I’m reading The Nine Nations of North America, a book I remember being talked about when I left high school, but for various reasons, never looked up.
It’s quite interesting: while it’s not a scholarly book (no footnotes and somewhat breezy prose), it builds on factual observations and real statistics to make the case that the continent of North America is not made of three countries as the maps show, but nine, based on ideologies, economics, and regional/national interests. It may be a stretch to call a nation what’s commonly regarded as a region, but not that much of one: I think there’s a stronger sense of self in these region/nations than in others in, say, France or England.
The nations are (roughly: I’d like to find a map on the web, but this will do):
- New England, similar to what we refer to now, with the addition of the Canadian Maritimes
- The Foundry, or the Rust Belt: the central part of the the East Coast, from W Virginia to New York to Ohio, and including southern Ontario
- Quebec, marked by the traditional provincial boundary but spreading a little eastward into Labrador
- Dixie, or the Old South, down to south Florida
- The Islands, comprised of south Florida, and the offshore islands, all the way to Venezuela
- MexAmerica, essentially Texas to southern California and the old Spanish settlements and all of Mexico
- Ecotopia, (home sweet home), the West Coast from Point Conception to Juneau
- The Breadbasket, meaning the grain-producing midwest of the US and Canada
- The Empty Quarter, the vast open spaces of the West, from the 100th meridian to the coastal mountain boundary with Ecotopia and north to Alaska, Canada’s Northwest and Yukon Territories, valued by residents for its mineral and oil wealth, and by non-residents for its unspoiled beauty.
I’ve lived in three four of the “nations” as it turns out: the Foundry, the Islands, Dixie and now Ecotopia. I found the summaries and descriptions of places I knew to be accurate, even 20 years on, and I assume the others are similarly close. In fact, in an article that came out in the wake of the book (linked below), the author says he was too conservative in his predictions of what the census’s results would bring.
I recommend giving this a look to understand why the regions act and vote the way they do and to see if you’re in the right one. I belong either here or New England, but Ecotopia suits me just fine. I’ll take my two seasons of breathtaking summers and light rain to the extremes of the east.
NB: here’s a link to an article that sums up the book’s premise with a Q&A section.