Notes from Class

Population and Settlement

• People usually move toward the west.
• This started in the Colonial times.
• People in North America move a lot.
• Many people commute to different locations.
• 445 million people by 2050.
• Changing transportation changed commutes and made it easier to get to place you want to get to.
• North America's population is spread out around the region.
• Megalopolis- From Boston to D.C. is like a big city where population is very dense and built up.
• Immigrants began increasing in 1990.



Cultural Coherence and Diversity

• Over 43 million out of 300 million are immigrants living in the U.S. alone.
• U.S. has always been pull factor.
• People gravitate to people like them.
• Culture marks the everyday landscape.
• Place of opportunity is North America.
• Most immigrants are Asian and Spanish.

Economy and Social Development
• Social development- how people interact with others and their environment.
• Economy takes care of all imports and exports. (U.S. is mega globalized)
• North America has the world's most powerful economy and upscale population.
• There is a huge contrast between upscale population and poor population.
• United States economy has a huge impact on the global economy.




Environmental Geography
• Many species of plants and animals that Europeans brought like wheat.
• No cattle, horses, plants before Europeans brought them.
• Different kinds of plants and animals for different climates like the mountains.
• Grass lands can grow plants well.
• North America has every type of geographical area except the rainforest.