North America

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North America
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Regional Geography

• Two broad categories in geography
• Physical and human
• Overarching subfields
• Integrate physical and human geography skills
• Focus on specific parts of the World
• Voilá Regional Geography
• Selected parts of Earth defined and identified by
  similar spatiality

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North America

• A Continent
• Four nation-states
• Canada, Greenland, Mexico, United States
• Nation-states divided further
• E.g., Pacific Northwest, Great Plains, etc.
• Regions may have distinct characteristics
• E.g., Sun Belt, Bay Area, etc.
• Physical features e.g., watersheds, ecoregions,
  etc.

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Region

• Types of Regions
• Formal
• Institutional or political identity and distinct
  boundaries (e.g., New England)
• Functional
• Interconnections or usefulness (Salt Lake City
  Metro Area)
• Vernacular
• Defined by insiders who clearly know their
  regional boundaries (e.g., Dixie)

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Regional Classification

• Homogeneous
• Similar
• E.g., religion, language, climate, etc.
• Heterogeneous
• Different
• E.g., Quebec
• Nodal
• Core more important
• E.g., San Francisco

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Regions of North America

• Bypassed Atlantic Periphery
• Megalopolis
• Quebec
• North Americas Heartland
• Inland South
• Coastal South
• Great Plains

• Rocky Mountains
• Intermontane West
• US-Mexico Borderlands
• California
• Pacific Northwest
• Far North
• Hawaii

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Basic Themes

• Urbanization
• Industrialization
• High Mobility
• Resource Abundance Dependence
• High Income and Consumption
• Political Complexity
• Variety of Cultural Origins
• Environmental Impacts

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Urbanization

• Why Do Cities Exist?
• General Functions
• Specialized Roles
• United States
• 75 Urbanized
• 1/4 in Megalopolis
• Canada
• 79 Urbanized
• 1/3 of Total Population along ecumene

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Industrialization

• General Pattern
• Sectors of The Economy
• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary
• Quaternary
• Basic vs. Non-basic Economic Activities

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High Mobility

• 20 of The US Population Moves Yearly
• Migration
• Classifications
• Internal vs. External
• Voluntary vs. Forced
• Explanations
• Pull Factors vs. Push Factors

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Resources

• More than ½ worlds food exports originate in the
  US or Canada
• Tremendous Agricultural Productivity
• Suitable Climate
• Arable Land
• Technology
• Investment Capital
• Diversity of fossil fuels, ores, metallic
  minerals, timber

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General Agricultural Scheme
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High Income and Consumption

• Annual per capita incomes rank among the highest
  in the world
• Disposable incomes generate demands, ensure
  massive consumption, and propel the economies
• Retail establishments are ubiquitous
• US Canada consume 28 of the worlds oil
• Implications of high consumption in a finite
  environment?
• Presence of poverty

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Political Complexity
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Variety of Cultural Origins

• United states
• Native Americans
• European
• African
• East Asian
• Latin American
• Canada
• European split along British French traditions
• Native American

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Environmental Impacts

• Most themes have negative environmental impact
• Urbanization
• Industrialization
• High mobility
• Resource abundance dependence
• High income and consumption
• Middle ground?

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Regional Organization
Garreaus Nine Nations
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Our Scheme
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Other Schema
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Readings and Discussion Question

• Readings
• Robert Bailey, American Ecoregions, 2005
• John Garreau, quick bio
• Agnew, John A. 1999. Regions of the Mind Does
  Not Equal Regions of the Mind, Progress in Human
  Geography 23 9196.
• A captivating insight of regions, perception, and
  mental maps.
• The regional organization of this course is
  pretty standard. Are there other ways the Region
  could be organized? If so, how and why?

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Related Books

• Allen, James, Doreen Massey, and Allan Cochrane.
  1998. Rethinking the Region. London Routledge.
• British geographers really think outside the box.
  This is no exception!
• Ayers, Edward L. and Peter S. Onuf. 1996.
  Introduction to All Over the Map Rethinking
  American Regions, Edward L. Ayers, Patricia
  Nelson Limerick, Stephen Nissbaum, and Peter S.
  Onuf, eds. Baltimore The Johns Hopkins
  University Press, 110
• While the whole book is fun, this is a historical
  look at US regions, and why thinking regionally
  helps us better understand people and places.
• Haggett, Peter. 1995. The Geographers Art.
  London Blackwell.
• A superb study on geographys ontology.
• Martin, Geoffrey J. and Preston E. James. 1993.
  All Possible Worlds A History of Geographical
  Ideas. New York John Wiley and Sons.
• Often required reading in graduate geography
  programs because of its large scope. A solid
  overview of the history of geographic thought.

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WebSources

• CIA World Factbook
• http//www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
• NAFTA Information
• http//www.fas.usda.gov/itp/Policy/NAFTA/nafta.htm
  l
• U.S. Employees by Economic Sector
• http//www.census.gov/econ/census02/
• The American Geographical Society
• http//www.amergeog.org/
• Association of American Geographers
• http//www.aag.org
• The National Council for Geographic Education
• http//www.ncge.org
• The National Geographic Society
• http//www.nationalgeographic.com
• The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (Société
  géographique royale du Canada)
• http//www.rcgs.org/rcgs/