THE GEOGRAPHY OF USA

How does geography affect culture in general?

Geography affects culture through topographical features such as location, deserts and climate, which determine people's choices of place to live, food and clothing. The geographical environment determines the most basic modes of production such as fishing and hunting by the Marine civilization, farming by the river civilization and migrating agriculture by the nomadic peoples. The culture of the later period comes from social practice, and the people are the main body of cultural innovation. Different area has different lifestyles in order to appear various cultures all over the world. What’s more, geography causes citizen’s personalities from different countries. For instance, most Chinese people are conservative since the northeast and southwest of China are more closed with mountainous plateau and desert. They can enjoy self-contained lifestyle instead of finding resources oversea. However, like Britain and other countries, which is small in size and surrounded by the sea causes limited in resources. It is difficult for them to be self-sufficient, which creates the personality of openness and courage to explore.

Three key geographical features of America

1) A vast territory

America is surrounded by Arctic Ocean in the north, Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west coast, which enables it has an exposed coastline compared to other countries.

2) Rich in fresh water resource

America has many rivers around the whole country. For instance, River Mississippi, River Colorado, River Columbia. In addition, America has the largest fresh water lake—Lake Superior in the world.

3) Rich in land resource

This continent is situated between five physiographic regions: Canadian Shield; Appalachian Mountains; Atlantic Coastal Plain; Interior Lowlands; and North American Cordillera.

America has vast plains. The most famous is the America Plains, which has a fertile soil attribute to agriculture.

How do these geographical features affect the culture of USA?

> USA has coasts on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, which is convenient for its trade. USA has taken great advantage of this geographical feature and has developed a number of sea transport routes for trading.

> Places along the coast may have an oceangoing culture. Living along the coast may affect people’s food diet, lifestyle and clothes wearing.

For instance, Boston is on the Atlantic coast of the northeastern United States. Living along the coast, the local diet is dominated by seafood and dairy products. Boston Lobster is the most famous seafood that tourists cannot miss when travelling to Boston. What’s more, Boston people love to hold open-air concerts on the shore.

> Thanks to the rich water resource and the heat, most of the lands in USA are suitable for farming. Large-scale agriculture is common in USA due to the fertility of the soil and the rich fresh water resource.

> The industry of USA also benefits from the rich fresh water resource. Many rivers are rich in water power resources, and the potential water power of the western plateau is especially huge, which support heavy industry in USA.