Piedmont rock and softer Coastal Plain rock.
  • Now take a look at the last image. I count eight cities in that image alone that developed along the Fall Line. Again, the shipping was the major mode of transportation when these cities were founded and the Fall Line was the furthest point up a river that a ship could travel. Cool, huh?

Physiography
North American Rivers

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  • Major rivers in North America.

Cultural Geography
Indigenous North America

  • Native Americans (U.S.) and First Nations (Canada)

Arrived in North America 13,000 years ago

Organized into hundreds of nations:

Farmers grew crops Europeans had never seen before

Elaborate houses, efficient watercraft, effective weaponry, decorative clothing, and wide-ranging art

Some with sophisticated health and medical practices

Political institutions were mature and elaborate

Ceremonial life was complex and highly developed

What happened to these indigenous peoples?

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  • It is projected that millions of Native Americans lived all over on this continent at the time of European settlement. However, over a relatively short time it is projected that over 90% of this Native American population died. And of course, let’s not forget where the Native Americans were given land.

United States
Population Geography

  • How does population trend?

Westward shift in population with southerly and westerly sunbelt deflection – why?

Sunbelt - popular name given to the southern tier of the U.S.

Rapid metropolitan growth

Triggered by Industrial Revolution

Rechanneled through suburbanization - the movement of people from the cities to the suburbs – outskirts of the city- and growth thereof

African American movement from the South to the North and back again

Influx of immigrants from outside U.S.

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  • Population has been moving to the southern portion and the western portion of the country. Western cities like Denver, Salt Lake, and Las Vegas are growing astronomically as are southern cities like Phoenix, Tuscaloosa etc etc.
  • Suburbanization has been one of the most dramatic changes that has happened to population. Think of all the suburbs of Baltimore. All of these little cities surrounding B’more are indicative of the suburbanization movement that has been occurring in our country for decades.

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  • Notice the east-west belt of population in Canada and the north-south belts of population in the U.S.

United States
What Causes Migration?

  • Push and Pull Factors
  • Who migrated to the U.S. initially, who migrates to the U.S. now?
  • What push and what pull factors bring people to the U.S.?

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  • LOTS of immigrants in the early years of the U.S. came from Europe. Now the majority of immigrants come from Middle and South America. Why did Europeans initially and Middle/South Americans now immigrate to the U.S.?

United States
Population Geography

  • Colonial 19th Century Development

Dominated by England and France

French – establish a lucrative fur-trading network

British – establish colonial settlements (Jamestown, Virginia is the oldest)

Differentiated into local economies:

New England northern colony – commerce

Chesapeake Bay southern colony – plantation farming of tobacco

Mid-Atlantic lying in between – small independent-farmer colonies

After Revolutionary War – west opened up and settlement began in earnest

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  • Colonial 19th century development
  • There were three culture hearths that developed from the economic and settlement patterns that dominated.

United States
Diffusion of Culture Hearths

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  • Look at the map that shows the diffusion of culture hearths. Each of these culture hearths represents an area from which people went to specific places. The letter A represents the New England culture hearth, the letter B represents the Mid-Atlantic culture hearth, and the letter C represents the Chesapeake Bay culture hearth. Know where the people from these culture hearths disseminated to.

United States
Population Geography

  • Post-1900 Industrial Urbanization

Evolution of the U.S. National Urban System (external):

The Sail Wagon Epoch (1790-1830)

Primitive overland and waterway circulation

Leading cities = northeastern ports focused on trade with Europe

The Iron Horse Epoch (1830-1870)

Steam-powered railroad and forging of national transportation system

New York as the primate city (a country’s largest city and expressive of the national culture)

The Steel-Rail Epoch (1870-1920)

Establishment of national metropolitan system

Increasing scale of manufacturing – auto and steel industries

The Auto-Air Amenity Epoch (1920-1970)

Maturation of the national urban system

Key elements were the automobile and airplanes

Suburbanization

The Satellite-Electronic Jet Propulsion Epoch (1970-Present)

Cities on East and West coast are international gateways

Focused on information management, computers technologies, global communications, and intercontinental travel

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  • These five epochs represent how the U.S. urban system evolved.
  • During this time of urban evolution, there were some other things that formed as well. One of these was the American Manufacturing Belt (know its corner cities) and conurbations (know these and where they are generally located).

United States
Population Geography

  • The American Manufacturing Belt

North America’s rectangular core region of manufacturing

Corners = Boston, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Baltimore

Dominant during the industrial age and still a formidable economic powerhouse

  • Conurbations – large, multi-metropolitan complex formed by the coalescence of two or more major urban areas

California

Pacific Northwest

Main Street

Lower Great Lakes

Texas

Atlantic Seaboard

The American Manufacturing Belt

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  • Manufacturing dominates in the pink area indicated on the map above. Know the corners of this manufacturing belt.



Conurbations

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  • Notice all of the conurbations we have in this country. Remember, these are areas where two or more cities have melded together. Are WE in a conurbation? If so, which one? Are there any conurbations in the interior portion of the U.S.?

United States
Changing Structure of the U.S. Metropolis

  • Four Eras of Intraurban Structural Evolution describe how cities changed (internal):

Walking-Horse Carriage Era (pre 1888)

Compact pedestrian city where everything was within 30 minute walking distance

CBD dominant

Electric Streetcar Era (1888-1920)

Electric cars (trolleys) expanded 30 minute travel radius and the city expanded likewise along trolley corridors

CBD dominant

Recreational Automobile Era (1920-1945)

Outer metropolitan areas and suburbs made accessible by automobiles and highways

CBD still dominant but neighborhoods sharply partitioned by income, ethnicity and race

Freeway Era (1945-Present)

Full impact of cars felt

Metropolis turned inside out

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  • These four eras describe how our inner cities formed. Both the epochs and these eras are based on technological advancements that enabled the American urban system and American cities to develop in the way they did.

United States
Changing Structure of the U.S. Metropolis

  • Residential Mosaics

Ghettos – an intraurban region marked by a particular ethnic character (often an inner city poverty zone)

Gentrification – renovation and upgrading of older residential area – problem?

  • Suburbanization

Outer Cities – non-central city portion of the American metropolis that became a full-fledged city during the Freeway Era (what are the dominant cities that surround Baltimore? Washington D.C.? – these are outer cities)

Suburban Downtown – automobile version of CBD

Result = multi-centered Metropolis (see image to right)

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  • Some other aspects of the development of American cities have been ghettoes, gentrification and outer cities. I am going to assume we have all heard about ghettoes.
  • Gentrification is an interesting phenomenon that is becoming more widespread and getting heavily studied by geographers. Gentrification is basically the renovating of different sections of the city. This could be an Inner Harbor type renovation or it could be the tearing down of old (sometimes, but not always, abandoned) houses and the rebuilding of new houses. One of the problems with gentrification, however, is that it displaces the poorer people that lived in these older houses with richer, more well-to-do people. Where do these people go?
  • Another thing that has happened is the development of outer cities/suburban downtowns. Cars enabled people to move out of the city and into the suburbs. In the past, the inner city was the hot spot where businesses and people congregated. What are inner cities like now? Because of suburbanization, the city has turned inside out and the outer cities surrounding the city are now more prominent than the actual city itself. Towson is an example of an outer city that has become more prominent that Baltimore.

United States
Cultural Geography

  • What is American culture?
  • American Cultural Bases according to your book…

Love of newness

Desire to be near nature

Freedom to move

Individualism

Societal acceptance

Aggressive pursuit of goals

Firm sense of destiny

Lack of geographical knowledge =)

A rural ideal – what is this?

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  • Do you agree with this list? Would you take away or add anything else?

United States
Cultural Geography

  • Language

English with dialects

However, 1/8 of the population speaks a primary language other than English

  • Religion

Christian dominated but clustered by region…

Roman Catholic – manufacturing belt

Southern Baptrist – southeastern quadrant

Lutheran – upper mid-west and northern Great Plains

Mormon – west of the Rockies

  • Ethnicity

Ethnicity – national ancestry

Spatial distribution (see map) and know where clusters occur

ETHNIC PATTERNS

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  • Where do African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, and Hispanics cluster? These clusterings should make sense geographically. For example, Asians cluster in the west because that is the area in the U.S. that is closest to Asia. Why do we have the other clusterings? If you cannot answer these or are having trouble, email me.

United States
Cultural Geography

  • Immigration

1950’s…

50% Europe

25% Middle/South America

15% Canada

Today…

50% Middle/South America

25% Asia

15% Europe/Canada

  • Mosaic Culture – the fragmentation of specialized social groups into homogeneous communities of interest marked not only by income, race, and ethnicity but also by age, occupational status, and lifestyle

This trend is also known as balkanization – the fragmentation of a region into smaller, often hostile political units

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  • We touched this topic a couple slides ago, but this gives you the numbers. We definitely have a mosaic culture in our country. For example, I can think of one. Fells Point has become an area where lots of working professionals live. They tend to be younger, single, and have fairly well-paid jobs. Numerous bars cater to this crowd in Fells Point. Can you think of pockets of people where people live in Baltimore?

United States
Economic Geography

  • Major Components of Spatial Economy:

Primary Activities – extractive (mining and agriculture)

Secondary Activities – manufacturing (transformation of raw materials into finished products)

Tertiary Activities – service (retailing to finance to education to office-based jobs)

Quaternary Activities – information (dominant sector that involves the collection, processing, and manipulation of information

Quinary Activities – managerial activities associated with decision-making in large organization

  • Changing structure of the spatial economy:

Agriculture dominated pre-1900

Manufacturing dominated after 1900

Services dominated 1950’s

Labor force today:

Primary = 2%

Secondary = 15%

Tertiary = 18%

Quaternary = 65% (10% in Quinary)

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  • Know how the spatial economy (and in particular economic activities – i.e. primary, secondary etc). How have the components of our economy changed from before the 1900’s to today? In other words, what sector of the economy dominated before the 1900’s and what sector dominates today?

United States
Economic Geography

  • Resource Use:

Mineral Resources = concentrated in three zones

Canadian Shield

Appalachian Highlands

Western mountain ranges

Fossil Fuel

Oil, natural gas, coal

Major Deposits of Fossil Fuels in North America

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  • The U.S. is VERY rich on fossil fuels and mineral resources.

United States
Economic Geography

  • Agriculture

Important, space consuming

Reduction in farmers (less than 1% of U.S. population lives on farmland)

  • Manufacturing

Manufacturing belt became dominant because of its:

Proximity to megalopolises

Proximity to industrial resources

Economies of Scale – savings attained from large-scale production of goods

Economic warfare when employers look at where to locate major production sites

Example: Alabama gave $200,000 per expected job to Mercedes-Benz to locate in Tuscaloosa

Example: New York City offered two Wall Street brokerage firms $60 million to keep from moving to the suburbs

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  • Agriculture has reduced dramatically over the past century. Farmers now comprise less than 1% of the U.S. population.
  • What about manufacturing? Manufacturing developed because people realized they could save money by mass-producing products. In order to keep companies, many states have resorted to pay-outs of that company relocates or stays.

United States
Economic Geography - Agriculture

United States
Economic Geography

  • The Post-Industrial Revolution

Postindustrial Economy – an economy that emerges when traditional industry is increasingly eclipsed by higher-technology industrial complexes dominated by services, information-related, and managerial activities

Leading industries = high-tech, white collar, office-based

Technopole = planned post-industrial complexes that innovate, promote, and manufacture the hardware and software products of the new informational economy

Silicon Valley, California – 1) world class research university (Stanford), 2) well-educated, technologically savvy populace, 3) close proximity to major urban center (San Fran), 4) abundant venture capital, 5) economic climate and culture that supports risky ventures and forgives failure, 6) global business linkages, and 7( high amenity environment

Others: North Carolina’s Research Triangle, Suburbs of Seattle, Route 128 corridor around Boston

United States
Economic Geography – The Internet

What Does Dilbert
Say About Our Society?

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  • Dilbert is the perfect example of an employee living in a Post-Industrial society.

Canada
Population Geography

  • Ecumene – the inhabitable zone of permanent settlement – where is it for Canada?
  • Clusters of population:

Main Street = Montreal, Toronto and Windsor

Saint John-Halifax = central New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

Prairies = southern Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan

Southwest British Columbia - Vancouver

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  • Look at the population map. Notice that in Canada, population trends east-west. Why is this? Because it is freakin’ cold in Canada. Canada’s warmest climates are the U.S.’s coldest, except on the west coast (British Columbia) where climate is more like here and in the Northwest of the U.S. Also notice that there are four very distinct clusters of population.

Canada
Provinces

Canada
Population Geography

  • Pre 20th Century Canada

Penetration of interior lagged behind U.S. due to major physical obstacles – like what?

Bi-Cultural Division between the British the French

  • Canada Since 1900

Canadian Federation, 1867 (fairly new country)

Urban System Development

Frontier Staples Era (pre 1935)

Century-long transition from a frontier-mercantile economy to one oriented to staples (finished products)

Era of Industrial Capitalism (1935-1975)

Achieved U.S.-style prosperity that involved massive growth in manufacturing, tertiary activities, and urbanization

Ascent of Main Street – contained less than 2% of Canada’s land but included 60% of Canada's people and supplied 75% of Canada’s manufacturing jobs

Era of Global Capitalism (1975-Present)

Rise of foreign investment from Asia and Europe and transformation to a postindustrial economy

Suburbanization

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  • Pre-20th century Canada
  • Canada lagged behind the U.S. in terms of development until the 20th century. This lagging behind was mainly due to physical barriers and the colonizing power that just wanted to trade in fur.
  • Canada since 1900
  • Just like the U.S., Canada also developed in a generalized way. Know these eras and understand how they changed Canada.

Main Street

Detroit

Montreal

Quebec City

Toronto

Windsor

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  • Main Street is Canada’s only conurbation (excluding Seattle, Vancouver).

Canada
Cultural and Political Geography

  • Cultural Geography

Dominant force = English and French

Inuits and other First Nations

Fighting over land claims with government

Nunavut (“our land” in Inuit) – 80% Inuit so native self-governed

  • Political

Western Regionalism – leaders oppose federal concessions to Quebec and insist on equal treatment of all provinces

A Future Four Canadas?

1) British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

2) Ontario

3) Atlantic Provinces

4) Quebec

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  • Political
  • Nunavut was one of the concessions the Canadian government made to the native Inuit people of Canada. Nunavut was created to give land back to these people and is now a territory of Canada.
  • One of the tings going on right now is what has been called western regionalism. The western portion of Canada is getting increasingly upset with the government. A lot of this strife revolved around the Quebec issue (discussed later). However, your book suggests that a separation into four Canada’s is a possibility, although unlikely.
  • The Quebecois (kay-beh-qwa) or French Canadians
  • One of the biggest issues in Canada involves Canada’s French-speaking population. This issue is rooted in history (see presentation and understand how this developed). In the past few decades the Quebecois have become increasingly restless to the point that two independence referendums have been put to the vote in Quebec (basically a referendum to see whether Quebec should stay with Canada or become its own country). Both times these referendums failed but the last time was extremely close (see presentation). This issue has not be resolved and will most likely resurface again and again. However, after Canada’s ‘near-death’ experience (what Canada refers to the 1995 referendum as), the government has instituted rules to keep Canada intact. Among other things, if a province/territory wants to secede it must pay of its portion of the national debt (millions of dollars) and it must have in place safeguards for the first nation populations (what Canada calls its indigenous population).

Canada
Cultural Geography

  • The Quebecois (French Canadians)

Historical Geography

New France – The French were the first European colonizers of present-day Canada

Series of wars between the English and the French, 1680’s

France defeated, 1763

Britain given New France but allowed the French inhabitants to retain their legal and land-tenure systems, language, and Roman Catholic religion

After the Revolutionary War

English refugees fled to Canada and after conflict between the British and the French, the British parliament divided the land area into Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec respectively)

After repeated attempts at unification and separation, the British North America Act establish the Canadian federation, 1867

Ontario and Quebec separated

Quebec allowed to retain French civil code , the French language, and protected in parliament

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  • Know the history and current situation involving the Quebecois.

Canada
Cultural Geography

  • The Quebecois (French Canadians) cont.

Political Geography

Quebecers regarded themselves as second-class citizens

Separatist movement to separate from Canada and create their own country, 1970’s

1st referendum - Quebecois voted against independence, 1980

2nd referendum – Quebecois voted against independence narrowly, 1995 (49.4% approved independence!)

Separatist ideas could resurface at any time

Canada
Economic Geography

  • Diversified, high-quality resource base

Tertiary/quaternary sectors employ ~70% population

  • United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement 1989

Strengthened under NAFTA, 1994

Has caused changes in the spatial economy

Weakened E/W ties and strengthened N/S ties

Economic Fault Lines

Regional State – natural economic zone that defies old borders and is shaped by the global economy

Atlantic Provinces and New England

Quebec and New York state

Ontario and Michigan (and other Midwestern states)

Prairie Provinces and Upper Midwest

British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest

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  • NAFTA served to strengthen overall ties between the U.S. and Canada, but it has done so at the cost of the countries as a whole.
  • East-West ties within countries (for example, between Seattle and Chicago) have weakened as North-South ties between the two countries has strengthened (for example between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada). This is creating economic fault lines between former trading ties and forming what we call regional states.
  • Regional states have exacerbated the western regionalism and this desire for independence from Canada. Many Canadian areas have stronger trading/economic ties with their U.S. neighbor than with other parts of Canada. For example, British Columbia (Vancouver) has stronger ties with Washington (Seattle) than it does with Ottawa (the capital of Canada).

Regions of the Realm

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  • Know the characteristics of these regions and read your book for more information.

Regions of the Realm

  • The North American Core

Home of the American Manufacturing Belt

Geographic heart of North America as here is located the:

largest city and the federal capital (in both countries)

leading financial markets, cultural facilities, corporate headquarters, media centers, research complexes, and busiest airports and intercity expressways

Contain 1/3 of the national population

New Growth Centers from postindustrial development

New York

Boston

Washington DC

Tyson’s Corner and Dulled IA

‘Technological capital’ of the U.S.

Regions of the Realm

  • Maritime NE

Upper New England and Atlantic Provinces of Canada

Historic cultural hearth

Maritime orientation

Rural in character

Difficult environments with limited land resources

Economic geography

Primary activities dominant – fishing, forestry, and farming

Recreation and tourism have boosted regional economy

Tertiary/Quaternary activities - future direction

Problems

Fishery depletion

Regions of the Realm

  • French Canada

Quebec and New Brunswick (‘Acadians’)

Economic geography

Industrialization is widespread

Tertiary, postindustrial commercial activities dominate

Urbanization rate is high

Tourism and recreation large part of economy

Politics

Sovereignty issues (as discussed previously)

Declining birth rates from relaxation of Roman Catholic strictures – Quebec government trying to ameliorate situation be encouraging (with cash payments) large families and accepting Francophone immigrants

Acadians

Shun notion of independence

Cohabitation – mutual respect for each other’s languages due to government-mandated system of bilingualism

Rue Saint-Louis, Quebec

Regions of the Realm

  • The Continental Interior

Central portion of the U.S. and Canada

Economic geography

Primary activities dominate - agriculture predominant feature on landscape

Youth exodus with elderly, poorer population left behind

Debate over whether these lands should be abandoned and returned to natural grassland state

Nonfarming sector developing and diversifying

Telemarketing major pursuit in Omaha, Nebraska esp.

Gateway in Sioux City, South Dakota

Sprint in Kansas City, Kansas

Regions of the Realm

  • The South

Kentucky to Louisiana and West Virginia to Florida

Has undergone more change than any other region

Economics

Aftereffects of Civil War caused economic stagnation until 1970’s

Sunbelt phenomenon created new metropolises (Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Tampa) and formed new conurbations

Economic disparity

Gap between rich and poor higher than in any other region – why?

Follows along racial and ethnic lines

Recent economic growth centered on the periphery of the region

Demographics

Increasing cultural heterogeneity

Fragmented residential environments – what groups of people are we talking about here?

Regions of the Realm

  • The Southwest

Texas, Arizona, New Mexico

Tricultural – what cultures?

Boom in population growth as more and more people move to these areas

Economic geography

Development due to:

Huge amounts of electricity to power air conditioners

Sufficient water for swimming pools and irrigation

Automobiles so affluent newcomers can spread themselves out at desired distances

Oil predominant, 1980’s

Post-Industrial Society, 1990’s

Texas triangle (Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio) one of the world’s most productive postindustrial complexes

Arizona is the most technologically transformed desert environment on earth

Problem

Water supply – Central Arizona project Canal transports Colorado River water to water-hungry states

Regions of the Realm

  • The Western Frontier

Rockies to Sierra Nevadas

Heartland = Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Western Colorado

Swiftly growing, economically booming

More than 2.5 million people have migrated to this region in the past decade – 25% of the region’s total population!

Population is not growing in a single line of advancing settlement but rather in a dispersed set of population clusters

Growth Concentrations:

Las Vegas (fastest growing metropolis in the U.S.)

Denver/Salt Lake City

Economic geography

Post-Industrial telecommunications and transportation

Driven by influx of people outside region

Division btwn rich/poor growing – affluent moving in vs. rural, poor trying to keep up with the rising cost of land etc.

Las Vegas and Salt Lake City

Regions of the Realm

  • The Northern Frontier

Alaska and 90% of Canada

Harsh climates prevail

Sparsely populated

Economics

Primary activity - mining

Boom/bust cycles characterize

Native economy

Subsistence hunting

First Nations have filed legal actions to recover lands that Europeans took without negotiating treaties

Alaska

Relative location is favorable as a midpoint between lower 48 states and East Asia

Growth spurt of 100% since 1970

Home of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (why is this important?),

Regions of the Realm

  • The Pacific Hinge

Pacific coast lands

Economic geography

Why is this region called a hinge?

Because it is the hinge on a North American door to Pacific Rim

Tertiary/Quaternary activities dominate

California: Silicon Valley

Oregon: Willamette Valley

Seattle: Cowlitz-Puget Sound lowland (Microsoft/Boeing)

California is a giant in this region…

Most populated and multiethnic state

Economy would rank 6th in the world if it was its own country

Problems:

Water

Air pollution

Environmental hazards: inland droughts, coastal-zone flooding, mudslides, brushfires, and earthquakes

Central Seattle