Southeastern United States

The US Geological Survey considers the Southeast region to be Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. The Virgin Islands. There is no official Census Bureau definition of the southeastern United States; instead, they divide a larger region including Texas and Oklahoma designated as the "South" into three subregions none of which are conventionally considered to define the southeast. The nonprofit American Association of Geographers defines the southeastern United States as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.[2] The OSBO (American small business support organization) uses the same states, but includes Arkansas and Louisiana. The state of Delaware plus the District of Columbia is also sometimes added in some definitions of the term.

The history of human presence in the Southeast extends to before the dawn of civilization about 11,000 BC. The earliest artifacts were from the Clovis culture.

Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans of the Woodland period tradition occupied the region for several hundred years.

The first Europeans to arrive in the region were conquistadors of the Spanish Empire. In 1541, Hernando de Soto journeyed through the south and crossed the Mississippi River.

The region hosted the first permanent European settlement in North America, by the Kingdom of England at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.

Prior to and during the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Confederate States of America consisted of the southeastern states plus Texas, i.e., Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. Kentucky and Maryland were neutral border states that eventually joined the Union.

Much of the Southeast observed Jim Crow laws during the American segregation era.

The predominant culture of the Southeast has its origins with the settlement of the region by European colonists and African slaves in the 17th to 19th centuries, as large groups of English, Scottish and Ulster-Scottish, Germans, Spanish, French, and Acadians migrated to the region. Since the late 20th century the New South has emerged as the fastest-growing area of the United States economically. Multiculturalism has become mainstream in the Southeastern states. African Americans remain a dominant demographic at around 30% of the total population of the Southeast. The New South is built upon the metropolitan areas along the Interstate 85 corridor. Cities include Birmingham, Atlanta, Greenville, Spartanburg, Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Raleigh-Durham.

Most of the southeastern part of the United States is dominated by the humid subtropical climate (Cfa/Cwa). As one nears the southern portions of Florida, the climate gradually becomes tropical as winters are freezing free and all months have a mean temperature above 64.4 °F (18.0 °C) (the defined coldest monthly mean temperature of tropical climates).

Seasonally, summers are generally hot and humid throughout the entire region. The Bermuda High pumps hot and moist air mass from the tropical Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico westward toward the southeast United States, creating the typical sultry tropical summers. Daytime highs are often in the upper 80s to lower 90s F.[10][11] Rainfall is summer concentrated along the Gulf Coast and the South Atlantic coast from Norfolk, VA southward, reaching a sharp summer monsoon-like pattern over peninsular Florida, with dry winters and wet summers. Sunshine is abundant across the southeastern United States in summer, as the rainfall often comes in quick, but intense downpours. The mid-South, especially Tennessee, and the northern halves of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, have maximum monthly rainfall amounts in winter and spring, owing to copious Gulf moisture and clashes between warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from Canada during the cold season. Here, December, March, or April are typically the wettest months; August to October, the driest months (for example, at Tupelo, MS, Huntsville, AL and Memphis, TN).

Winters are cool in areas like Tennessee and western North Carolina, with average highs in the 45 °F (7 °C) range in January. Farther south, winters become milder across interior eastern North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, with average January highs in the 53 °F (12 °C) range. As one nears the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain and coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas, winters become warm, with daytime highs near or over 60 °F (16 °C), until far enough south in central Florida where daytime highs are above 70 °F (21 °C). Winters tend to be very dry and sunny across Florida, with a gradual increase in winter rainfall with increasing latitude, especially west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Southeast has changed dramatically in the last two generations. Since 1980, there has been a boom in its service economy, manufacturing base, high technology industries, and the financial sector. Examples of this include the surge in tourism in Florida and along the Gulf Coast; numerous new automobile production plants such as Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama; Toyota Motors in Blue Springs, Mississippi; Kia in West Point, Georgia; the BMW production plant in Greer, South Carolina; Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee; the GM manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee; and the Nissan North American headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee; the two largest research parks in the country: Research Triangle Park in the Triangle area of North Carolina (the world's largest) and the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama (the world's fourth largest); and the corporate headquarters of Verso Paper in Memphis, as well as FedEx, which is one of the world's largest shipping companies.

Fortune 500 companies having headquarters in the region include 16 in Florida, 15 in North Carolina, and 14 in Georgia. This economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to have of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States.[12] In Alabama, there is a large-scale manufacturing project owned by the German steel megacorporation ThyssenKrupp, which operates a massive, state-of-the-art facility in Mobile.

These are the largest cities in the Southeastern region of the United States by population, according to the United States Census Bureau:[14]

• ^ a:  Jacksonville, Louisville, Nashville, Augusta and New Orleans are consolidated city-counties/parishes. Therefore the population given is for the entire city excluding other incorporated places lying within the county limits.
  

These are the metropolitan areas of the Southeastern region which exceed 1  million in population according to the United States Census Bureau's 2019 estimates:[16]

Beyond Megalopolis by Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute, an attempt to update Jean Gottmann's work with current trends, defines two "megapolitan areas" contained within the Southeast, out of a total of ten such areas in the United States:

• "Piedmont" extending from North Carolina to Alabama
• "Peninsula" covering South Florida and Central Florida

Two others tie some areas on the margins of the Southeast to urban centers in other regions:

• "Gulf Coast" extending as far east as the western tip of Florida
• "Northeast" including much of Maryland and eastern Virginia

These are the combined statistical areas of the Southeastern region which exceed 1  million in population according to the United States Census Bureau's 2016 estimates. Note that the metropolitan areas of Tampa and Richmond are not included in any CSAs, so they are included in the table without constituent areas.[18]

Atlanta Falcons

Miami Heat

Alabama Crimson Tide Football

Although American football is prevalent across the United States, it is especially pervasive in the Southeast. With a total of nine (9) franchises — the Atlanta Falcons, the Baltimore Ravens, the Carolina Panthers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Miami Dolphins, the New Orleans Saints, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tennessee Titans, and the Washington Football Team — across the region, the National Football League (NFL) maintains a stronger commercial presence than any other major North American professional sports league.

The Southeast has seven (7) National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises: the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Miami Heat, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards.

Major League Baseball (MLB) maintains five (5) teams in the Southeast: the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Miami Marlins, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Washington Nationals.

The Southeast has five (5) National Hockey League (NHL) franchises: the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Washington Capitals.

Major League Soccer currently holds five (5) clubs — Atlanta United FC, DC United, Inter Miami CF, Nashville SC and Orlando City SC— in the region. This number will increase to six (6) when Charlotte FC joins in 2022.

The Atlantic Coast Conference is an NCAA Division 1 conference of mainly Southeastern college teams, including the Florida State Seminoles, Louisville Cardinals, Miami Hurricanes, Clemson Tigers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, NC State Wolfpack, Virginia Tech Hokies, and Virginia Cavaliers. The Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Citrus Bowl are notable college football bowls held in Southeastern cities.

The Southeastern Conference is also an NCAA Division 1 conference of Southeastern college teams, including the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, Kentucky Wildcats, LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Missouri Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and Vanderbilt Commodores.

The majority of NASCAR teams are headquartered in the Charlotte area along with the sports operations headquarters and media outlets. Tracks in the region include Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Richmond Raceway, and Talladega Superspeedway.

The southeast also hosts two of the three legs of the American Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby, in Kentucky, and the Preakness Stakes is also located in the Southeast, being run in Baltimore. The Derby is considered the western leg of the crown and the Preakness is traditionally considered the southern leg.

[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]

• Hammock (ecology) – Southeastern habitat
• Southeastern mixed forests – Southeastern habitat
• Black Belt in the American South

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southeastern United States.

• Flora Atlas of the Southeastern United States – by the North Carolina Botanical Garden & University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU).
• Sea Level Changes in the Southeastern United States. Past, Present, and Future – University of South Florida (August 2011)
• Britannica Southeast U.S. – video on YouTube