GEOG 2010

Rice cultivation in the Carolinas and the Rice Coast of West Africa are very similar due to African ways of planting being diffused in the "new" world through slavery. While it was conventional wisdom that Europeans in places of power introduced rice cultivation through enslaved labor, this is only true in their exploitation of labor to extract profit. It was actually the agriculatrual knowledge of West Africans who were able to make rice a profitable crop. Because of this, rice fields in the Carolina Low Country tend to be much larger than in the Rice Country of West Africa. While African farmers tended rice for familial consumption and trading within their communities, rice growing in the Carolinas was used make money for the wealthy by forcing enslaved Africans to work the fields. While rice was a staple crop for local families in West Africa, it became a symbol of wealth in the Carolinas, making white slave owners wealthy through the sale of "Carolina Gold."

The middle passage was the infamous forced displacement of millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas. It is remarkable that despite this inhuman system of exploitation, African groups were able to transfer their knowledge and traditions, which was diffused into the population of the Americas. This map traces some of these journeys from West Africa to the Americas and then to Europe, forming a "triangular trade" which maximized profit at the expense of enslaved people. Due to the horror of the middle passage, many people died in route to the Americas. One ship, which disembarked from Ghana and traveled to Suriname saw a number of deaths as the approached the port of Paramaribo. Four African males died outside of the port, with their bodies thrown overboard. It is possible that these men were killed defending themselves, or that they threw themselves overboard due to the grim reality of what lie ahead. Suriname was a major sugar producing colony, which is why so many A...

The Dixie region can be divided into numerous sub regions. I chose two regions I have experience living and traveling in. The first, in the blue border, is the Gulf Coast. Vacationers from all over the world, though particularly those from the Northern United States, visit the beaches of the Gulf Coast every summer. The region can be viewed as functional region, as it is experienced as place for leisure by Northerners and Southerners alike. It therefore functions as a place for escaping the heat and enjoying fresh seafood like Murder Point Oysters in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Another region, which can be viewed as a vernacular region, is the Mississippi Delta. Buy searching for the birthplace of several famous Blues musicians, I found that many of them were born in the fertile valleys on either side of the Mississippi River. It is surprising to find that Arkansas was the home of many blues musicians, as you can see in the green dividing area. We could say this is a vernacular region ...

The borders of the Dixie region shown here demonstrate a functional region in that it is not culturally homogeneous. While the region is littered with mechanic shops with the name Dixie, the places where they are found differ greatly and cross numerous state borders, mountain ranges and coastal planes. Dixie can also be viewed as a formal region due to the similarities of places inside it. Not having formal borders, or having border zones, is a trait of a formal region. This is explained in the core-periphery concept. While in the "heartland" of Dixie you can most clearly see the traits that make Dixie a recognized, distinct region, the further away you go from the core, the weaker some of these traits become. There are also outliers, meaning that a region or place may demonstrate some traits of a different region due to its near proximity, while not really being a part of the region. You can see this in the number of Dixie auto shops in Ohio north of Cincinnati, eve...

Many Vietnamese families have integrated into New Orleans life, ans are seen in favorable terms by New Orleanians. This means that more families are moving to other areas of the city and area. Also, younger Vietnamese Americans are moving further away. It could be that this map shows a migration from New Orleans East to St. Bernard Parish due to destruction caused in Versailles, but it also shows that the Vietnamese are an integral part of the New Orleans population. Lastly, environmental factors would play into moving to St. Bernard, as there remains swampy and spacious land similar to New Orleans East.