Anthropogenic Activities:Historical Settlement,

Population, and Economy

The Beginning?

European Explorers

Settlement Patterns

• Early Settlements– Growth and development depended on their

situation– Based on Accessibility: the locational

characteristics that permit a place to be reached by the efforts of those at other placesAND

– Site: The internal attributes of a place• Features related to the immediate

environment in which the place is located– E.g., topography, drainage, and soil composition

Settlement Patterns

• Expansion of Frontier generalizations– Occurred from east to west– Migrations generally followed the paths

of least resistance– Distinct migration patterns

Early Settlement

• Between 2-10 million American Indians and Inuit

• 4/5 of the natives in the US

• Natives migrated westward with European Expansion

• Not much acculturation

Emerging Settlement Patterns

Emerging Settlement Patterns

Portuguese & African

Settlement

French Settlement

(John Fiske. 1902. New France and New England. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company.)

French In America, by Edward Wells, 1700

Spanish Settlement

Historical Land Grant Boundaries in Texas

Dutch Settlement

Manhattan Island at the time of Dutch

British Settlement

• Jamestown (1607)

• Treaty of Paris

• Albert Gallatin and “principle of contiguity”

• William Penn

• Metes and Bounds

Cultural Diffusion

New England

Mid-AtlanticPennsylvania

Tidewater Maryland/Virginia

Frontier Zones by 1810

Hearth Areas (Pre - 1725)

Secondary Areas (1740 - 1775)

Tertiary Areas (1780 - 1820)

Continued Expansion

USPLSS:Jefferson’s Legacy to the West

Immigration

• Total immigrants to US & Canada from Europe & Africa = ~60 million

• Most French came to Canada during the late 1600s (~15,000)

• First US census in 1790– 2/3 of the white population had British origins– 20% had African origins– Sizable % had German and Dutch heritage

• 1760-1815– Immigration slowed– Warfare in Europe restricted travel across the

Atlantic

Immigration

• 1815-1914– Immigration increased continuously

• 1920– U.S. passed its first law to restrict

immigration

• Since 1940s– Steady increases each decade since

• Current:– US ~900,000/year; Canada ~180,000/year

1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 19800

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

Imm

igra

tio

n i

n

Th

ou

san

ds

1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980

Decade

BritishIsles

GermanyScandinavia

South/EastEurope

Latin AmericaAsia

Push Factors Pull Factors1840s: Irish Potato Famine Economic Opportunity1850-1920: Overpopulation, War Political/Religious FreedomRecent: Overpopulation, War, Oppression Land Availability

Immigration 1820-1980

Population Distribution

Population Distribution: Canada

Population Pattern: Religion

Population Patterns: Native Americans

Population Patterns: Hispanic

Population Patterns: Black

Population Patterns: Asian

Economic Sectors

• Primary– Agriculture (and accompanying technology)

• Secondary– Manufacturing & Industry

• Tertiary– Service (e.g., health care, retail)

• Quaternary– Government, Research, Education

Changing Urban Center

Rise of Urban Center

Final Thoughts

• 20th century remarkable for North America

• Global economic and political leadership

• Basic background for Geography of North America

• 14 different landscapes to explore!!

Discussion Questions

Why did North America prosper, while South America stagnated?

What impacts did the mobility and freedom of the westward movement have on the cultural landscapes and values that characterize and define American and Canadian cultures today?

Why has the productivity of individual farms increased so dramatically, while the number of people employed in agriculture continues to decline?

Related Books• Conzen, Michael P. 1994. The Making of the American Landscape.

New York and London: Routledge.– Lots of ideas for learning major parts that shaped US cultural

landscapes.• Fisher, Ron, ed. 2004. National Geographic Historical Atlas of the

United States. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.• McIlwraith, Thomas F. and Edward K. Muller, eds. 2001. North

America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.– Everything from French migration and settlement patterns to landscape

expressions in early North America.• Sauer, Carl Ortwin. 1971. Sixteenth Century North America: The

Land and People as Seen by Europeans. Berkeley: University of California Press.– A classic written by a “Classical” Geographer. What North America was

like before European arrival.• Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1973. rev. 1992. The Cultural Geography of the

United States. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.– A standard in the regional geographer’s arsenal. Zelinsky writes in a

very down to earth style, and his maps are luscious.

Related Books• Castells, Manuel. 1996. The Information Age: Economy,

Society, and Culture. Vol. I, The Rise of the Network Society. Cambridge: Blackwell.– How nation states—including the US and Canada—are shaping

and reshaping the information age.• Meyer, David R. 2003. The Roots of Industrialization.

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.– Industrialization of North America and its various impacts on

landscapes and economy.• Wheeler, James, Yuko Aoyama, and Barney Warf, eds.

2000. Cities in the Telecommunication Age: The Fracturing of Geographies. London: Routledge.– Outlines the cities playing a major role in the information age.

• Zukin, Sharon. 1991. Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disneyland. Berkeley: University of California Press.– Probably the most cited source for urban, economic, and cultural

landscapes in North America.

WebSources• First Nations

http://www.tolatsga.org/Compacts.html• United States History Overview

http://www.u-s-history.com/• North America Map Archive

http://www.uoregon.edu/~atlas/america/maps.html