Anglo-America: Landscape, Climate and Vegetation

The continent of Anglo-America comprises the world’s two largest countries- the United States of America (USA) and Canada. In spite of a wide range of socio-economic inequality, diversity of national background and language, the indigenous American culture is flourishing. Its culture encourages the entrepreneurship, development of skill and pursuit of excellence. This is the reason why USA and Canada have emerged as the two most developed countries of the world. The natural resources have facilitated the development of ward’s largest manufacturing complexes and as a result of it large scale urbanisation. The entire agricultural activities in the continent are mechanized, export oriented and commercial.

Landscape

The entire physiography of Anglo-America varies from Swampy plains to high mountains. Some of the well-known plains are “the Canadian Shield” the “Arctic Coastal Plain,” the “Gulf Atlantic Plain”, the “Piedmont Plain” and the “Interior Plains”.
The interior plains lie mostly within the drainage basins of the rivers Mississippi, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan and St Lawrence. A large part of Canadian Shield is covered with swamps and numbers of lakes of glacial origin such as “Great Bear Winnipeg” and the “Great Lakes“.
The “Appalachians“, “Western Cordillera” and “Interior Highland” are some of the important highlands.
The Arkansas river divides the interior highlands into two major segments- the “Boston” and the “Ozark” mountains in the north and “Ouachita” Mountain” in the south. The mountain range comprises the “Rocky Mountain” and “Sierra Nevada“.
The “Great Basin” is the largest plateau basin. “St. Lawrence” and “Mackenzie” river which flow northward are the important rivers. The Mississippi flows southward.

Climate and Vegetation

The “non-tropical” type of climate is the most prevalent one in Anglo-America except Florida, where “tropical climatic” type is found. The “Tundra Type of Climate” is found in areas from the Alaska to Labrador and Greenland. The mean annual temperature is very low in the region. Within the Arctic Circle, there are weeks of continuous darkness or light.
The “cool temperate continental” or “Siberian” or “Taiga” type of climate is found south of the Tundra region. Here, the mean annual range of temperature is very high and the precipitation is very low. The “Cool Temperate Eastern Margin” or “Laurentia type” of climate is found in south of Taiga. Here, deciduous trees species oak, beech, maple and birch are important.
The “Cool Temperate Western Margin” or “British type” of climatic condition is mainly found in the north-west where westerlies influences may be traced. Due to oceanic influence, the mean annual temperature is not very large. The important species include elm, beech, poplar, alders and aspen.
“The Warm Temperate Eastern Margin or China type” of climate is found in the south-east. The annual rainfall is heavy and well distributed throughout the year. The occurrence of “tornadoes” and “twister” is very common in this region. The “Warm Temperate Western Margin or Mediterranean type” of climate is found in California. The summer is dry and warm and the winter is moist.
The “Desert type” of climate is found in the region of Mohave, Sonoran and California deserts. Bordering the desert, in the interior of the continents lies the temperate Grassland. It is almost completely treeless. In North America, these are called “Prairies”.
An interesting feature of the Prairies is the hot local wind “Chinook” or “Snow Eater“. It blows down the eastern slopes of Rockies. The Prairies is covered with Grass and no trees. Species like “Low Willow“, alders and poplars are found here.

USA

The USA is also known as the “Melting-pot of the world” because according to the latest census report nearly 85 per cent of the US population identified themselves with one of more than 140 different national backgrounds.

Some of the important nationalities here are;

British Irish, French, Italian, Scandinavian, African and more recently Chinese, Indian and Korean. The immigrants have brought with them different religions. The important ones are Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism. Nevertheless, Anglo-America remains Christian dominated.
The North-East region of U.S.A. consists of 6 New England states; Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and five middle Atlantic states; New York, Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the districts of Columbia.
These areas are intensely developed and most densely populated. These are also the most urbanized region. The extraordinary urbanisation is the by-product of industrialization in this region. The old textile town “Lowell and Lawrence” are the new avenues of employment.

The southern side includes the 14 states and accounts for 25 per cent of the total area and little over 30% of the population. This region has intermediate population density and lower level of urbanisation. The economy of the south is dominated by production of cash crops for the world market. The cotton growing region has now shifted to Atlantic coastal region of Georgia and South Carolina. Which is also called “Sea-Island“. By 1860, “the Black-Belt” extending from Alabama of Mississippi had come to the principal centres of the U.S.A.

The Midwest includes 12 states and accounts for 20 per cent of the total land area and approximately 25 per cent of the population. This region is the leading producer of agricultural products and manufactured goods. In value term, the Midwest accounts for the 40 percent of the total agricultural production. The industrial development decreases from east to west.

S. No	Agricultural Product	Leading Producer
1.	Rice	Arizona
2.	Wheat	Saskatchewan
3.	Cotton	Texas
4.	Grapes	California
5.	Orange	Florida
6.	Corn	Illinois
7.	Sugar	Florida
8.	Groundnut	Georgia
9.	Tobacco	Kentucky
10.	Apple	Nova Scotia
11.	Corn	Ontario
12.	Barley	Alberta
13.	Oats	Alberta

The Western region comprises 11 states and accounts for 33 per cent of the land area and 20 percent of the population. In spite of water shortage, the region accounts for 20 per cent of the agricultural production. In southern California, the favorable climate and irrigation from the mountain streams supports the production of citrus fruits. Today the central valley is highly productive. “Oregon and Washington” are the leading producer of timber especially softwood varieties like “Douglas fir“. The “Silicon Valley” of San Francisco region is well known for computers and biotechnology. The “Boeing Company of aircraft manufacturing” is located in Seattle. The copper in “Arizona” and oil and coal in “Utah” is well known. The western Pacific is now emerging as the world’s most economically dynamic region.

Canada

At present, Canada is one of the most industrialized and technologically advanced and urbanized state of the world. The prominent characteristic of Canada is the greater reliance on the export of raw and semi-finished material while it imports the manufactured goods. The overbearing influence on U.S.A. on Canada has been a sure point to many Canadians who think of themselves as “American Colony“.

Social Aspect

A large part of Canadian population is concentrated around its border with the U.S. In fact 70 to 80 percent of the population lives within 160 km of the border. Canada’s population cluster may be grouped into four main regions:

Atlantic region in the northeast
Culturally divided core region of maximum population and development along the St. Lawrence
River in Ontario and Quebec
The Prairies region of interior plains and
Vancouver region in the south-west.

City	Rivers
New York	Hudson
Chicago	Chicago
Philadelphia	Lower Delaware
Cleveland	Cuyahoga
Baltimore	Patapsco
Minneapolis	Mississippi
Cincinnati	Ohio

The easternmost of the Atlantic region is most populated regions. It consists of the province of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Islands. The Prince Edward Island is a lowland occupied by farm and small agglomerated settlement. The Labrador located on the mainland, is a part of the province of Newfoundland. In this region, the fishing industry is the most important.
The Atlantic province provides a hard environment for agriculture. At present, agriculture is mainly concentrated in very small patches of good land dedicated to specialized farming. These include the ”Prince Edward Island” and “Annapolis-Cornwallis Valley” of Nova Scotia where potatoes and apple are grown. Prince Edward Island has the highest proportion of tilled land of any Canadian province.
The core region of Canada consists of the provinces of “Quebec” and “Ontario“. In Ontario, the American Midwest is repeated on a somewhat smaller scale with corn and livestock production, dairy farming and other special crops like fruits and vegetables while in Quebec, one find the “long lot” pattern of landholding with dairy farming being the predominant form of agriculture.
This region produces a wide variety of industrial products and accounts for more than ¾th of the Canada’s output. The “Ontario” is well-known for iron and steel-industry. Other important industries include automobiles and auto-spare parts. In Quebec 82 per cent of the people speak French and only 11 per cent speak English while it is quite the reverse in Ontario. The government in Quebec is French dominated.
The Prairies province or Pacific Region includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. This region is full of the tall Prairie grasses. Agriculture is the basis of this region’s economy. Together these provinces produce around half of the farm produce of Canada and sell about a fifth of world’s wheat exports.
Of the three Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan, with nearly 20 per cent of the total employment in farming, is agriculturally the most important. In recent times, minerals, especially oil and natural gas have become the foundation of advances in the region’s economy. Coal, potash, nickel, copper, zinc and uranium are important minerals are mined in this region.

Vancouver Region

This province lies within the high coast range and Rockies. This pacific province of British Columbia displays an environmental difference from the rest of the Canada. It is also a distinctive area, climatically, with British type of climate. The province is also sparsely populated with concentration of population around the Vancouver. It consists of more than 10 percent of the land area but it has over half of the province population. The economy of this region is chiefly based on the primary products especially timber and minerals including coal, oil and natural gas. This province is also well developed in hydro electricity. The fishing industry is also very well developed. In the recent times, this region has also experienced rapid urban growth.

Industrial Centres	Specialization
New York	Garments
Baltimore	Iron and Steel
Buffalo	Iron and Steel Pittsburg
Iron and Steel
Delaware	Chemical Industry
Wilmington	Chemical Industry
Boston	Photographic Equipments
Rochester	Photographic Equipments
Massachusetts	Electronic Industry
New York	Electrical equipment
Pittsburgh	Electrical equipment
Hartford	Aircraft Engines
New York	Printing and publishing
Washington D.C.	Printing and publishing
Detroit	Automobile industry
New Orleans	Oil refining, Petrochemical
Baron Rouges	Oil refining, Petrochemical
Chicago	Machinery and steel, Locomotive,
Food processing	Wood products
Toledo	Glass Industry
Cleveland	Iron and Steel
Cleveland	Iron and Steel
Akron	Automobile tyres

The Canadian North comprises most of the territory. The population is dispersed in a small pockets along the southern fringe of the North called “Near North” – the southern edge of the sub-arctic climate zone. Mining settlements form many of such pockets of population. Sudbury and Ontario are the most important one. Metal and paper industries are commonly found here. The agriculture potential of this region is severely limited because of harsh climatic condition. The agricultural activities are mainly concentrated around the Sanguinary River, the clay Belt of Ontario and Quebec, the Peace River plain of Alberta and British Columbia.

Yukon and North-West Territory

This region is also known as “Territorial Canada” which is in federal control and comprises over a third of Canada’s areas. The population consists of Native Indians, Eskimos and the people of mixed white origin. The white people are primarily engaged in the service sector while Red Indians and Eskimos still carry on their traditional hunting and gathering activities. The Native Indians and the Eskimos, on the other hand are generally unemployed and dependent on state support. In the recent time, the political assertiveness of the Indians and Eskimos, who have demanded a greater control over their affairs, has further delayed the process of development.

Characteristic Facts

Douglas fir: It is a type of tree species used in timber industry. It is found in the western USA especially in Washington and Oregon. The “Yellow” and “loblolly pines” are important tree species. The state of British Columbia is most important centre for the timber industry in Canada. Canada is the largest producer of newsprint while USA of paper and pulp.

Grand Canyon: The Grand Canyon of Colorado is the largest of its kind and is famous for its stark natural beauty. It is a deep-cut gorge with wall like side in the soft rocks of Colorado plateau. In the year 1869, J.W. Powell led a pioneering expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He remarked, “the canyons of this region would be a Book of Revelation in the rock-leaved Bible of Geology”.

NAFTA: It refers to the North American Free-Trade Area which is a type of grand economic alliance of U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. It has progressively eliminated the barriers of trade-goods and services which has also enabled the formation of world’s largest trade block.

San Andreas Fault System: It is the largest fault system of North America. It is inclined towards the north westerly direction through much of western California. The fault is transformed boundary. Due to the westward movement of the “pacific plate” earthquake are frequently experienced in this region. Owing to the great length and complexity of San Andreas Fault, it is more appropriately referred to as “fault system”.

Blizzard: It is an intensely cold and strong wind accompanied by falling snow found in the northern North America. It is called “Buran” in Eurasia.

The Rustbelt/the Old Metropolitan and Sunbelt: These belts refer to the division of U.S.A into two major categories. The old metropolitan belt consists of those towns which had attained prominence by early 20th century which is growing very slowly and in some parts is even declining, especially in the Middle Atlantic belt and eastern Midwest. Such area of declining is known as “Rustbelt”. The Rustbelt is characterized by outmoded buildings and equipment, depressed sales, high unemployment and unattractive surrounding. The “Sunbelt” on the other hand is a very elastic term and includes most of the south and parts of the west. It is best symbolized as “Silicon Valley” and “Sunny California“. It is characterized by faster growth of the population and job.

Corn-Belt: It is known for its Rectangular shape. This was prescribed in “1785” by the Federal law. It has established a system of uniformity in the entire U.S.A.

Highway Technology: It refers to the Highway 128 in eastern Massachusetts because a large number of industrial units, manufacturing industries and electronics industry are situated along the roadways.

Long-Lot: It refers to a type of landholding in “Quebec“. It is a long narrow strip of agricultural land which lies at right angles to ribbons of comparatively dense settlement along roads where the houses and farm buildings have formed elongated village.

Topanyms: It refers to the type of Catholic settlement in the New World or Quebec in USA. The Topanyms of Quebec settled initially by the Catholics and the New York state was settled by the Protestants.

Yeoman Farmers: It chiefly refers to the migrated farmers who settled in Piedmont and Appalachians and established semi-subsistence agriculture. The main reason of migration is the spread of plantation industry in the south.

Cajun French: It refers to the largest non-Hispanic minority language group of southern Louisiana. The French Settlement existed during the early 1700, but the arrival of refugee group “Acadians” who planted the French culture.

Points to Remember

United States is the largest consumer and importer of mineral oil in the World. It has only 3 percent of the World oil reserve.
“Prince Edward Island” is Canada’s smallest and most densely populated province.
“Newfoundland“, the oldest British colony was the last province to join Canada in 1949.
The northernmost mine of the world is highly mechanized. “Polaris” a zinc and lead mine is just130 km south of the North Magnetic pole.
The states of USA in descending order of area – Alaska > Texas > California > Montana.
“Rhode Island” is the smallest state of USA.
“George Washington” was the first president of USA.
“Hollywood” is in the state of California. It was established by Harvey Wilcox in 1887.
The river “Rio Grande” forms the boundary between U.S.A and Mexico.
“Distt of Columbia” is the smallest administrative unit of the U.S.A
“California” is the most populated states of U.S.A
“Mt McKinley” is the highest peak in North America.
“Mt Whitney” is the highest peak in conterminus USA.
The Great Lakes arranged from West to East – Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario.
“Michigan” Lake is entirely lying in U.S.A
The 49°N latitude separates USA and Canada.
“Seattle” is the head office of software giant, Microsoft.
The Canadian Pacific Railways runs between St. John’s in New Brunswick and Vancouver.
The Canadian National Railways connects Halifax to Prince Rupert in British Columbia.
The “Davis Strait” separates N. America from Greenland.
The “Sudbury Mines of Canada” is famous for Lead, Zinc and Silver.
“Hamilton” is called the Birmingham of Canada.
“Windsor” is called the Detroit of Canada.
The highest tidal range is experienced in the “Bay of Fundy“.
Canada is the largest producer of paper and pulp.
“Prince Edward Island” is the smallest province of Canada.
“Toronto” is the largest city of Canada.
“Ontario” is the most populated province of Canada.
Maritime province of Canada includes “New Foundland“, “New Brunswick“, “Nova Scotia” and “Prince Edward Island“.
The largest province of Canada is “Quebec“
“Toronto” is the capital of the province of Ontario, Alberta, and Nova Scotia.
“Nunavut” is the most recent federal territory of Canada.
There are 10 provinces and 3 federal territories in Canada.
The Mediterranean type of Climate is found in California.
“St Louis” is the confluence of Mississippi and Missouri.
“St. Lawrence” is the busiest inland waterways of N.America.
The Damodar valley Corporation of India is on the line of “Tennessee Valley Corporation”.
“Alaska and Hawaii” are the 49th and 50th state of U.S.A, respectively.
“The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming” is the old faithful Geyser.
Canada generates largest amount of hydroelectricity as percentage of total power produced.41. ‘Chicago” is located on the shore of Lake Michigan
“Niagra Falls” lies between Lake Erie and Ontario.
“Soo Canal” joins Lake Superior and Huron.
“Welland Canal” joins Lake Eric and Ontario.
“Big Apple” is the nickna me of the city of New York.
“New York” is the largest urban agglomeration of the U.S.A.
“Cape Kennedy, Florida” is known as the rocket launching centre of the USA.
“J.F. Kennedy Airport, New York” is the busiest airport of the U.S.A.
USA has owned the “Davis Cup” maximum number of times.
“Baseball” is the national sport of the U.S.A.
“The Star Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of U.S.A.
“Death Valley” is the driest and hottest place in U.S.A.