North America

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

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.

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”)

Regional Classification

• Homogeneous– Similar

• E.g., religion, language, climate, etc.

• Heterogeneous– Different

• E.g., Quebec

• Nodal– Core more important

• E.g., San Francisco

Regions of North America

• Bypassed Atlantic Periphery

• Megalopolis• Quebec• North America’s

Heartland• Inland South• Coastal South• Great Plains

• Rocky Mountains• Intermontane West• US-Mexico

Borderlands• California• Pacific Northwest• Far North• Hawai’i

Basic Themes

• Urbanization

• Industrialization

• High Mobility

• Resource Abundance & Dependence

• High Income and Consumption

• Political Complexity

• Variety of Cultural Origins

• Environmental Impacts

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

Industrialization

• General Pattern

• Sectors of The Economy– Primary– Secondary– Tertiary– Quaternary

• Basic vs. Non-basic Economic Activities

High Mobility

• 20% of The US Population Moves Yearly

• Migration– Classifications

• Internal vs. External• Voluntary vs. Forced

– Explanations• Pull Factors vs. Push Factors

Resources

• More than ½ world’s 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

General Agricultural Scheme

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 world’s oil• Implications of high consumption in a finite

environment?• Presence of poverty

Political Complexity

Variety of Cultural Origins

• United states– Native Americans– European– African– East Asian– Latin American

• Canada– European: split along

British & French traditions

– Native American

Environmental Impacts

• Most themes have negative environmental impact:– Urbanization– Industrialization– High mobility– Resource abundance & dependence– High income and consumption

• Middle ground?

Regional Organization

Garreau’s Nine Nations

Our Scheme

Other Schema

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: 91–96.

• 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?

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, 1–10– 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 Geographer’s Art. London: Blackwell.

– A superb study on geography’s 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.

WebSources• CIA World Factbook

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/• NAFTA Information

http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/Policy/NAFTA/nafta.html• 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/