How to Explain the Geographic Regions of the U.S.?

R

RedLynx

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Aug 5, 2011
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Hi guys,

So, I'm having a hard time explaining the way we've chosen to name the 4 geographic regions of the U.S., to some of my foreign buddies. For example my region, the Midwest. I know the Midwest was only changed over to Midwest in the early 80s and prior to that it was North Central region or something like that, if I remember correctly. But now it's the Midwest, and I am not sure how to explain to my friends why that is, exactly. When looking at the map, for them, anyway, a lot of the Midwest states are not particularly westerly nor particularly middle... they don't understand why this region (or at least some of the states in it, Nebraska, Iowa, etc) wouldn't be called something like Central U.S. or something like that. And I can't really fault them for interpreting the map as they see it.

Basically I am stuck and was wondering if there was any specific logical reason the Census Bureau had chosen this and the other designations, so I can finally explain it in some way that makes sense.

Thanks guys. (Feel free to fill me in on your regions too, I'm most knowledgeable about the Midwest and would love to know more about the others. )
 
A map is not the territory, a name is not the thing named, designations can be arbitrary, as long as everyone agrees that's what we call them.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
A map is not the territory, a name is not the thing named, designations can be arbitrary, as long as everyone agrees that's what we call them.
Click to expand...

Sure, and that's enough for me, I just wish I had a way to explain it to them. Doesn't really matter was just curious what sort of logic was used.

Heck I was born in the Midwest and lived here since it has been called that, but I still wonder what was the reason for the change.
 
Settlers came from the east and pushed on towards the west. They got lazy and stopped just short of half way there. They had made it to the middle on their way west. Midwest. :p
 
I'm in St. Louis,Mo. To me the "Midwest" is the region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. But not exactly all the way North and South. Another term that comes to mind is the Great Plains. When I think of it in those terms, I typically think of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska and Arkansas.

I'm not sure of the Census Bureau categories, but when I think regions I think of:
The Pacific Northwest, The West Coast, the Rocky Mountain region, the Midwest, the Great Lakes region, the South Central region, the South East region, the East Coast region, the North East region, and the South.
 
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