Q Section 9.1: The United States Through the Eyes of a Geographer: How would a geographer approach this region? What are the spatial aspects/issues related to this region? How would spatial analysis be used to address topics and issues within this region? What are the where and why questions? How can this region be studied and analyzed using the five themes of geography? How do most Americans perceive this region? Overview: The United States has been a country for almost 250 years. That is a short amount of time compared with many other countries around the world. But in that time the settlers and “new” Americans have brought dramatic transformation to the North American physical and cultural landscapes. The indigenous peoples and cultures were forcibly removed from this land and replaced with new settlers and new dominant beliefs and values. The United States emerged as the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world. Most people know where the United States is located on a map, but usually have difficulty explaining why it is there and why it became so wealthy. But by the fall of 2008, after years of poor decision-making, the entire US economy was on the verge of collapse. The impacts from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression included record unemployment and home foreclosure rates, dramatically increased debt, and a general decline in the quality of life for most Americans. Over the next decade, while the country’s economy began recovering slowly from the Great Recession, the economic gains were not felt by all Americans, as only a small percentage of wealthy Americans benefitted from the strengthening economy. Despite a growing and stronger economy, by 2018, the US was struggling with significant issues of income disparity wage stagnation, and an increase in social, racial and political discord. In January 2021, the world was stunned when United States citizens who supported Donald Trump, violently attacked the US Capital – the global symbol of democracy. By 2022, the Covid pandemic killed over one million US citizens as tens of millions of Americans refused vaccination. Geographers use spatial analysis to study the complex events and relationships that have produced the variety of spatial patterns that exist in the contemporary landscapes of the United States. Critical Thinking/Discussion Questions: 1. Why did the United States emerge as the wealthiest country in the world? What caused the economic crisis in the US in the fall of 2008? Who was most responsible for this crisis and what role did values and beliefs play in causing this dramatic economic downturn that became known as the Great Recession? 2. Is there an overall dominant mainstream culture in the United States? What is it, where did it come from, and how did it develop? Are there sub-cultural groups and different cultural regions? Are all sub-cultures given the same level of acceptance by the dominant culture? What happened to the Native American peoples and their cultures? 3. How do most Americans perceive people and places outside the U.S.? How do people outside of the U.S. perceive the United States and its people? Are these perceptions accurate? What shapes these perceptions? What role does ethnocentrism play in the perception of people and places? Practice Questions (Write Correct Answer in Blank): Multiple Choice: 1. ___ The 2022 population of the United States was about ___ million: A) 76 B) 184 C) 258 D) 332 2. ___ Regarding immigration, this city is known as the current Ellis Island of the United States: A) New York B) Detroit C) Miami D) Los Angeles 3. ___ Wealth is distributed unevenly throughout the world. In the U.S. __ percent of the population controls __ percent of the overall wealth: A) 60; 40 B) 2; 90 C) 30; 70 D) 8; 80 4. ___ The ideology of most Western societies today (including the U.S.) teaches children to focus on the __ as being the most important: A) environment B) individual C) group D) community 5. ___ Mechanization in North America has been increasingly replaced in the latter decades of the twentieth century with this new labor sector: A) services and information management B) extractive C) secondary manufacturing D) primary refining True or False: 1. ___ North America has relatively few natural resources. 2. ___ U.S. cities are characterized by a rapid rate of change. 3. ___ The Great Lakes constitute the largest supply of fresh water in the world. 4. ___ Because they were indigenous to this land, “Indians” were automatically considered citizens of the United States when it was created. 5. ___ In terms of population, the three largest cities in the United States in descending order are New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

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