Southeast

GenesisBen

Mason

Introduction

• There are 10 states in the Southeast: Alabama,

Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

• In the Southeast, it is known as the sunbelt because many times 64 out of 100 days are sunny. Lots of people visit the Southeast for its good weather.

• Miami used to be an open land, but as people began moving in, houses were built and the open land began to disappear.

People and History• In 1838 the U.S. government forced more than

15,000 Native Americans to leave Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. They had to go to a territory which later became know as Oklahoma. Many did not survive the march. It became know as the Trail of Tears because so many people died on the walk.

• In the 1600s the European settlers began settling on the coastal areas of the Southeast. There were a lot of the Native Americans there, but today less than one percent of the population in the Southeast is Native Americans.

• The Spanish were the first Europeans to discover the Mississippi River.

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lead a group of civil right supporters on a march to Selma, Alabama in the 1960s. He and his supporters believed that everybody should have equal rights regardless of the color of your skin.

Land in the Area• In the Southeast there is not much snow but

there are icy storms. The mild weather that is common in the south is the result of the tropical air from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

• Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air.• Half of the Southeast region’s ten states include

mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee are among the oldest mountain ranges on Earth.

• Most of the Southeast’s cash crops such as peanuts, cotton, tobacco, sugar, fruit, and soybeans grow in the sandy soil of the coastal plain.

• Cash crops are crops grown to sel,l rather than for feed.

• Coastal plain: flat sandy land with few trees located near an ocean or gulf.

Plants and Anaimals• Animals: logger head turtles,

alligators, hummingbirds, bald eagles, lizards, dolphins, and fish plus more.

• Ruby throated hummingbirds beat its wings 40-80 times a second.

• Plants: Kudzu, bald cypress trees, lilies, daisies, oak and maple trees plus more.

• Kudzu grows so thickly that it blocks out light killing trees and plants that it covers.

Cities and Towns• Cities: Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina,

Jacksonville , Florida , New Orleans Louisiana, Miami, Savannah, Memphis, Tennessee.

• The economy of the Southeast was crushed during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many people who lived in the Southeast moved to Chicago or New York looking for jobs. Businesses closed in the Southeast and there were very few jobs.

• Miami, Florida is right on the Atlantic Coast. It draws many visitors to its beaches. This helps the economy in the area.

• The largest city by population in the Southeast is Jacksonville, Florida, with just over 773,000 people.

• More than 100 years ago a wealthy railroad owner, George Vanderbilt, built America’s largest home. This mansion has 250 rooms. There are more than 30 bedrooms, and indoor pool, bowling ally, and gardens. But overnight stays are not allowed.

Rural Life

• Sweet corn is one of many crops that grow well in the Southeast.

• Small family farms in the Southeast grow a variety of crops. Farmers might even sell their extra produce such as vegetables, melons, and peaches at open-air markets.

• Tobacco, the leaves used in cigarettes, was once one of the most important crops in the Southeast. In fact, people’s lives and schedules were arranged around the growing of tobacco. For example, the school year did not start until after the tobacco crops was harvested. With the drop in the tobacco use, farmers in the Southeast had to grow new crops.

• The state of Georgia is the top peanut producer in the United States.

• Until the middle of the 1900s cotton was the most important cash crops of the Southeast. This is why people in the south were in support of slavery. They needed slaves to pick the cotton.

Getting Around• MARTA is the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. It began as a bus system in the 1950s.

In the 1960s MARTA began planning for a light rail system that would connect the five counties around Atlanta. By 2000, the system had carried more than 3.5 million passengers.

• Large urban areas in the Southeast can have heavy traffic congestion.• People in Memphis, Tennessee can take buses or trolleys to get around the city. The “Tenn-tom” is

a 234-mile canal connecting river ports in the Southeast with The Gulf of Mexico.• With borders on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, the Southeast has many important

ports. Miami is a port in the southeast region. It is known as the world’s largest cruise ship port. More than 20 cruise ships leave from Miami. Three million passengers a year take cruises that leave from the busy port in Miami.

• On the road in the southeast there is a lot of traffic. This causes a lot of problems because the roads wear out. Construction comes in to make the roads wider for all these cars. Also, if people are trying to leave the area due to a big storm, large traffic jams are caused because the roads are not meant for that many cars.

Work in the Area• Florida is the number one travel destination in the world.

Florida has more than 370,000 hotel rooms and about 700 campgrounds.

• Coca-Cola was invented by an Atlanta pharmacist in 1886. Within twelve years it was sold all over the United states as well as in Canada and Mexico. There is a museum in Atlanta, Georgia that tells the history of this soft drink.

• The biggest retailer in the world is Wal-Mart. It got its start in the 1960s. Today Wal-Mart has more than 5,000 stores and employs more than one million people.

• Huntsville, Alabama, is know as Rocket City USA because of the research and space flight centers there.

• The Kentucky Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, is a major employer. It has brought many jobs to cities in the Southeast.

• Several popular fast food restaurants were founded in the southeast. For example, Crispy Kreme doughnuts and Kentucky Fried Chicken were first starrted in the Southeast. KFC employs more than 250,000 people worldwide.

Free Time• A Southern fried meal includes food cooked in hot fat as well as

mashed potatoes and pecan pie.• Fried chicken, corn bread, biscuits, and sweet potato pie are all

traditional foods from the Southeast region. • At fairs and arenas around the nation, tractor pulls are a popular sport.

A tractor pull is when they hook weight to a tractor to see how much weight a tractor is able to pull in a certain distance. The tractor that pulls the weight the farthest is the winner.

• The Kentucky Derby is the biggest horse race in the Southeast. It is also the most famous in the world.

• Tiger Woods is a golf player. He won the Professional Golfers’ Association Masters Tournament at Pinehurst, North Carolina in 2005. This golf course is very popular and brings visitors from around the country.

• Salsa means sauce but since 1960s, this also meant a style of music and dance.

• There are many state and national parks in the Southeast. For example, Great Smokey Mountains National Park is on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.

Conclusion• With just one visit to the southeast, many people

do not want to leave. There is beautiful scenery, friendly people, a rich history and good weather.

• Most of America’s music, such as bluegrass, jazz, salsa, and rock’n roll, was born in the Southeast.

• Southern hospitality means that all are welcome to try the Southeast cuisine (food), culture, music, and traditions.

• Many people visit this area including Northerners to escape the winter months. These people are called Snowbirds. They come back to their area from the south when their area is warm again.

Works Cited

• Gillis, Jennifer, Blizin. Regions of the United States: The Southeast: Chicago, Illinois: Raintree, 2006.