The United States

1
The United States Canada

• Human Geography Population

2
Human Beginnings

• How did the continent become populated?
• Native Americans
• Land bridge Theory migration from Asia across
  the Bering Strait land bridge to North America
  (most widely accepted theory there are others)
• Spread out across the continent when Europeans
  arrived their population was estimated at 1
  million
• Population severely decreased with European
  immigration
• European disease
• War

3
Exploration of North America

• 1001 - Leif Erikson and the Vikings of
  Scandinavia first to set foot in the New World
• Find valuable resources fishing timber
• No record of his discovery is known to the
  Europeans at the time
• Late 1400s- European countries try to find
  routes to India by traveling west instead of east
  
• 1492 Columbus discovers America for the
  Spanish
• Caribbean islands
• 1497 John Cabot explores for the British
• Eastern coast of Canada

4
Early European Settlement in US
Canada

• St. Augustine
• Located in northeast Florida
• establish by the Spanish in 1565
• Oldest occupied European established port city
• Not known as one of the major European
  settlements because most of its population was
  killed as a result of attacks by pirates

5
MAJOR PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS

• 1607 Jamestown Colony
• first permanent settlement for the English
• Often associated with colonial Williamsburg
• 1608 Quebec Settlement
• Samuel Champlain est. for the French
• Briefly taken over by the British
• 1620 Plymouth Colony
• Located in present day Massachusetts
• 2nd major settlement of the English
• 1625 Dutch Settlements
• Middle States (NY,NJ, PA, DE)

6
US Population

• Population growth was slow until the 1800s
• European migration
• Old Immigrants
• First major waves came primarily from Western
  Europe Britain, Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia
• Mostly Protestants (except Irish)
• New Immigrants
• Late 1800s saw the increase of eastern
  southern Europeans Asians Russians too
• Most were Jewish or Catholic

7
US Population cont.

• Immigration fairly constant through the 20th
  century
• Increase following WWII emigration from war
  torn countries of Europe
• Steady emigration from Canada, Cuba, Asia
• Increase in immigration from Mexico (legal and
  illegal) in the 1980s (see chart)
• Most recent political debate What should the US
  do about illegal immigrants?

8
Top 10 Countries of Foreign Born Population in
the US
9
US Population Distribution

• Most people live east of the Mississippi River
• The North East is the most populated region in
  the US (see map)
• Urban or Northeast Corridor (Boswash)
• What major cities are included?
• Other significant populations
• Great Lakes Region in the mid west
• California in the west
• Population growth rate .975 (2009)

10
Canadian Population

• French initially populate Acadia, but it will
  eventually become British
• Both the French and the British were able to
  establish significant populations in eastern
  Canada along the St. Lawrence River Great
  Lakes/Ontario Peninsula
• British defeat the French in the French Indian
  Wars (7 Years War) and take political control of
  the entire region

11
Canadian population cont.

• 1791 Constitutional Act created
• Lower Canada (Quebec) French
• Upper Canada (Ontario) English
• 1867 the Dominion of Canada was created by the
  British North American Act
• Combined Upper and Lower Canada and made Ottawa
  the capital
• What four provinces were involved?

12
Canadian Population cont.

• Canada has about 1/10 the population of the
  United States
• Population Growth rate approx. .817 (2009)
• Most Canadians live within 100 miles of the US
  border (see maps)
• Over 60 live in the Ontario Peninsula and the
  St. Lawrence Valley
• Canadians have traditionally emigrated south to
  the US in order to escape the harsh climate land