A Profile of the United States Chapter Six A Nation of Cities Section Two

The Impact of Migration on the Nation The major changes in transportation allowed people more freedom to select where their business would operate or where they would live. As a result, the South and West, where winters are less severe have flourished. Other areas such as New York or Chicago maintained their populations due to a wide availability of jobs and cultural attractions.

Cities and Towns Today nearly 80%of all people in the U.S. live in metropolitan areas. 20% still call a small town or farming village home. All places, no matter how big or small play a role in our nations economy.

Interconnections The whole process of getting food from a farm to your dinner table involves different levels of economic activity. 1. Primary Activity- growing the vegetables on a farm. 2. Secondary Activity- Transporting and processing the crop at a plant where it is canned. 3. Tertiary Activity- Transporting the cans from the processing plant to a warehouse. 4. Quaternary Activity- Managers at the warehouse decide how many cans will be stored there. One hundred years ago, the vegetables would have gone from the ground on your farm to your dinner table and no farther. Today vegetables can be enjoyed many miles from where they are grown.

Function and Size Geographers rank urban areas according to hierarchy based on their function. 1. National/International Metropolises- A major city and its hinterlands (area it influences). Some have hinterlands that include the whole nation or planet. New York is the worlds most important financial center. Chicago is our nations leading agricultural market. Los Angeles is the worlds leading film production center. 2. Regional Metropolises- Have advanced medical facilities, art galleries, major league sports teams, and stores that sell expensive clothing and accessories. Examples are: Atlanta, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and San Antonio. 3. Smaller Cities- Have a more limited range of activities and smaller hinterlands. They have large shopping centers, daily newspapers, and computer software stores. Examples are: Des Moines, Nashville, Lubbock. 4. Small Towns- Services are limited and few people outside the area are familiar with them. 5. Villages- Limited to a few small businesses and very small in population.

Metropolitan Areas and Location Most Americans today live in cities. There are over 250 metropolitan areas in the U.S. today. Metropolitan area- a major city and its surrounding suburbs. Changes in technology, economy, and culture helped shape and determine which communities would grow into major cities. Some towns and cities increased in size while other communities decreased in size or were abandoned.

Transportation Affects Patterns of Settlement For the first 50 years after independence, sailing ships were the fastest and cheapest form of transportation. Cities existed to carry out trade between America and Europe. All major cities were busy Atlantic ports. The largest of these were: 1. Baltimore 2. Boston 3. New York 4. Philadelphia

Canals As the interior of the country was developed, many settlers began to rely on the nations rivers to transport crops and goods. The Mississippi River was the largest of these moving materials to the great port of New Orleans. The people of the east coast soon realized that they too could benefit from more direct ties to the west. In the early 1800s, a 363 mile canal was dug from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. Soon other canals were built and new cities were established along the shores of the Great Lakes and the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers. Over 4,000 miles of canals were built linking Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago.

Railroads The first successful railroads were built in the U.S. in By 1840, there were more than 1,000 miles of railroad tracks. In 1869 the first transcontinental railroad was finished. Many Chinese and European immigrant workers performed the dangerous and difficult work of laying tracks through the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. At the end of the Civil War in 1865, railroads became the countrys most important form of transportation. Chicago, located centrally along a number of railway lines became the largest city in the mid-west. New York also located near the convergence of many railway lines became the largest city on the east coast and eventually in the United States.

Automobiles Until the invention of the automobile, efficient travel was limited to waterways and railroads. By the 1950s, auto manufacturers were producing as many as 8 million new cars each year. In response to this, Congress passed the Federal Aid Highway Act of This act provided 26 billion dollars to build 4,000 miles of interstate highways to link our nations cities. People could now live farther from where they worked and so suburbs began to develop and grow. These were mostly residential areas on the outer edges of cities.