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Old Posted Dec 31, 2009, 10:56 PM
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satsuchan satsuchan is offline
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To me, the Midwest is mostly made up of areas in the US where most land is under cultivation without general irrigation. So, the NE boundary is Cleveland, down to Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Lincoln, Bismarck, to the Canadian border. Areas in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota that are not agricultural are usually called "upper Midwest." I think the shared economic, cultural, political and linguistic (etc) characteristics of Midwest cities is drawn more from the land use, heavy ag industries, lack of broad natural spaces, German-Scandinavian immigration, and postindustrial landscapes. This area is defined by the Great Lakes, since those are the remnants of the glaciers that ground the Midwest like a rolling pin.

The South is the mountainous/hilly area south of this; the Plains extend to the Rockies/Intermountain West (with its own divisions); East coast is on the Appalachian fall line eastward; the South and the Appalachians share some characteristics into Southern PA. I dont know upstate NY at all to know what's going on there. Buffalo might also be called a Midwestern outpost, but Pittsburgh is the capital of Appalachia, and not Midwestern.
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