A Region of Large Cities

The Middle Atlantic States region is an area oflarge cities and urban areas. The three states inthis region are New York, Pennsylvania, andNew Jersey. The largest city in our country, NewYork City, is found there. This city is so largethat many states have fewer people living inthem than the population of New York City!

area of the main cities, you have themetropolitan areas, often covering a very largeregion. The New York metropolitan area hasmore than 18 million people!

Along the east coast of the United States thereare many metropolitan areas that are close toeach other. These areas form a megalopolis(meg a LOP oh lis). The largest megalopolis inour country starts in Boston, Massachusetts, andends in Washington, D.C. Two other large citiesin this area are Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, andNew York City.

One of the biggest problems which faces mostof the cities in this region is their populationdecrease. This greatly concerns leaders of thecities in the Middle Atlantic States. Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania is an example of a city where morepeople die each year than are born. The peoplewho remain in many of these cities are gettingolder, and the younger families are moving tothe suburbs or to other parts of the country.Other problems in the cities of this area are thehigh crime rates and the poor areas of the citycalled slums. People found in slums live inpoverty and have barely enough money to live.Both of these problems have caused muchconcern to city leaders.

Middle Atlantic StatesChapter Three

Geographers study urban areas so thatbusinesses can find which products sell in certainareas. Or, perhaps, city leaders want to knowfrom them where most of the rich or poor peopleof their city live and why they live where theydo. Geographers also use many words to describeparts in and around a city. One of these issuburbs, which is used to describe smallertowns and cities that surround large cities. Ifyou take all the area of the suburbs, plus all the

New York City is the largestcity in the United States

Reformed Worldview Perspective: Whatis the response of Christians to poorpeople living in the slums? We asChristians have a calling to help thosewho are truly in need. If we or thedeacons of the church become involvedin giving help to the poor we must alwayswitness to them about the saving workof Jesus Christ.

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Middle Atlantic States

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2010 Population Map of theMiddle Atlantic States

New York - NYNew Jersey - NJPennsylvania - PA

The Middle Atlantic States have several rivervalleys that cut through the AppalachianMountains. The best known of these valleys isthe Hudson River Valley which runs to the southfrom Lake Champlain to Long Island Sound. Tothe north of these states is the St. LawrenceRiver, which is very important to ocean trade.

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Mountains and Plains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains cover much of theland in the Middle Atlantic States. Theseforested mountains are not as high as the RockyMountains located in the western United States.While the “Rockies” reach an elevation of morethan 14,000 feet, the highest point of theAppalachians in these states is Mount Marcy, atjust over 5,000 feet. The Appalachian Rangeextends north from Georgia, all the way throughMaine and into Canada. The Catskill Mountainsin New York are part of this range of mountains.

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The Niagara Falls. The falls that are close up are in the U.S.A. The falls in thebackground are in Canada.

Reformed Worldview Perspective:Evolutionists say these mountains wereformed millions of years ago when twolarge plates of the earth crushed intoeach other. What does the Bible sayabout the age of the earth and about theeffects of the flood on creation?

behind the ship, water is pumped into the lockto raise the vessel. When the water level is highenough, the ship can move upriver as the gatesahead of it open. Before the locks were built,ships first had to be unloaded, then after theircargo was moved past the Niagara Falls area,reloaded again on a ship that was headed northor west to the Great Lakes. Now, because ofthe locks, shipping can be done from along theAtlantic Coast through to the Great Lakes.

Climate

East of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie is an areathat receives much snow in the winter. The causeof this is lake-effect snow. This occurs whencold air travels over a warm body of water. Whena cold winter wind blows across warm LakeOntario, the air picks up water. As the wind

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Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes

Other areas of lowlands besides the river valleysare the Atlantic Coastal Plain in New Jersey andthe lake plains near Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.Lake Ontario presents a problem to shippingbecause it is much lower than Lake Erie. A visitto the Niagara Falls will show you how muchthe river that connects the two lakes drops whenthe water rushes over the falls.

Because of this you may wonder how ships andboats travel from the ocean through to the GreatLakes. Ships do this by traveling through a seriesof locks on the Welland Canal which is near theNiagara Falls. Locks are small sections of acanal in which a ship is raised or lowered bychanging the water level. A boat going upriverfirst heads into a lock. After door-like gates close

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The Welland Canal hasmany locks.

Finance

The Middle Atlantic States have many centersfor the finance industry, such as banks andinsurance companies. Known world-wide in thefinance industry, the New York Stock Exchange,located in New York City, is a famous buildingwhere stocks are bought and sold. People allover the world are interested in the New YorkStock Exchange because they can buy stock incompanies in order to own part of them.

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passes over the cooler land again in New York,it drops heavy snow.

Winters in the Middle Atlantic States are not asharsh as winters in the New England States,except in eastern New York and some of themountain areas which receive more snow andare colder.

Because the Middle Atlantic States are farthersouth than the New England States, the summersare longer there. Especially in New Jersey, thesummers are hot and humid. In the mountainsand northern part of the Middle Atlantic Statessummers are cooler. Enough rain falls in thisthree state region to support farming.

The coastal areas of the Middle Atlantic Statesrarely have hurricanes. However, the residentswho live near the coast must be prepared forheavy rainfall and storm surges. A storm surgeis caused when high winds push large wavesagainst the shore. If the storm surge occurs in aplace where people live, many homes andbusinesses can be destroyed.

Economy

Shipping

The Atlantic Ocean is good for business in theMiddle Atlantic States because cities such asNew York City have harbors through whichproducts have been brought into the UnitedStates since colonial times. A harbor is a large,deep bay of water that is protected from theocean so that ships can be loaded and unloaded.Today, most ships carry cargo in large containersthat can be moved easily onto trucks and trains.Intermodal transportation (moving cargo fromone type of carrier to another) is the term thatdescribes this method of shipping. Intermodaltransportation is used for both the shipping ofexports (products we ship to other countries),and for imports (products that are shipped intoour country).

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Manufacturing

Steel is one of the products that we ship to othercountries. For many years in our history theMiddle Atlantic States led the nation in steelproduction. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was evenknown as “The Steel City”. But today, theMiddle Atlantic States are concerned becauseCalifornia and the Great Lakes States producemore steel than they do. In addition to this,China and other foreign nations produce steelmore cheaply because of lower labor costs.These two factors have caused many people tolose their jobs and to move from the region,making bigger problems for the cities.

Intermodal transportation at thePort of Newark, New Jersey

New Jersey also became British lands after thedefeat of the Dutch.

Later, in 1681, Pennsylvania was founded byWilliam Penn as a “holy experiment” in peacefulliving. In the 1700s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniawould become an important city in the AmericanRevolution because the Continental Congressmet there during the war.

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Britain and the Iroquois fought againstthe French and their Indian allies for control ofmuch of settled North America. A key victoryfor the British was won at Fort Duquesne (doCANE) near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Afterthis war, the British kept control of the area ofthe Middle Atlantic States.

Middle Atlantic States

Farming

About one-quarter of the land in the MiddleAtlantic States is farmland. The most profitablefarms are found in the southeastern part ofPennsylvania. Two types of farms found in thisarea and in other parts of the Middle AtlanticStates are dairy farms and market farms. Amarket farm or truck farm raises crops such astomatoes, onions, peppers, sweet corn and othercrops, which are enjoyed by people in urbanareas like New York City and Philadelphia.

History

Exploration and Colonial Life

The natives of this region were the Lenne-Lenapi(LEN ee LEN a pee) and the famous Iroquoisconfederacy. The five nations of the Iroquois(EAR a coy) are the Seneca (SEN a cah), Cayuga(cay YOU gah), Oneida (o NIGH da), Onondaga(AH non DOG a), and the Mohawk nations.The Iroquois were well-known for their long-houses. The name “Iroquois” has the idea thatthese five nations should live in peace in onelong-house.

As early as 1524, An Italian named Giovannide Verrazano explored the coast of New Jerseyand New York on a voyage in the service of theFrench. In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishexplorer, sailed into what is today New Yorkharbor. People from the Netherlands settledmuch of the land around New York City andthe Hudson River. In fact, as early as 1624,present-day New York City had the name, “NewAmsterdam”. However, in the year 1644, theBritish defeated the Dutch and renamed the city“New York”, after a city in Great Britain called“York”. The larger settlements of New York and48

Independence Hall in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania where the ContinentalCongress met during the AmericanRevolution.

American Revolution

Many battles of the American Revolution werefought in the Middle Atlantic States. In 1776,the colonists (settlers who fought for freedomfrom the British) lost New York City to theBritish, and during the rest of the war GeneralGeorge Washington tried to recapture it. Latein 1776, Washington had a victory at Trenton,New Jersey. However, in 1777, the British came

Reformed Worldview Perspective: AsChristians we may also buy and sellstocks but we must learn not to put ourtrust in riches or love them. See I Timothy6:10.

barge got to Albany, it could go down theHusdon River to the Atlantic Ocean

Immigration

At the mouth of the Hudson River is New YorkCity. This city has always been known as a placewhere immigrants entered the United States.Immigrants are people who move from theirhomeland to live in a new country. Dedicatedin 1886, the Statue of Liberty (a gift fromFrance) is a symbol that America is a land ofliberty for immigrants from all nations. Thisimpressive statue in New York harbor is visitedby millions each year.

New York: The Empire State

New York City

New York is called the “Empire State” becauseit plays such an important part in our nation’seconomy. To celebrate the fact that New Yorkis the Empire State, New York City has namedthe tallest building in the city the “Empire StateBuilding”.

New York City has a rich history. As we learned,the English named the city after they defeatedthe Dutch in 1664. Then, during the AmericanRevolution, New York City was controlled bythe British until the colonists won the war. Fewpeople know that after the American RevolutionNew York City was the national capital for sixyears.

New York City is unique because most of thecity is built on three islands, Long Island,Manhattan Island, and Staten Island. The city isdivided into five sections called boroughs(BURR ohs). The boroughs of Brooklyn andQueens are on Long Island. The borough ofManhattan is located on the island ofManhattan, and the borough of Staten Island ison Staten Island. The Bronx is the only boroughlocated on the mainland. Many bridges, tunnels,and ferries connect the boroughs to the other

Middle Atlantic States

back and captured Philadelphia. Because of this,the army of Washington had to endure a hardwinter at Valley Forge, where many of his troopsdid not have shoes during the winter and are saidto have left bloody footprints in the snow!

After the colonists in that same year had a greatvictory at Saratoga, New York, France began tohelp them in their fight against Britain. Eventhough Washington and his army could notdefeat the British in New York City, the colonistsgained control of all the land and cities bydefeating the British at the Battle of Yorktown,in 1781.

The Erie Canal

After the war, America continued to grow.Because more settlers began moving west, it wasimportant to have a waterway, not only for thosemoving west, but also to ship products back tothe east. Therefore, in 1825, the Erie Canal (acanal is a man-made channel of water), whichconnected Lake Erie to the Hudson River, wascompleted. Using this canal, a barge could enterthe Erie Canal at Buffalo, New York and traveldown the canal to Albany, New York. Once the

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The Statue of Liberty

York, the Adirondacks are beautiful mountainswhich are part of the Canadian Shield landform.The Mohawk River, flowing east to west throughthe center of the state, separates thesemountains from the Catskill Mountains insoutheastern New York. The CatskillMountains, along with the Allegheny (al-eh-GAY nee) Plateau, are part of the AppalachianMountain range. A plateau is a large, flat landarea that is at a higher elevation.

Besides New York City, many of the state'slargest cities are along the route of the New YorkState Canal System, a canal which contains partsof the old Erie Canal. The city of Buffalo islocated at the western end of New York on theeastern shore of Lake Erie. The city ofRochester is on the south shore of Lake Ontario.Syracuse is in central New York state.

Finally, at the eastern end of the Canal System,is the state capital of New York, the beautifulcity of Albany, located at the point where theMohawk and Hudson Rivers come together.(The place where two rivers meet is called theconfluence of the rivers). East of the HudsonRiver, New York shares a border with threestates, namely Vermont, Massachusetts, andConnecticut.

Below the Erie Canal are several long, large lakescalled the Finger Lakes, because they look like

Middle Atlantic States

parts of the city. The most famous bridge, builtin 1883, is the Brooklyn Bridge.

At the center of New York City is Manhattan.It is hard to believe that more than one and ahalf million people live on this small island, andthat during the day millions more pour intoManhattan to work in the tall buildings locatedin Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

New York City was the center of attention inthe United States and the world on September11, 2001. On that day, two large airplanes whichwere taken over by terrorists crashed into theWorld Trade Center buildings. As a result, thesetwo 110 story buildings collapsed to the groundcausing much death and destruction. MostAmericans who were living that day will neverforget that tragedy. As a result of that incident,our government has worked very hard to fightterrorism in our country and in many other placesaround the world.

The Land

North of New York City, the state of New Yorkhas a variety of landforms. Lake Ontario andthe St. Lawrence River form much of the state’snorthern boundary. Along these bodies of waterare lowlands, while south of these lowlands aremountains and plateaus. In northeastern New

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This is Lake Placid in theAdirondack Mountains of NewYork. The Olympics were heldhere in 1932 and 1980.

The Catskill Mountains insoutheastern New York

For many years Buffalo was a city known for itssteel production. However, like in other citiesof this region, steel output in Buffalo has gonedown. The city of Syracuse is known foreducational institutions such as SyracuseUniversity.

Millions of tourists visit the Empire State Plazaand the capitol building in Albany. The FingerLakes area and the vineyards of New York alsoare popular to tourists.

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fingers in the middle of New York State. Theselakes all have names taken from the nativepeoples. Cayuga Lake is almost forty miles longand one-half mile wide. Seneca Lake is morethan 600 feet deep!

Farming

Dairy farming is the top agricultural industry inNew York. Butter, cheese, yogurt, and other milkproducts are produced in all parts of the state.These dairy products account for about half ofthe money that New York makes from farming.However, since all of those dairy cows need food,many of the field crops in New York are usedto feed the animals.

New York is known for its fruits and vegetables.Apples are grown mainly in the lowlands southand east of the Great Lakes, including theEmpire Apple, which was developed in NewYork. Grapes are also an important crop,although New York's output is very smallcompared to California's. Vegetables grown inNew York include cabbage, sweet corn, andonions.

Economy

New York’s smaller cities are often forgottenbecause of the focus on New York City.However, important industries are located insome of these smaller cities. Rochester, forexample, is the home of the Kodak Company,which for many years manufactured Kodak filmand cameras. But in recent years, the digitalcamera has made the film camera almostobsolete. An obsolete product is somethingwhich people do not want to buy because abetter product is available. In the past, whenyou took a picture with a film camera you hadto wait to get the pictures. However, digitalcameras allow you to see pictures almostinstantly and can be printed at home. Therefore,Kodak is now working to develop digitalcameras.

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This is the Empire State Plazain Albany, New York.

Pennsylvania: The Keystone State

William Penn

Pennsylvania, which was named for WilliamPenn, actually means “Penn’s Woods”. Thelargest city of the state is Philadelphia, a citywhich William Penn planned to be a place ofbrotherly love. Penn’s ideas came from his

The mountains of Pennsylvania curve downwardfrom the northeast to the south central part ofthe state. On a topographic map, you can see aseries of ridges as well as valleys with fertilefarmland. Rivers weave their way through thecanyons. One such river is the Susquehanna (susque HAH na) River, which runs through thestate capital, Harrisburg.

Finally, the land of the southeastern part of thestate is called the Piedmont (PEED mont),which is another name for the foothills of themountains. East of this area is the DelawareRiver, which forms the eastern border with NewJersey, and further south runs through the cityof Philadelphia.

Farming

The Piedmont area of Pennsylvania is home topeople called the "Pennsylvania Dutch,"

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Quaker religion, a religion that promotes peace.In American history, the Quakers areremembered for being against slavery and againstwar. Today they are called the “Society ofFriends”, and believe that people must live by amysterious “inner light” which they say is givenby God.

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The Liberty Bell

Reformed Worldview Perspective: AsChristians, we believe that people mustlive only according to what God’s Word,the Bible says. How does that differ fromthe Quaker’s idea of an “inner light”given by God?

As more colonies were founded on the Atlanticcoast, Pennsylvania was located right in themiddle of them. That is why it is called the“Keystone State”. A keystone is the centerstone of an arch. Because of its location,Pennsylvania was at the center of colonial life.

Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in ourcountry. While its influence and population havedecreased, it is still important to America. Afterall, the Constitution was written and adoptedthere! Visitors can go there to see IndependenceHall and the Liberty Bell. Both of these placesare well-known symbols of freedom in ourcountry.

The Land

Mountains and valleys make up much of thephysical geography of Pennsylvania. However,in the western part of the state is the Allegheny(al eh GAY nee) Plateau. This plateau rolls downto Lake Erie in northwestern Pennsylvaniawhere the state has its only access to Great Lakesshipping at the city of Erie. The large city ofPittsburgh is located on the Allegheny Plateau.

In Pittsburgh, often called “the city of threerivers", the Allegheny and Monongahela (mahnon gah HEE lah) Rivers meet to form the greatOhio River. All of the water in these rivers flowsdown from the Appalachian Mountains.

Pennsylvania provides very little of the oil inour country, and off shore oil pads, as well asthe states of Texas and Alaska, produce moreoil.

Today Pittsburgh is better known for itseducational and medical centers. The Universityof Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning is abeautiful tower in the city center and the medicalcenter of the university is the city’s largestemployer.

Pennsylvania has many coal mines locatedthroughout the state. In 2005, only Wyoming,West Virginia and Kentucky mined more coalthan Pennsylvania. Coal is used in the steelindustry, at electric power plants, and in manyother industries.

Hershey, Pennsylvania should be a commonname to you. It is the home to HersheyChocolate Company, which always has been thelargest chocolate company on the continent. So,if you have a sweet tooth, you will have to visitHershey.

Another tourist attraction is the GettysburgNational Military Park, located near Harrisburg,in the south central portion of the state. At thisplace, the most important battle of the AmericanCivil War was fought. This battlefield site wasthe place where Abraham Lincoln gave hisfamous Gettysburg Address.

East of Gettysburg, in the city of Philadelphiaon the Delaware River, many majorpharmaceutical companies have been built.These companies make medicine which is soldworldwide.

New Jersey: The Garden State

Cities

New Jersey is the state located between NewYork City and Philadelphia. Many of NewJersey’s largest cities are suburbs of these two

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descendants of German immigrants. They havefarmed this fertile region for many years.

Today visitors who come to this region can seehow farming was done one hundred years ago.The people who live on these farms are calledthe Amish, a group of Pennsylvania Dutchpeople who believe that Christians should livea simple life. Many Amish, for example, believethat they should use a horse and buggy insteadof a car.

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Reformed Worldview Perspective: Webelieve that a Christian should live in theworld but not be “of the world”. We canuse modern inventions because they arenot sin in themselves. However, we mustuse all things to give glory to God.

Dairy products are the most important farmproduct of Pennsylvania. Beef cattle are alsoraised, and as was true in New York, many cropsto feed the cattle and dairy animals are grownthere. Pennsylvania has many mushroom farmswhich produce billions of pounds per year.Mushrooms have many uses, the best knownuse probably being for topping on a pizza!

A Changing Economy

The economy of Pennsylvania has changed overthe years. The city of Pittsburgh, for example,used to be the center of the steel industry. Manyyears ago the smoke from the factories inPittsburgh made the sky dark in the middle ofthe day. Today, however, the city is much cleanerand modern looking. While the largest steelcompany, USX Corporation, still has itsheadquarters in Pittsburgh, many of the steelmills are gone.

In addition to having been a center of the steelindustry, Northwest Pennsylvania used to beknown as a center of the oil industry. Alreadyin 1859, Edwin L. Drake had an oil well inTitusville, Pennsylvania. At this point, the oilindustry in the United States was born. Today,

roads and buildings on the steep slopes. Becauseof this, most people live in the northeast, whichis made up of the Piedmont on the eastern edgeof the mountains, and the plains area. Anotherplace in the state where few people live is thePine Barrens, an area of pine forests, found inthe center of the southern part of the state.

The borders of New Jersey are mostlydetermined by bodies of water. The westernborder is formed by the Delaware River, whilethe northeast border is marked off by the HudsonRiver. The eastern border is the Atlantic Oceanwith many long, thin, islands, just off the shore.At the southern tip of the beautiful Atlanticcoast is Cape May, on the Delaware Bay whichborders on the south.

Farming

New Jersey’s nickname is the “Garden State”,because of the many truck farms found in thestate. The produce that New Jersey grows is soldto markets in Philadelphia and New York City.However, the state’s most important farmproducts are from greenhouses and nurseries.Examples of greenhouse products are roses,lilies, and poinsettias. Other nursery productssuch as sod and bushes are also grown in NewJersey. All of these products are readily sold inthe nearby cities.

The state also grows cranberries, peaches, andother fruits. New Jersey’s blueberry crop isespecially well-known because it produces aboutone-fifth of all the blueberries in the UnitedStates. Next time you open a box of blueberries,see if they are from New Jersey!

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great cities. In fact, much of New York City’smetropolitan area is in the state of New Jersey.Look at the population map on page 44 to seethis large cluster of cities in the northeasternpart of the state. One city in this cluster isNewark, New Jersey, a city with 277,140 people,and yet it is considered a suburb of New YorkCity! While Newark has lost much of itspopulation over the last fifty years, it would stillbe a very large city in many other states.

The metropolitan area of Philadelphia extendsinto the Delaware Valley of New Jersey whichis named after the Delaware River and is foundin the southwestern part of the state. Trenton,the state capital, is located on the river north ofthis urban area.

History

Because New Jersey is between Philadelphia andNew York City, the state played an importantpart in the American Revolution. As we learned,the British controlled Philadelphia in the winterof 1777-1778. But when the British decided toleave Philadelphia and go to New York Cityinstead, General Washington led the colonistsin an attack on the British at Monmouth, NewJersey in June of 1778. Although neither sidewon the battle, most people remember this battlebecause of Molly Pitcher, the housewife whocame to the battle with her husband. Accordingto tradition, she brought water to the soldiers asthey fired the cannons, and even fired thecannon herself.

The Land

The northwestern corner of New Jersey ismountainous, making it very difficult to build

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To the right is a picture ofthe cranberry harvest inNew Jersey.

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Economy

Many years ago, Thomas Edison, one of thiscountry’s earliest chemists, produced most ofhis inventions in New Jersey. Today, the mostimportant industry of New Jersey is the chemicalindustry, which produces chemicals used in ourhomes and in manufacturing. The factories inNew Jersey are located near large ports for twomain reasons. First, this manufacturing oftenrequires water, and secondly, the chemicals need

to be shipped to other ports by ship. For example,Jersey City, New Jersey, a suburb of New YorkCity, makes chemicals, and ships them throughthe port of Newark, New Jersey, which at onetime was the busiest port in the world.

New Jersey is one of the main places in theUnited States where many of the world’s leadingpharmaceutical companies have factories thatmake various medicines and other health careproducts.

Finally, New Jersey has much tourism along itscoast. The long, thin islands have beautifulbeaches and resorts popular with tourists. Oneof the most notable places in this area is theresort of Atlantic City, known for its gambling.

Barnegat Lighthouse on thecoast of New Jersey

Reformed Worldview Perspective:When somebody bets money hoping toreceive money by “luck” it is gambling.What does the Bible tell us about “luck”and about wasting our money in thehope of gaining more? What does theBible mean when it says that “the loveof money is the root of all evil”?

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