The Midwest

About the Midwestern

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S geographic regions. The area is referred to as the Midwest throughout the Untited States. The region cosist of 12 states in the north-eastern and north-central United States, and are named: Illinois, Indiana, lowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. 

Focus on Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858. Known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". Those waters, together with forests, parks, and wilderness areas, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Minnesota is the 12th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the U.S. states. Nearly 60% of its residents live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area (known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry, education, government and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.

Population

The population in the Midwest is about 65,377,684 people, according to a raport from the United States Census.

Important industry

The Midwest Region could be named as the "Land of Farms". That is because its one of the most important farming areas in the United States. Along all the farming, the Midwest has a huge manufacturing industy. The Midwest Regions climate and natural resources are important to its economy.

Climate of the Midthwest

The Midwest’s climate is shaped by the presence of the Great Lakes and the region’s location in the middle of the North American continent. This location, far from the temperature-moderating effects of the oceans, contributes to large seasonal swings in air temperature from hot, humid summers to cold winters. In recent decades, a noticeable increase in average temperatures in the Midwest has been observed, despite the strong year-to-year variations. The largest increase has been measured in winter, extending the length of the frost-free or growing season by more than one week, mainly due to earlier dates for the last spring frost.

Some interesting facts about the Midwest

These interesting Midwest facts revolve around the fascinating states of Michigan and Wisconsin:
If you stand anywhere in the state of Michigan, you'll be within 85 miles of at least one of the Great Lakes.
The Grand Hotel, a popular tourist lodge on Michigan's Mackinac Island, has 385 guestrooms—each one is decorated completely differently. During each of the Grand Hotel's tourist seasons, more than 50,000 Grand Pecan Balls are made and eaten—by far the most popular dessert on the menu.
The minute Prohibition was over—12:01 AM, January 1, 1934—the city of Milwaukee, a.k.a. Beer City, shipped 15 million beer bottles!
Milwaukee is also known as the host city for popular TV shows, including "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley."
Racine, Wisconsin became well-known when the Racine Belles, the city's women's baseball league, was featured in "A League of Their Own."


Typical for people in the Midwest

The Midwest is described as a place where its filled with Rednecks and farmland. Rednecks is when a someone acts like a hick, but is decribed less offensive. But people living in this actual areas disagree. They mean that the Midwest has far more to offer than just farmland and rednecks. There are large Asian, Black, and Latino populations there. Made up of twelve states: 1) Region that the U.S. Census Bureau claims is comprised of these twelve states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri. Here are som typical living standards of the Midwest:

• Home of 
• deep-dish pizza, 
• motown music, 
• cheese, 
• friendly faces, 
• a bangin' theatre scene, 
• corn, 
• the gateway to the west, 
• affordable living, 
• and a hell of a lot of lakes. 

Where does the name "redneck" come from?

The origins of the term redneck actually go back to the 1930's in a number of disputes in West Virginia. A large group of unionized miners marched south to Logan County, to pressure the mine owners there to allow their miners to become unionized. To identify themselves, the miners all wore red bandannas around their necks. The publicity associated with the battles and the subsequent court cases created the term red-necks, and at that time they were viewed as the good guys in the conflict. 

Originally, the term came from the later 1800's in southern Georgia and Alabama to refer to sharecroppers who worked in the fields thus getting a sunburned neck. They were called 'rednecks' as a term meant for hard working people. Today, the term is used by comedians and commentators to refer to people who are uneducated, close-minded and racist individuals.


Sources:

• http://www.tripcart.com/Midwest-States,Fun-Facts-Index.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States
• http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=midwest
• http://englishrepublic.ru/Topics/AmericanRegions.pdf
• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_did_the_name_'redneck'_come_from
• http://globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/full-report/regional-climate-change-impacts/midwest