Outline of American Geography [antikvár]

This book is about the geography of the United States. And although we look at the country's physical geography, our central interest is not landforms, dimate, soils, or vegetation but the humán imprint on the landscape. This does not mean that the physical environment is ignored. In fact, in somé instances it holds a central role since the physical environment often plays a significant role in the pattern of people's activities. One factor in the importance of New York City is certainly its location on one of the world's finest natural harbors. Southern Florida's long growing season and mild winters enable it to be a leader in the production of oranges, lemons, and sugarcane. Still, Florida's mild climate does not automatically mean that it will be a supplier of oranges, and New York City's harbor is only one of many important reasons for the city's growth. The physical environment helps define humán opportunities, but it does not in itself determine humán activities. In generál, the more advanced the level of technology, the greater the leeway a population has in dealing with the land. It is obviously impossible to cover all the material that might fit into a geography of the United States. We have therefore chosen to divide the country into a number of areas, each of which has a identity developed out of several interacting elements. We use these elements to form the themes around which each régiónál chapter is organized. BASIC THEMES A few generál cultural patterns cut across régiónál and political boundaries and, in many cases, ignore major differences in the physical environment. These themes characterize the ways Americans have organized their country. Urbanization: Millions of Americans, most of them urbanites, prefer to consider their country as a basically rural place, and they seem to believe that this rurality provides the country with a basic national vigor. There is no longer much justification for this view of rural dominance. About 70 percent of Americans live in úrban areas, and more than 40 percent are in areas of 1 millión people or more. In 1990, special 3