Both Omaha, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri laid claim to the title, "Gateway to the West" during this period. The three inhabited Pacific U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) are sometimes considered part of the Western United States. National parks are reserved for recreational activities such as fishing, camping, hiking, and boating, but other government lands also allow commercial activities like ranching, logging, and mining. During the first half of the 20th century, dams and irrigation projects provided water for rapid agricultural growth throughout the West and brought prosperity for several states, where agriculture had previously only been subsistence level. Drought is much more common in the West than the rest of the United States. Sensing a possible shift in the popular understanding of the West as a region in the early 1990s, historian Walter Nugent conducted a survey of three groups of professionals with ties to the region: a large group of Western historians (187 respondents), and two smaller groups, 25 journalists and publishers and 39 Western authors. Other West Coast cities include San Diego, San Bernardino, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, Seattle, Tacoma, Anchorage, and Portland. The Colorado River snakes through the Mountain states, at one point forming the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River is a major source of water in the Southwest and many dams, such as the Hoover Dam, form reservoirs along it. Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles, as well as the San Francisco Bay area, including Silicon Valley, the center of America's high tech industry, California has become the most populous of all the 50 states. The Continental Divide is an imaginary line that indicates the absolute highest points of land, where on either side, some of the rivers will flow downhill or in east or west. Hawaii's location makes it a major gateway between the United States and Asia, as well as a center for tourism. The Inland Northwest has a continental climate of warm to hot summers and cold to bitterly cold winters. The wheat belt extends from Texas through The Dakotas, producing most of the wheat and soybeans in the U.S. and exporting more to the rest of the world. The 1850s were marked by political battles over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, issues leading to the Civil War. Irrigation in the Southwest allows the growth of great quantities of fruits, nuts, and vegetables as well as grain, hay, and flowers. Alaskaâthe northernmost state in the Unionâis a vast land of few people, many of them native, and of great stretches of wilderness, protected in national parks and wildlife refuges. Now the second largest city in the nation, Los Angeles is best known as the home of the Hollywood film industry; the area around Los Angeles also was a major center for the aerospace industry by World War II, though Boeing, located in Washington state would lead the aerospace industry. Mark Brilliant, and David M. Kennedy, eds.. Stephen D. Cummings and Patrick B. Reddy, District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, History of the west coast of North America, Professional sports in the Western United States, Territories of the United States on stamps, "Census Regions and Divisions of the United States", "United States Summary: 2010, Population and Housing Unit Counts, 2010 Census of Population and Housing", "Population, Population Change, and Estimated Components of Population Change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2019 (NST-EST2019-alldata)", "On the road along the Mississippi River", "Resident Population Data: Population Change", https://www.nps.gov/subjects/partnerships/contactus.htm, https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/federal-reserve-system-san-francisco.htm, https://www.fema.gov/fema-region-ix-recovery-division, "Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin: 2010", "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013", "Assessment of Ohio River Water Quality Conditions", "Western States Data Public Land Acreage", "Death Valley: Hottest, Driest, Lowest (SpotHopping.com)", "Chile Pepper Institute | New Mexico State University", "Mormon Portion of Utah Population Steadily Shrinking", "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015", "Estimates of Resident Population Change and Rankings: July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015", https://www.citypopulation.de/AmSamoa.html, "Marijuana Legalization Passes in Oregon, Alaska, D.C.", https://ballotpedia.org/Northern_Mariana_Islands_Commonwealth_Legislature, "Geographic Variation in Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations for Acute and Chronic Conditions, 2005â2011", Photographs of the American West: 1861â1912, Institute for the Study of the American West, Collection: "Manifest Destiny and the American West", List of countries where Arabic is an official language, Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests, Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows, Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pineâoak forests, Acquisition of the Northern Mariana Islands, Drafting and ratification of Constitution, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_United_States&oldid=1016672827, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox settlement with no coordinates, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2019, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2019, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2020, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, In the outlying areas of the Western United States, the largest population centers are, Avella, Steven M. "Catholicism in the twentieth-century American West: The next frontier.". New problems emerged, especially environmental issues where westerners took the lead in areas such as the allocation of scarce water resources as well as dealing with smog and air pollution. (30/km2), Washington with 86.0 inhabitants/sq mi. The state of Nevada is considered a political bellwether, having correctly voted for every president except twice (in 1976 and 2016) since 1912. The largest concentrations for African Americans in the West can be found in San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno, San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Oregon and Washington have also seen rapid growth with the rise of Boeing and Microsoft along with agriculture and resource based industries. The climate is unstable, as areas that are normally wet can be very dry for years and vice versa. "New Frontiers for Post-Western Cinema: Frozen River, Sin Nombre, Winter's Bone. What Type Of Government Does Russia Have. The population soared, especially in metropolitan areas, as a result of massive expansion of the manufacture of airplanes, ships and munitions and of military and Naval training facilities. The entire Western region has also been strongly influenced by European, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Native Americans; it contains the largest number of minorities in the U.S. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have district courts within the 9th Circuit, which includes western states such as California and Nevada. Following World War II, the West's cities experienced an economic and population boom. The state’s lowest point is located in the extreme northeastern corner along the Belle Fourche River, at an elevation of 3,099ft. [6] A majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the Great Plains or on the Mississippi River. [27], The history of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and cinema of the United States. These mountain ranges see heavy precipitation, capturing most of the moisture that remains after the Coast Ranges, and creating a rain shadow to the east forming vast stretches of arid land. The Great Plains consists of rolling hills, wide river valleys, and acres of prairie grassland covering the landscape. In remote areas there are settlements of Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians. The desert and mountain states have relatively low population densities, and developed as ranching and mining areas which are only recently becoming urbanized. Washington is famous for its apples, and Idaho for its potatoes. [8] (See District Court of Guam and District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands). Wyomingâs topography is dominated by several large basins and the ranges of the Rocky Mountains that border them. East of the Coast Ranges lie several cultivated fertile valleys, notably the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys of California and the Willamette Valley of Oregon. One of the Democratic leaders of the Congress is from the region: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi of California. The rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations in the Western United States was consistently lower than other regions from 2005 to 2011. southern west virginia. Starting in 1902, Congress passed a series of acts authorizing the establishment of the United States Bureau of Reclamation to oversee water development projects in seventeen western states. eastern kentucky. For the similarly named airline, see, "Western territories" redirects here. Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges, which, while not approaching the scale of the Rocky Mountains, are formidable nevertheless. Tourism, government services, transportation and manufacturing industries are the main drivers of the city’s economy. Tornadoes occur every spring on the southern plains, with the most common and most destructive centered on Tornado Alley, which covers eastern portions of the West, (Texas to North Dakota), and all states in between and to the east. Prominent cities in the Mountain States include Denver, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Boise, El Paso, and Billings. Situated in the extreme northwestern part of the state is the country’s oldest and largest national park – the Yellowstone National Park. With an area of 253,600 sq.km, Wyoming is the 10th largest and the least populous state in the USA. A major volcanic eruption at Mount Mazama around 4860 BC formed Crater Lake. Annual rainfall is greater in the eastern portions, gradually tapering off until reaching the Pacific Coast where it increases again. The state of Utah has a Mormon majority (estimated at 62.4% in 2004),[35] while some cities like Albuquerque, New Mexico; Billings, Montana; Spokane, Washington; and Tucson, Arizona are located near Indian Reservations. The U.S. Census Bureau's definition of the 13 westernmost states includes the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin to the Pacific Coast, and the mid-Pacific islands state, Hawaii. [12], The population distribution by race in the Western United States (2010):[17], As defined by the United States Census Bureau, the Western region of the United States includes 13 states[1] with a total 2013 estimated population of 74,254,423.[18]. These are the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) with a population above 500,000 in the 13 Western states. Cheyenne is also one of the country’s least centrally located state capitals. It also contains the majority of the desert areas located in the United States. Salt flats and salt lakes reveal a time when the great inland seas covered much of what is now the West. While most of the studies of racial dynamics in America such as riots in Los Angeles have been written about European and African Americans, in many cities in the West and California, Whites and Blacks together are less than half the population because of the preference for the region by Hispanics and Asians. The Rio Grande forms the border between Texas and Mexico before turning due north and splitting New Mexico in half. The Western U.S. is the largest region of the country, covering more than half the land area of the contiguous United States. The West has several long rivers that empty into the Pacific Ocean, while the eastern rivers run into the Gulf of Mexico. Other parts are true desert which receive less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rain per year. The Pacific states are the most geologically active areas in the United States. In the Pacific states, the wide areas filled with small towns, farms, and forests are supplemented by a few big port cities which have evolved into world centers for the media and technology industries. The Cascades are also volcanic. The broad basins are synclines. American Samoa is in Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean, while Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are in the Mariana Islands in the western North Pacific Ocean. González, Jesús Ãngel. Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became a national issue, agencies of the federal government own and manage vast areas of land. African and European Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the lower rates of citizenship and voting among Asians and Hispanics. Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4,421 m) the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states, is in the Sierra Nevada. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states. Go-Wyoming.com is your Wyoming travel and vacation guide with over 5,000 pages of info on hotels, hiking, biking, whitewater rafting, camping, national parks, etc. 2010 U.S. Census. In fact, the greatest annual rainfall in the United States falls in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest. The region had always been more democratic with greater racial and gender equality, and continued as a national pacesetter in modernization. The state of Arizona has been won by the Republican presidential candidate in every election except three times since 1948, but in 2020 Arizona voted Democratic. [29], The advent of the automobile enabled the average American to tour the West. "[20] The Ohio River portion of the system includes parts of several Atlantic coastal states, from Georgia to New York. For the part of Poland, see, Regional definitions vary from source to source. [21], Most of the public land held by the U.S. National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states. They collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean. Mexican-Americans have also had a growing population in Northwestern states of Oregon and Washington, as well as the southern states of Texas and Oklahoma. The biggest – Great Divide Basin is located to the south of the Sweetwater River. So much water is drawn for drinking water throughout the West and irrigation in California that in most years, water from the Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of California. [28], Writers as diverse as Bret Harte and Zane Grey celebrated or derided cowboy culture, while artists such as Frederic Remington created western art as a method of recording the expansion into the west. The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West. In recent times, as seen in the 2020 United States presidential election, Arizona & Nevada are also beginning to lean towards the Democratic Party as well. western maryland. [45], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}40°N 113°W / 40°N 113°W / 40; -113, One of the four census regions of the United States of America, "American West" redirects here. The largest city in the region is Los Angeles, located on the West Coast. Counties Map The arid regions generally support only livestock grazing, chiefly beef cattle. The significant rivers of Wyoming include the Belle Fourche, Bighorn, Green, North Platte, Powder, Snake, Sweetwater, and Yellowstone rivers. As the fastest-growing demographic group, after Asians, Latinos are hotly contested by both parties. This page was last updated on February 25, 2021, All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com, Andrew Jackson – the 7th President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt – 26th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan - 40th President Of The United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower – the 34th President of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term the West changed. The Mississippi River forms the easternmost possible boundary for the West today. A powerful late winter snowstorm intensified over the central Rocky Mountains on Sunday with heavy snow and wind leading to airport and road closures, power outages and avalanche warnings in ⦠California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii and New Mexico lean toward the Democratic Party. Brilliant, Mark and David M. Kennedy, eds. The Dust Bowl forced children of the original homesteaders even further west. The West also contains much of the Native American population in the U.S., particularly in the large reservations in the Mountain and Desert States. Hawaii is the only state in the union in which Asian Americans outnumber white American residents. The biggest â Great Divide Basin is located to the south of the Sweetwater River. The landlocked state of Wyoming is bordered by the states of Utah in the southwest, by Idaho in the west; by Colorado in the south, by South Dakota and Nebraska in the east; and by Montana in the north and northwest. Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah have been some of the country's most Republican states. (30/km2). The driest place recorded in the U.S. is Death Valley, California.[23]. This map reflects the Western United States as defined by the. One of the largest migrations in American history occurred in the 1840s as the Latter Day Saints left the Midwest to build a theocracy in Utah. The above blank map represents the State of Wyoming, located in the west-central (Mountain States area) region of the United States. Website Design By: Sagebrush Marketing, LLC and Hosted at Wyoming Websites by Jub Jub. For example, the majority of Western states have legalized medicinal marijuana (all but Utah and Wyoming) and some forms of gambling (except Utah); Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Montana have legalized physician-assisted suicide; most rural counties in Nevada allow licensed brothels, and voters in Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington have legalized recreational use of marijuana.[39]. "Big books wanted: women and western American literature in the twenty-first century.". The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there was on the boundaries of the West. The Rockies are hundreds of miles (kilometers) wide, and run uninterrupted from New Mexico to Alaska. More recently historians have looked at nuances, pointing out that some of the trends began before 1941.[34]. Low elevations on the West Coast have warm summers and mild winters with little to no snow. According to the United States Coast Guard, "The Western Rivers System consists of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Cumberland, Arkansas, and White Rivers and their tributaries, and certain other rivers that flow towards the Gulf of Mexico. Land Relief. The Columbia River, the largest river in volume flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America, and its tributary, the Snake River, water the Pacific Northwest. The Mojave and Great Basin deserts lie entirely within the Western region, along with parts of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts (the latter extends significantly into Texas). Beyond the deserts lie the Rocky Mountains. California and Arizona are major producers of citrus crops, although growing metropolitan sprawl is absorbing much of this land. Most of them have highly individualistic cultures, and have worked to balance the interests of urban development, recreation, and the environment. It is also the most geographically diverse, incorporating geographic regions such as the temperate rainforests of the Northwest, the highest mountain ranges (including the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Range), numerous glaciers, and the western portions of the Great Plains. Mount St. Helens, a volcano in the Cascades erupted explosively in 1980. [citation needed]. The mountains dominating Wyomingâs horizon were formed during a period of mountain-building activity known as the Laramide orogeny, which affected the region from about 70 million to 40 million years ago. The Rocky Mountains expose igneous and metamorphic rock both from the Precambrian and from the Phanerozoic eon. During the latter half of the 20th century, several transcontinental interstate highways crossed the West bringing more trade and tourists from the East. km, the State of Wyoming is located in the west-central (Mountain States area) region of the United States. Retrieved September 9, 2019. [32][33], Since the mid-1970s, historians of the West have emphasized the World War II years as a major watershed, as a region experienced enormous social and economic change, and became the pacesetter for societal evolution. To the east of the Western United States is the Midwestern United States and the Southern United States, with Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south. These dry areas encompass much of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. Over a dozen mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountains cover the western part of the state, including the snow-capped Absaroka, Grand Tetons, and Wind River mountains. The Wyoming Basin borders the Continental Divide between the eastern and western mountains and comprises of smaller mountains and relatively flat basins. The Wyoming Basin borders the Continental Divide between the eastern and western mountains and comprises of smaller mountains and relatively flat basins. As observed on the map, the state of Wyoming, like most of the western U.S. States, also displays a broad-range of striking geographical landforms. As the snow continued its heavy, wet descent in the Denver area Sunday, treacherous weather conditions forced multiple closures of Interstates 70 and 25 near Denver, on the Eastern ⦠The West contains several major biomes, including arid and semi-arid plateaus and plains, particularly in the American Southwest; forested mountains, including two major ranges, the American Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains; the long coastal shoreline of the American Pacific Coast; and the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. Alaska and most Mountain states are more Republican, with Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming being Republican strongholds, and Nevada and Arizona being swing states. Meanwhile, the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington can be considered part of the Northwest or Pacific Northwest. While the Pacific states are the most volcanically active areas, extinct volcanoes and lava flows are found throughout most of the West. The state also has numerous man-made reservoirs, with the largest ones located on the North Platte River, to the south of Casper, and the northeast of Riverton on the Bighorn River. The Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert along with other deserts are found here. California upgraded universities to world-class status, intensified scientific research, and expanded infrastructure. Earthquakes cause damage every few to several years in California. The population growth, mostly in the Southwest states of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, has strained water and power resources, with water diverted from agricultural uses to major population centers, such as the Las Vegas Valley and Los Angeles. The Western United States has a higher sex ratio (more males than females) than any other region in the United States.[19]. In the 1950s, representatives from all the western states built the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center to showcase western culture and greet travelers from the East. The following table shows the breakdown of party affiliation of governors, attorneys general, state legislative houses, and U.S. congressional delegation for the Western states, as of 2019[update]. The Platte runs through Nebraska and was known for being a mile (2 km) wide but only a half-inch (1 cm) deep. The region's distance from historical centers of power in the East, and the celebrated "frontier spirit" of its settlers offer two clichés for explaining the region's independent, heterogeneous politics. The western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Massive late 19thâ20th century population and settlement booms created two megalopolis areas of the Greater Los Angeles/Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area/Northern California regions, one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas and in the top 25 largest urban areas in the world. The north-central part of the state is dominated by the Big Horn Mountains, while the rugged Laramie Mountains cover the southern and southeastern landscapes. Pre-Columbian trade routes to kingdoms and empires such as the Mound Builders existed in places such as Yellowstone National Park since around 1000 AD. The Western United States has been populated by Native Americans since at least 11,000 years ago, when the first Paleo-Indians arrived. northern west virginia. eastern pennsylvania. The border statesâCalifornia, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texasâand other southwestern states such as Colorado, Utah, and Nevada all have large Hispanic populations, and the many Spanish place names attest to their history as former Spanish and Mexican territories. Mount Rainier, a volcano in Washington, is also over 14,000 feet (4,300 m). [22], The climate of the West is semi-arid, yet parts of the region get high amounts of rain or snow. The West has several long rivers that empty into the Pacific Ocean, while the eastern rivers run into the Gulf of Mexico. eastern tennessee. Wyoming is the 10th most extensive, but the least populous and the 2nd least densely populated of the 50 United States. Plains make up much of the eastern portion of the West, underlain with sedimentary rock from the Upper Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. southwestern virginia. Between 1830 and 1912, an estimated 500,000 people traversed South Pass on their migration westward, using the network of the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails. After the war millions more migrated using the GI Bill to buy suburban homes, many of them recalling rewarding wartime experience in military training facilities. The State of Wyoming is divided into 23 counties. Covering an area of 253,600 sq. Western businessmen promoted Route 66 as a means to bring tourism and industry to the West. American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are also considered part of the western U.S. by the U.S. National Park Service,[9] the Federal Reserve Bank system,[10] FEMA,[11] and the USGS. East of the Rocky Mountains is the Great Plains, the western portions (for example, the eastern half of Colorado) of which are generally considered to be part of the western United States.
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