Mid-Atlantic States

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Regional definitions vary from source to source. The states shown in dark red are included in the United States Census Bureau's definition and the traditional definition, while all or portions of the striped states may or may not be considered part of the Mid-Atlantic.

The Mid-Atlantic States (also called Middle Atlantic States or simply Mid Atlantic) form one of the nine geographic divisions within the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The division consists of three states: New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.^[1] This definition corresponds with the region's traditional definition as the section of the Atlantic Seaboard between New England and the South. However, many people consider the Mid-Atlantic to be the states south of the Northeast, centered in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia .

The traditional Mid-Atlantic States comprise the most densely-populated of the nine U.S. regions, and anchor the megalopolis which runs from Boston to Washington, D.C..

[edit] History

From early colonial times, the Mid-Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of European peoples than in New England or the South. The New Netherland settlement along the Hudson River in New York and New Jersey, and for a time New Sweden along the Delaware River in Delaware, divided the two great bulwarks of English settlement from each other. The original English settlements in the region notably provided refuge to religious minorities, Maryland to Roman Catholics, and Pennsylvania to the Friends and the mostly Anabaptist Pennsylvania Dutch. In time, all these settlements fell under English control, but the region continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.

Early settlers were mostly farmers and traders and fishermen, and the region, called the Middle Colonies, served as a strategic bridge between North and South. Philadelphia, midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates from the original colonies that organized the American Revolution. The same city was the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

The Middle Atlantic states provided the young United States with heavy industry and served as the "melting pot" of new immigrants from Europe. Cities grew along major shipping routes and waterways. Such flourishing cities included New York City on the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay.