Southeastern United States

Dark red states are almost always included in definitions of the Southeastern United States. Light red states are considered "southeastern" with less frequency.

The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the South, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, and the southern portion of the Eastern United States.

Demographics

There is no official Census Bureau definition of the southeastern United States. However, the Association of American Geographers defines the southeastern United States as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.^[1]

Most populous states as of 2013

Florida (19,552,860),^[2] Georgia (9,992,167),^[3] North Carolina (9,848,060),^[4] Virgina (8,260,405),^[5] Tennessee (6,495,978),^[6] South Carolina (4,774,839),^[7] Kentucky (4,395,295).^[8]

Jacksonville, Charlotte, and Memphis are the largest cities in the region by city-proper population; however, Miami, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Tampa are the most populous metropolitan areas in the region.

History

Culture

The predominant culture of the South has its origins with the settlement of the region by British colonists and African slaves in the 17th century, large groups of English, Scots and Ulster-Scots.

Economy

In the last two generations, the South has changed dramatically. In recent decades it has seen a boom in its service economy, manufacturing base, high technology industries, and the financial sector. Examples of this include the surge in tourism in Florida and along the Gulf Coast; numerous new automobile production plants such as Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama; Toyota Motors in Blue Springs, Mississippi; Kia in West Point, Georgia; the BMW production plant in Greer, South Carolina; Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee; the GM manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee; and the Nissan North American headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee; the two largest research parks in the country: Research Triangle Park in the Triangle area of North Carolina (the world's largest) and the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama (the world's fourth largest); and the corporate headquarters of major banking corporations Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina; Regions Financial Corporation, AmSouth Bancorporation, and BBVA Compass in Birmingham; SunTrust Banks and the district headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; and BB&T in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The region is home many Fortune 500 companies including 20 in Virginia, 16 in Florida, 15 in North Carolina, and 14 in Georgia. This economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to boast of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States.^[9] The many automotive manufacturing plants in Alabama, primarily those owned by automakers Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Honda,^{[citation needed]} in coordination with countless automotive supplier corporations, have made the state of Alabama the number one center for automotive manufacturing and production, having surpassed Detroit in recent years.^{[citation needed]} Alabama is also home to a large-scale manufacturing project owned by the German steel megacorporation Thyssen-Krupp, which operates a massive, state-of-the-art facility in the Alabama port city of Mobile.

Education

Higher education

University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida

The Southeastern United States is home to a number of prominent universities, with several large research universities of longstanding significance (such as Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, University of Georgia, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, University of Maryland, Clemson University, Florida State University, University of Miami, University of Kentucky, University of Tennessee, University of Memphis, University of Arkansas, Louisiana State University, Auburn University, University of Alabama, University of Central Florida, University of Florida which exert some influence beyond the region.

Research Triangle Park, in the Raleigh-Durham urban area of North Carolina, has emerged (over a nearly 50-year existence) as a major hub of technology, governmental and biotechnological research and development, as has the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park in Richmond. The Cummings Research Park in the Huntsville, Alabama, area is the second largest research complex in the nation. It is one of the biggest areas of aerospace engineering and missile defense technology.^{[citation needed]} Huntsville is also home to Redstone Arsenal, United States Army Missile Command, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and many other key government, military, and aerospace agencies. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida is the largest laboratory in the world devoted to the study of magnetism.^{[citation needed]} The University of South Carolina is currently constructing a research campus in downtown Columbia, and the University is the nation’s only National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells.^[10]

Largest cities

These are the largest cities in the Southeastern region of the United States by population, according to the United States Census Bureau:^[11]

• ^ a:  Jacksonville, Louisville and Nashville are consolidated city-counties. Therefore the population given is for the entire city excluding other incorporated places lying within the county limits.
  

Largest metropolitan areas

These are the metropolitan areas of the Southeastern region which exceed 1 million in population according to the United States Census Bureau's 2012 estimates:^[13][14]

Beyond Megalopolis by Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute, an attempt to update Jean Gottmann's work with current trends, defines two "megapolitan areas" contained within the Southeast, out of a total of ten such areas in the United States:

• "Piedmont" extending from North Carolina to Alabama
• "Peninsula" covering South Florida and Central Florida

Two others tie some areas on the margins of the Southeast to urban centers in other regions:

• "Gulf Coast" extending as far east as the western tip of Florida
• "Northeast" including much of eastern Virginia

Geography

Climate

The climate is warm and humid. There are short winters and long hot summers. The area has good soil for growing plants and is known for its large plantations and cash crops.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southeastern United States.

Fauna

There are about 2 million feral pigs in the Southeastern United States. Around 500 thousand of those are in Florida.^[15]

See also

• Southeastern mixed forests — Southeastern habitat
• Hammock (ecology) — Southeastern habitat
• East Coast of the United States — the southern Eastern Seaboard portion.

References

External links

• Flora Atlas of the Southeastern United States — by the North Carolina Botanical Garden & University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU).
• Sea Level Changes in the Southeastern United States. Past, Present, and Future — University of South Florida (August 2011)
• Britannica Southeast U.S. - video on YouTube

Coordinates: 35°00′N 85°18′W / 35.0°N 85.3°W / 35.0; -85.3