Appalachia Region Essays - Appalachian Culture, Appalachia

Appalachia Region Essays - Appalachian Culture, Appalachia Appalachia Region Appalachia Region By: Wesley Mark Whitworth To look at, and understand the attitudes toward the people of this area it would be good to start with the type of people that migrated into this region. The people of this area did not totally arrive until the English had colonized the coast of the eastern seaboard forcing the now Appalachian people westward to the interior mountains. The main influx of people came in on the second wave of migrants. This people were of Scotch Irish, German, Welsh, French and Swiss decent. These people from the start were rugged mountain people that were very self sufficient and mainly lived from farming as there means of survival. In the beginning there was no Appalachian culture because every one was from different areas. It took well over a hundred years of interaction with each other and isolation from other parts of the country to develop there culture. The major reason this region developed separately is because of the isolation from the outside world for so long. The reason that isolation occurred is do to topography of the land. These people lived in the mountains were outsiders from the seaboard could not or would not go. The first real time the people of Appalachia came into large contact with the other groups of the country was world war 2. At this time many men were drafted and came into contact with other groups. This is probably when some of the early stereotypes began to evolve about hillbillies red neck and many other interesting names. People in developed areas of the states thought primitive substandard people was what lived in the Appalachian region, and this was because they did not understand there culture. The fact that they were different then them was reason enough to make fun. The truth being that they developed the way they did because it best suited the environment in which they lived. Also,. they did not have much if any culture diffusion with the rest of the country. They were only different not worse then the rest of the population. They were probably harder works and had stronger family ties then the people the thought bad of them. The main thing that brought these people out of the mountains in the 1960's was the construction of the highway systems throughout the region. This in able these people to come down from there homes in the mountains and work in the cities. They were then in contact with people other then there own culture. Over the next thirty years they were still stereotyped and it was not totally unfounded because they were different but not in a bad way. Today there are still red necks and hillbillies and I consider myself to somewhat fit that profile, but with the new age of communication culture diffusion has had a large effect on this culture as well as the one's it came into contact with. People do not look at country people the same as in the beginning, they look at them in better and even envious way. Throughout the twenty century the environment of this region has been exploited for profit by lumber and mining companies that do not live here. Many of these companies did not consider the people and thus they stayed or got poor while the companies became rich. Things have change for the better over the years but we still have lower levels of income the most of the country. To discuss Appalachia as a region you first need to look at all the physical aspects. Appalachia is considered a region primary because it is a area of highlands. The topography of this region consists of four physiographic provinces which are the Piedmont, Blue ridge, Ridge and Valley, and the Plateau provinces. This region runs from 32 to 42 degrees latitude which is approximately 700 miles. The piedmont is the province closest to the Atlantic ocean. This province also has the lowest elevation which also runs into the fall line of the coastal plains. This is the defining point of where the Appalachia region begins. The next province westward is the blue ridge province. This province is the smallest of the