The Eastern United States or the American East, is today defined by some as the states east of the Mississippi River., and is traditionally divided by the Ohio River and Appalachian Mountains into the South, the Old Northwest and the East. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be amalgamated with states of the Old Northwest into what the Census Beaureau defines as the Midwestern United States. It has been considered part of the Eastern United States in regional models that exclude a Central region.
As of 2011, the estimated population of the 26 states east of the Mississippi (not including the small portions of Minnesota and Louisiana that are east of the river) plus the District of Columbia totals 179,948,346 out of 308,745,358 in the whole nation (excluding the territory of Puerto Rico), or 58.28% of the U.S. population.
The Eastern United States is home to several airlines, including Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, Georgia, US Airways in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, AirTran Airways in Orlando, Florida, United Airlines in Chicago, Illinois, Spirit Airlines in Miami, Florida, and JetBlue Airways in New York City. Major airports in the Eastern U.S. include Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Logan International Airport in Boston, Miami International Airport in Miami, Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, Washington-Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. The Eastern U.S. is also home to Amtrak, an intercity passenger train service provider. The East did not represent a unified culture, due to its initial settlement by disparate European cultures and the vast number of immigrants who flooded the region from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Read more about Eastern United States: The South, New England, The Midwest, Major Population Centers
Famous quotes containing the words united states, eastern, united and/or states:
“Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United States, which make such a noise in the world,—never hear of America, so called from the name of a European gentleman.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that stretch to the banks of the Potomac ... and that as I sit there I can constantly forget Washington and remember the United States.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“On September 16, 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a debtor nation, the American Empire died.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)