- Also called:
- Middle West or North Central States
Midwest
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What is the Midwest region of the United States?
The Midwest is a region in the northern and central United States, situated between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains and north of the Ohio River and the 37th parallel.
The U.S. government defines the Midwest as comprising Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
The Midwest is composed of the Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest, and the Great Plains. This area is diverse and representative of a national average. The Midwest has been an innovator in architecture and retailing, a potent force in the settlement-house movement, a center of temperance activity, and an inspiration to a new school of naturalistic writers such as Hamlin Garland.
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Which states are included in the Midwest?
The Midwest, a region in the northern and central United States, lies between the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains, north of the Ohio River and the 37th parallel.
The U.S. federal government defines the Midwest as including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Midwest is composed of the Northwest Territory, otherwise known as the Old Northwest, and the Great Plains. The Midwest is an area of immense diversity that is somehow consciously representative of a national average.
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What types of climate and geography can be found in the Midwest?
The Midwest region of the United States features a diverse climate and geography. The region lies between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, north of the Ohio River and the 37th parallel.
The Midwest has a humid continental climate, marked by significant seasonal temperature differences, with hot summers and cold winters. Precipitation is generally ample throughout the year. The region's fertile mollisol soils are found in the tallgrass prairies and western Central Lowlands, transitioning between humid and arid soils. These soils are known for their dark color and high fertility, supporting the Corn Belt in Illinois and Iowa.
The region also has thousands of streams and nearly 15,000 inland lakes.
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Why is the Midwest sometimes called 'America’s Breadbasket'?
The Midwest is often called "America's Breadbasket" because it is a highly productive agricultural region. The area has fertile soil, relatively level land, and a climate with warm nights, hot days, and consistent rainfall during the growing season, which are ideal for growing corn and soybeans. The introduction of farm machinery, along with advances in chemistry and agronomy, has transformed agriculture into a high-yield industrial enterprise, boosting food production capacity. Iowa, which is part of the Midwest, is a leading state in the production of corn, soybeans, and hogs.
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What major cities are located in the Midwest, and what are they known for?
The Midwest, as defined by the U.S. federal government, includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The region is known for its diversity and representation of a national average.
Major cities in the Midwest and what they are known for:
- Chicago, Illinois Chicago is known for its creativity in arts, architecture, and business. It is also known as the "city of neighborhoods".
- Detroit, Michigan Detroit is synonymous with the American automotive industry.
- Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a commercial, transportation, distribution, health care, financial, and industrial center.
- St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis is a major transportation and distribution center and the second largest inland port in the country.
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How has the Midwest contributed to the culture and economy of the United States?
The Midwest region significantly impacts the culture and economy of the United States. Comprising states like Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio, it blends industrial strength with agricultural prowess.
Economically, the Midwest leads in manufacturing and agricultural marketing value. Iowa, a key agricultural state, is a top producer of corn, soybeans, hogs, and cattle, exporting much of its production. The region's transportation arteries historically link it to eastern markets, establishing it as a vital part of the industrial North.
Culturally, the Midwest is seen as representative of the national average, a fusion of urban industry and rural conservatism. It has been a center for various movements, including the Granger movement and the Progressive movement, and has inspired naturalistic writers. The Midwest's hybrid culture emerged from the convergence of people and cultural traits from New England, the Midland, and the South.
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Midwest, region, northern and central United States, lying midway between the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains and north of the Ohio River and the 37th parallel. The Midwest, as defined by the federal government, comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Actually composed of two regions, the Northwest Territory, or the Old Northwest, and the Great Plains, the Midwest has become more an idea than a region: an area of immense diversity but somehow consciously representative of a national average.
The Northwest Territory entered the United States in 1783 at the conclusion of the American Revolution and was organized under a series of ordinances that set the precedent for the admission of future territories into the Union. The Great Plains entered the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The Plains were to develop primarily agriculturally, but the Northwest Territory, blessed with both fertile soil and valuable natural resources (coal, oil, iron ore, and limestone), would develop both industrially and agriculturally.
Emerging transportation arteries, first canals and then railroads, linked the Midwest with Eastern markets and firmly established it as part of the industrially expanding North, thus concluding a process begun in 1787 when slavery was outlawed in the Northwest Territory. The region was not without its Southern sympathizers, however, as a number of its settlers, particularly in the Ohio River valley, had migrated from the South, but the Midwest was to give to the brewing sectional crisis not only a new political party (the Republicans, launched in Wisconsin and Michigan) that was devoted to the nonextension of slavery but also two of the Union’s staunchest defenders—Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.
After the American Civil War, the growth experienced by the Midwest was dramatic. Transportation, immigration, and industrialization all played a part. By 1890 Chicago, not even 60 years old, had become the second largest city in the country, and the Midwest accounted for 29 percent of the country’s manufacturing employment and nearly one-third of its value added by manufacture. The Great Plains, however, developed more slowly. Westward migration tended to skip the Plains for the Pacific Coast, and it was not until the late 1800s, when most American Indians had been subjugated, barbed-wire fencing had been introduced, and railroads had penetrated the interior, that the Plains experienced rapid settlement by farmers, ranchers, and tradesmen.
The influence of the Midwest on national life has been significant. In the 1870s it was the main area of activity of the Granger movement and a hotbed of labour agitation. It provided some of the most prominent figures of the Progressive movement (including Robert M. La Follette) and was home for many of America’s most famous industrial giants. It was an innovator in architecture and retailing, a potent force in the settlement-house movement, a centre of temperance activity, and an inspiration to a new school of naturalistic writers such as Hamlin Garland.
Unique in American life, the Midwest has fused the raw and expansive muscle of an urban industrial establishment with the sturdy conservatism of a rural hinterland. But like its neighbours to the northeast, the Midwest’s growth rate has lagged behind that of the country as a whole.
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Despite regional economic shifts adverse to the Midwest, the region has continued to be the most important economic region in the country, leading all other sections in value added by manufacture and in total value of farm marketings.