Five Themes and Six Essential Elements of Geography

The southeastern United States is typically referred to as the South. Among the states that make up the area are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Historically, the South was set apart from other sections of the country by several factors: a long growing season, the plantation system, and black agricultural labor, whether slave or free.

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• Region

In its early history, Maryland’s main economic activity was farming. Its main crop was tobacco.

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Below the densely forested slopes of the Appalachian Mountains in southern West Virginia are layers of rock containing deposits of coal. Since the 1970s, mining companies have built very large mines on the surface of the mountains—using explosives to remove layers of mountaintop and uncover the coal. This controversial practice is known as “mountaintop removal” mining.

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• Human-Environment Interaction

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The Jamestown settlement in the colony of Virginia was the oldest permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was established at approximately 37°N 76°W.

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The European conquest of the Americas was a meeting of two hemispheres. In what came to be known as the Columbian Exchange (named for Christopher Columbus), Europe brought not only diseases and people but also cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, wheat, bananas, olives, sugar, and coffee. Meanwhile the Americas gave the world potatoes, tomatoes, squash, corn (maize), hot peppers, and cacao (the source of chocolate)—and new Caribbean plantations (large farms) exported huge amounts of sugar back to Europe.

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• Human-Environment Interaction

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Population density maps from the mid-1800s show that the vast middle of the country remained largely unsettled at the time.

• The World in Spatial Terms

• Places and Regions

• Physical Systems

• The Uses of Geography

Between 1845 and 1850, a devastating fungus destroyed Ireland’s potato crop. During these years, starvation and related diseases led to the death of a million Irish, while perhaps as many as two million more left the country—about 500,000 emigrated to the United States, where they made up more than half of all immigrants in the 1840s. In all, 4.7 million Irish settled in the United States between 1820 and 1975. Today, people of Irish ancestry make up about 10.6 percent of the American population.

• Places and Regions

• Physical Systems

• Human Systems

• Environment and Society

Evidence from archaeological sites in present-day Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory indicate that early Americans burned large mammal bones as fuel. The heat from these fires kept these daring hunter-gatherers alive through the bitter cold of Arctic winter nights.

• The World in Spatial Terms

• Places and Regions

• Human Systems

• Environment and Society

Established in 1872 and located primarily in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park is the world’s oldest national park. Among its principal attractions are magnificent hydrothermal features that create an effect that makes the ground appear to be on fire. The park sits atop a fractured crust (the topmost layer of Earth) that allows groundwater to seep down to the magma below. The super-heated and mineral-rich water then returns to the surface as steam vents, colorful hot pools, hot rivers, and geysers (springs that throw jets of heat water and steam). The most famous geyser in the park, Old Faithful, erupts approximately every 90 minutes.

• Places and Regions

• Physical Systems

• Environment and Society

• The Uses of Geography

Among Philadelphia’s many historic attractions is Independence Hall, where the Constitutional Convention was held in 1787. During the conference, representatives of 12 of the 13 states met to draft the United States Constitution.

• Places and Regions

• Human Systems

• Environment and Society

• The Uses of Geography