Geography of the Appalachian Region
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23715757 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stewart Scales (Virginia Tech, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-10 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-28 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | International Encyclopedia of Geography (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg2240 |
| OpenAlex | W4414587829 |
| ISBN | 9781118786352 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
The Appalachian Region has been defined many times using varied physical and human geographic criteria. The region encompasses the Appalachian Mountains and surrounding hilly topography of eastern North America, which are included in at least four physiographic provinces; on top of this terrain lives a vast diversity of flora and fauna that have served as resources for the inhabitants of the region. Appalachia has a long history of human–environment interaction beginning with Indigenous peoples entering the region over 10 000 years ago, followed by European colonization, farming, industrialization, mining, and timbering. Appalachia's economy was driven largely by agriculture, extractive, and primary industries for several hundred years after the first waves of European settlement in the 1700s. Railroads were constructed in the 1800s, which reduced the isolation of the deeper mountains and increased the volume of material resources being removed from the region. Today, around 40% of the region's population lives in rural areas; migration to the southern half of the region is increasing, especially to larger suburbs around Atlanta and Birmingham. The region's economy is shifting away from resource extraction and transitioning to service and tertiary industries.
Appalachia · Human settlement · Indigenous · Population · Resource (disambiguation) · Settlement (finance) · Terrain · American Environmental and Regional History · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
| Highly cited | No |
|---|