IN THIS CHAPTER Spectacular Scenery Natural Wealth The American Creed Bilingualism in Canada The Geography of Home Foreclosures Immigration and the Future.

• IN THIS CHAPTER

• Spectacular Scenery— Natural Wealth

• The American Creed

• Bilingualism in Canada

• The Geography of Home Foreclosures

• Immigration and the Future of Multiculturalism

NORTH AMERICA

DEFINING THE REALM

NORTH AMERICAPopulation Clusters

• Cultural Pluralism—people of different cultures live adjacent to each other but do not mix

• Canada‒ East and South Asian

• United States‒ Hispanic (16%)‒ African American (13%)‒ Other Ethnic Backgrounds

• Current US Population = 300-million +

NORTH AMERICA’SPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Physiographic Regions

• Plains• Coastal Plains

‒ Gulf-Atlantic Coastal ‒ Arctic Coastal Plain

• Interior Plains‒ Interior Lowlands‒ Great Plains

• Canadian Shield• Mountains and Highlands

‒ Appalachian Highlands‒ Interior Highlands‒ Rocky Mountains‒ Intermountain Basins and

Plateaus‒ Pacific Mountains and

Valleys

NORTH AMERICAClimates• Diversity of Environments

• Tropical A ‒ Southern tip of Florida

• Moist coastal zones C‒ East Coast—humid Cfa‒ West Coast—Cs and Cfb

• Arid Interior and West B‒ Vegetation‒ Scrub and brush‒ Great Plains

• Northern D and Polar E

• Rain Shadow Effect• West coast eastside of inland mountains

‒ Moisture-laden air arrives from the Pacific, precipitation on mountainous west, dry on east

NORTH AMERICANative Americans and European Settlement• Native Americans—

U.S.

• First Nations—Canada ‒ Metis‒ Inuit

• European‒ Britain‒ France

• Languages‒ English is Lingua

Franca; enhances mobility within realm

NORTH AMERICAPredominant Religions• Baptists

‒ Southeast from Texas to Virginia

• Lutherans‒ Upper Midwest ‒ Northern Great Plains

• Methodists ‒ Lower Midwest

• Mormons‒ Interior West centered on

Utah• Roman Catholics

‒ United States• Southwest—Hispanics • Northeast—Irish and Italians

‒ Canada• Quebec

• Federal States

• Canada‒ 10 Provinces, 3 Territories

• United States‒ 50 States

NORTH AMERICADistribution of Natural Resources

• Water: rivers, lakes, ice

• Minerals—concentrated in three zones:– Canadian Shield

• Iron ore, nickel, copper, gold, uranium, and diamonds

– Appalachians • Iron ore, lead, and zinc

– Western Mountains• Copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium, silver, and gold

• Fossil Fuels– Oil and Natural Gas

– Coal

NORTH AMERICAEnergy and Mineral Deposits

• Oil/Natural Gas Production Areas:

• Gulf Coast‒ Coastal zone and offshore

• Midcontinent District‒ Western Texas to eastern

Kansas

• Alaska’s North Slope‒ Facing and extending

below the Arctic Ocean

• Canada’s Northeastern‒ Alberta (tar sands)

• Coal Reserves‒ Appalachian Mountains‒ Beneath the Great Plains‒ Southern Midwest‒ Rocky Mountains

NORTH AMERICAIndustrialization and Urbanization

• Industrial Revolution

• American Manufacturing Belt

• Areas of Growth

• Movement of Goods

NORTH AMERICADeindustrialization and Suburbanization

• Deindustrialization– Began in 1960s – loss of manufacturing (and jobs) due to

automation

• Suburbanization– Outer cities became destination for economic activity

(suburbs)

• Information Economy– Quaternary Sector

• Technology/Science/Business Centers

• Ex. Silicon Valley: NorCal global tech industry

NORTH AMERICAPolycentric Cities

• Gentrification• Limited return of more

affluent residents• Construction of multiple-

use high-rises • Displacement of low-

income local residents• Raise real estate value,

taxes, living costs• Often spark resistance and

conflict‒ Los Angeles example:

Metropolis with 6 nodes (YOU are in North West/San Fernando)

Effects of Great Recession• Housing Loss/Negative Equity

NORTH AMERICAMulticultural Realm

• Mobile Populations – East to SouthWest

• Migration – near constant immigration

(large influx of people of Latino/Asian descent)

• Melting Pot or Mosaic Culture– Melting Pot – assumed assimilation to norm culture

– Immigrant numbers in America sufficient to create durable societies within the national society, thus defying the melting pot idea (USA and Canada)

– Complex ethnic and cultural mosaic (in US large number of people with African/Hispanic descent, in Canada Asian and Montreal large French descent)

•U.S.-Canada Cross-Border Linkages

•The Hispanicization of the Southwest

•The Natural Riches of the Northern Frontier

•Miami: South of the South

•China’s Impact on the Pacific Hinge

•The Alaskan Frontier and U.S. Geopolitics

NORTH AMERICA

REGIONS OF THE REALM

NORTH AMERICA

• REGIONS OF THE REALM

• North American Core

• Maritime Northeast

• French Canada

• Southeast

• Southwest

• Pacific Hinge

• Western Frontier

• Continental Interior

• Northern Frontier

NORTH AMERICACanada’s Spatial Structure

• Second largest country in the world territorially

• Atlantic Provinces‒ Prince Edward Island‒ Nova Scotia‒ New Brunswick‒ Newfoundland and

Labrador

• Francophone Quebec

• Populous, heavily urbanized Ontario

NORTH AMERICACanada’s Spatial Structure

• Population Clustered‒ Along 300-km (200-mi) of

U.S. border‒ Along ocean shores

• Population pattern creates cross-border affinities with major American cities‒ Toronto-Buffalo‒ Windsor-Detroit‒ Vancouver-Seattle

• Western Canada‒ Prairie Provinces• Manitoba• Saskatchewan• Alberta

‒ British Columbia

• Arctic North‒ Yukon‒ Northwest Territories

• Nunavut—”Our Land”‒ Created in 1999‒ All of Canada’s Eastern

Arctic‒ Inuit People

NORTH AMERICACanada’sCultural Contrasts

• Capital—Ottawa‒ Located on Ottawa River• Between English-speaking

Ontario and French-speaking Quebec

• English-Speaking Canada‒ 60% of population

• Head of State‒ Queen Elizabeth II‒ Part of the British

Commonwealth• Represented by Governor

General • French-Speaking Canada‒ 23% of population‒ Quebec• 80% French Canadian• Historic, traditional, and

emotional focus of French culture in Canada

• Nationalist movement

• Politics of Devolution• Secession threat that weakens

state (West vs. East)

NORTH AMERICACanada: Ascendancy of Indigenous Peoples• First Nations

‒ 1.4 million native people (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit)

• Creation of Nunavut

• Treaties for self-government in northern British Columbia

• CreeHistoric domain covers the northern half of Quebec‒ James Bay Hydroelectric

Project• Cree attempted to block

construction • Dropped opposition in return for

income from electricity• Secured the right to control their

own economic and community development

Regionalism and Ethnicity in the United States

• As compared with Canada…

– No serious contemporary campaign for secession, or withdrawal for political independence, since the Civil War.

– Indigenous peoples were weakened by westward push of European settlers:

• Loss of population and territory

• Little political power

NORTH AMERICARegionalism and Ethnicity in the United States

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The North American Core•Largest Cities and Federal Capitals•Leading Financial Markets•Largest Number of Corporate Headquarters•Dominant Media Centers•Prestigious Universities•Cutting-Edge Research Complexes•Busiest Airports and Intercity Expressways•More than One-Third National Populations•American Manufacturing Belt

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Maritime Northeast•Northern Border of Massachusetts to Newfoundland•Difficult Environments•Maritime Orientation•Limited Resources•Rural Character•Slow Economic Development•Primary Industries

‒ Fishing, Logging, Farming, Recreation, and Tourism

‒ Discovery of offshore oil reserves of Newfoundland and Labrador

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

French Canada•Southern Quebec

‒ Focused on St. Lawrence River Valley—Montreal to the River’s Mouth

•French-speaking Acadians in New Brunswick

‒ Reject the notion of independence and promote efforts to keep Quebec within the Canadian federation

•Montreal‒ Information Technology‒ Telecommunications‒ Biopharmaceuticals

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Southeast•Sunbelt Migration in 1970s

•Core-region companies located subsidiary offices

‒ Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Tampa

•Racial segregation dismantled by civil rights movement

•New facilities: Airports (Atlanta) to theme parks, CNN, Cape Canaveral

• Gap between rich and poor wide

• New South‒ Virginia’s Washington

suburbs, North Carolina’s Research Triangle, Tennessee’s Oak Ridge complex, Atlanta’s corporate campuses

• Old South‒ Appalachia and rural

Mississippi‒ Tobacco, cotton, and sugar

plantations

• Climate‒ Warmer and more humid

than Core and Southwest

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Southwest•East Texas to Eastern Southern California

•Environment‒ Arid—Steppe and Desert

•Culture‒ Anglo‒ Hispanic‒ Native American

•Economy‒ Oil and Natural Gas‒ Technopoles—State-of-the-

Art, High Technology Industrial Complexes

‒ NAFTA

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Pacific Hinge•California’s border with Mexico to Vancouver, British Columbia

‒ California, western portions of Oregon and Washington

‒ San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle •California

‒ America’s most populous state‒ Economy within world’s ten largest‒ Productive agricultural regionCalifornia’s

Central Valley‒ Spectacular economic growth‒ Culturally diverse population

•Involvement in the economic growth of countries on opposite shores of the Pacific Ocean•Key interface between North American realm and the Pacific Rim

‒ China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Western Frontier•From the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Cascades to the Rocky Mountains

•Parts of southern Alberta and British Columbia, eastern Washington State and Oregon, all of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho, western Montana, Wyoming, Colorado

•Las Vegas‒ Fast-growing metropolitan area‒ 40 million visitors annually‒ Now, foreclosure, unemployment, due to national and global economic crises

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Continental Interior•Interior Canada to the borders of the Southeast and Southwest

•Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Winnipeg

•Agriculture—Breadbasket‒ Meat Belt—beef and pork‒ Corn Belt—animal feed and

ethanol‒ Soybean‒ Spring Wheat—Dakotas and

Prairie Provinces‒ Winter Wheat—Kansas

•Food processing, packing, marketing, flour milling, soybean, sunflower and canola oil production

U.S. FARM RESOURCE REGIONS

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Northern Frontier•Largest region of the realm

• 90% of Canada and Alaska

•Isolated settlement

•Resources

•Canadian Shield• Metallic ores such as nickel,

uranium, copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc

•Yukon and Northwest Territories

• Gold and diamonds

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Northern Frontier•Alberta

‒ Oil reserves—Tar sands

•Vast deposits of “oil sands”petroleum is mixed with sand

‒ Expensive, complicated, damaging process to extract

•Athabasca Tar Sands constitute one of the world’s largest reserves

•Open-pit mining, Fort McMurray

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Northern Frontier•Alaska

‒ North Slope oil exploitation1300-kilometer (800-mi) Trans-Alaska Pipeline

‒ Brooks Range to Arctic Ocean

‒ Dwindling supplies at Prudhoe Bay

‒ Additional reserves in Alaska’s north

‒ Opposition from preservationist groups

• Climate Change• Global Warming very observable• Recession of Arctic ice• Fauna threatened• Altered shipping routes and

intercontinental distances

NORTH AMERICARegions of North America

The Northern Frontier•Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement•Involves 21 logging firms, 9 environmental organizations, and the Canadian government•Moratorium on logging within certain areas•Boreal forest

‒ Dense stands of coniferous needle leaf trees (spruce, fir, and pine)

‒ Habitat of endangered wildlife species (caribou, lynx, American black bear, and wolverine)

Homework

1. Read Textbook Chapter 3a/b 2. Homework: • Choose one “@from the Field Notes”

subsection topic in Ch.3 textbook; research and summarize (1 page).

OR• Choose a realm/region within or adjacent

to North America to review in detail (1 page). Use Chapter 3b for ideas and information, research and summarize.