The Midwest is the home of the great Great Lakes, the vast North
Woods, the open plains full of corn and wheat, a patchwork of industrial
cities and small towns, and Chicago, one of the largest cities in the
United States. The term "Midwest" refers to the states west of the
Appalachians, north of the Ohio River, and east of the Great Plains. The
region is sometimes referred to as the "heart" or "rust belt" of the
United States and is often associated with agriculture and industry
(historically manufacturing, though this has faded over the years).
Midwestern culture is generally perceived as "down-to-earth" because
much of the population is located far from coastal cities and cultural
centers such as New York and Los Angeles. The Midwest is almost evenly
divided between liberals and conservatives, and is the region with the
highest concentration of swing states in presidential elections.
The suffix "West" is a historical relic from early U.S. history, when
the majority of the U.S. population lived east of the Appalachians.
The states bordering the Great Lakes (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin) are sometimes referred to as the
"North Coast," "Third Coast," or "Fresh Coast" in analogy to the East
and West Coasts. These are the states in the region that make up the
Rust Belt.
Also known as "America's Heartland," the region is
regarded as the broadest representative of American culture because of
its major role in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, as well as
its patchwork of commercial metropolises and small towns. In fact, most
of the nation's television broadcasters speak with a Midwestern accent.
The Midwest is the birthplace of more than a quarter of U.S. presidents
(considering that six of them were president before statehood took
effect in the Midwest) and is also the birthplace of many of the
technology inventors and entrepreneurs that fuel the global economy.
Major population centers are located either on the Great Lakes
(Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Duluth) or on the
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers (Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Louis, and
Cincinnati). This reflects the historical importance of the waterways as
a means of connecting the region to the Port of New York (via the Erie
Canal) and the Port of New Orleans (via the rivers). Originally a marshy
area, Chicago boomed because it was the easiest means of shipping from
the St. Lawrence and Erie Canal to New Orleans. Commerce via the Great
Lakes remains a major part of the region's economy today. Indianapolis
is an exception, with its non-navigable waterways, but it is a major
intersection for road traffic. Chicago also became the nation's railroad
center in the 19th century and remains so to this day.
With the
advent of globalization, much of the heavy industry on which many
Midwestern cities depended was outsourced to countries in Asia and Latin
America, where labor costs were lower, and many of the once great cities
fell into decline. As a result, many Midwestern cities continue to
suffer from high unemployment, urban decay, and high violent crime
rates. This is especially true for cities that were built on a single
industry, such as Detroit, Flint (automotive), and the declining steel
town of Gary, Indiana.
1 Chicago - third largest city in the USA.
2 Cincinnati
3 Detroit - capital of the automobile.
4 Indianapolis -
Capital of Indiana.
5 Kansas City - "City of Fountains".
6 Milwaukee - City of Brewers.
7 Minneapolis - together
with St. Paul, forms the "Twin Cities".
8
St.Louis-Gateway Arch.
9 St Paul
The states that border the Great Lakes (Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin) are also often counted on a "North Shore", alternative to the East and West Shores.
Several indigenous tribes inhabited the Midwest, but the
Iroquois conquered most of the land in the 17th and 18th
centuries. France became the first colony in the Midwest,
trading peacefully with the indigenous peoples and settling
few settlements.
In the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the
United States annexed the territory that came to form the
Midwest, but even in the 19th century the Midwest was still
considered part of the western frontier. Railroads and the
Industrial Revolution led to large-scale settlement.
Immigrants, primarily from Central Europe and Scandinavia,
settled in the Midwest, and their traditions are reflected
in the local cuisine. Local cuisine tends to be simple and
hearty, with a strong emphasis on meat, potatoes, and dairy
products.
As in other parts of the U.S., English is the de facto
official language. The "Midwestern accent" is the most
common voice heard on news programs across the country. Most
native Spanish speakers in the Midwest have at least a basic
command of English, although in areas with a large Hispanic
population, Spanish speakers may be in the majority. There
also used to be a large German-speaking population, but
today it is mostly confined to rural areas consisting of
Anabaptist communities.
Most large cities have a
diverse ethnic community, including many first-generation
immigrants. Chicago, in particular, is known for its large
Assyrian, Jewish, Polish, Ukrainian, and African American
communities that migrated from the South. Nevertheless, the
classic Chicago accent has fallen into disuse, and most
young Chicagoans speak with a common American accent.
Milwaukee also has a large Hmong-speaking population.
Missouri, Wisconsin, and Minnesota each have their own fine
linguistic quirks, but in general, the English spoken here
is one of the most easily understood dialects in the entire
United States, with few unusual terms used in everyday life.
Dialects of other European languages such as German,
Norwegian, and Swedish are spoken by some of the older
residents, but these dialects are now dead languages, and
most of the younger generation is English-only.
By plane
This region is home to several of the US's
largest airports: Chicago O'Hare (ORD), Minneapolis–St. Paul
(MSP) and Detroit (DTW). This can also be reached with
direct flights from Europe. Chicago is a hub for United and
American Airlines, Minneapolis and Detroit for Delta
Airlines, Detroit also for the low-cost Spirit Airlines.
Other major airports in the region, but mostly of national
importance, are Chicago Midway (MDW; mainly used by
Southwest Airlines), St. Louis (STL), Kansas City (MCI),
Cleveland (CLE) and Indianapolis (IND).
By train
Chicago is the beginning and end point of several routes of
America's largest long-distance rail company, Amtrak. These
include shorter routes as well as those that run through to
Los Angeles or Seattle on the west coast and New York or
Washington on the east coast. There are no high-speed trains
in the Midwest like we know them from Europe. It takes a
whole day to get to Chicago from New York, Washington or
Dallas, and two days from Los Angeles or Seattle. For longer
distances, traveling by train is therefore primarily an
option for travelers who have a lot of time and want to see
something of the landscape, are enthusiastic about trains
and/or are afraid of flying. With wide armchairs or sleeping
and dining cars, this is a thoroughly comfortable but not
cheap pleasure. In order for the tickets to be reasonably
affordable, you should book well in advance.
Several long-distance Amtrak rail lines run from Chicago
across the Midwest.
Capitol Limited and Lake Shore
Limited: Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland and on to
Pittsburgh/Washington, D.C. and Albany/New York City
Cardinal: Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati and on towards
Washington/New York
Empire Builder:
Chicago-Milwaukee-Saint Paul/Minneapolis and on to
Portland/Seattle
Texas Eagle: Chicago-Springfield-St.
Louis and on to Dallas/San Antonio
Southwest Chief:
Chicago-Kansas City and on to Albuquerque/Los Angeles
California Zephyr: Chicago-Omaha and on to Denver/San
Francisco
Trains usually only run once a day, are
slow but expensive. That's why this is primarily an
adventure for rail enthusiasts and travelers who want to
experience the vastness of the country, but not the quickest
- and certainly not the cheapest - means of getting from A
to B. However, if you have the wherewithal or book ahead of
time to get savings, it can be very comfortable to sit in a
comfortable chair, move around the train, dine in the dining
car and look out of large picture windows instead of being
cooped up in the car for hours to be.
Far cheaper,
but not quite as comfortable and usually even slower, are
long-distance buses. The market leader, with the densest
network and most destinations, is Greyhound.
Away
from the big cities, you almost always need a car in the
Midwest. In every larger town there are a large number of
car rental companies.
The Midwest stretches more than
1000 kilometers. That's why you can think about flying
within the Greater Region. Even smaller cities often have an
airport that at least has connections with the hubs Chicago
(ORD or MDW), Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Detroit (DTW).
With low-cost airlines such as Southwest Airlines, even
short distances are quite affordable.
The Midwest is a patchwork of large cities, small towns, and
rural villages. As the epicenter of the American Industrial
Revolution, immigrants and African Americans poured into the
region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from urban
areas with large numbers of German, Irish, Polish, Italian,
Greek, Scandinavian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and African
Americans, Amish and Mennonite traditions to rural areas, a
diverse ethnic cuisine emerged. Midwestern cuisine is often
simple and hearty, with an emphasis on meat, potatoes, and
dairy products, due to the harsh climate away from the coast
and the history of Central European and Scandinavian
settlement.
As the major center of cattle ranching in
the United States, the Midwest is generally regarded as
having some of the best steaks in the country. Chicago, in
particular, is known for its very large number of
top-quality steakhouses.
Major Midwestern cities like
Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee are
known for their bratwurst, kielbasa, Italian sausage, and
good old American hot dogs. Small, rural towns like German
Amana Colonies in Middle Iowa have some of the best
German-American food in the Midwest. Known for its
family-style meals, Amana Colonies offers the hearty cuisine
for which the Midwest is known. Because many African
Americans trace their family roots to the South, Southern
regional cuisine is often found in African American
communities.
Parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin have a
strong Scandinavian influence. In the larger cities, food
culture is also strongly influenced by the new immigrant
communities, especially Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai,
Vietnamese, Indian, and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Wisconsin is also known as one of the major cheese producing
states in the U.S., with cheddar cheese being the most
popular. Wisconsin is also known for its Emmentaler cheese
(known as "Swiss cheese" in most parts of the U.S.) due to
the history of Swiss-German settlement in Wisconsin, and
some areas are known for local interpretations of
Swiss-German cuisine, such as Rösti and Kalbarwurst. Some
areas are also known for their local versions of
Swiss-German cuisine such as Rösti and Kalberwurst.
Some areas of Wisconsin are also known for their local
Swiss-German dishes such as Rösti and Kalberwurst. In
spring, salad greens, radishes, sweet peas, and spinach. In
summer, sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, onions,
melons, berries, apples, cherries, peaches, and pears. This
abundance of produce is superb when in season and seems to
encourage large portions all year round.
Beer - The Midwest has historically been the center of the
American brewing industry, with national giants
Anheuser-Busch (St. Louis) and Miller (Milwaukee) still
headquartered in the region. Summit (St. Paul), Goose Island
(Chicago), Great Lakes (Cleveland, Ohio), Bell's (Kalamazoo,
Michigan), New Glarus (New Glarus, Wisconsin), Grookes (Cold
Spring, Minnesota), Shell's (New Ulm, Minnesota),
Leinenkugel (Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin), and many other
well-known craft breweries. Microbreweries and brewpubs are
also located throughout the region. Millstream Brewery in
Amana Colony, Iowa, is home to the world's best (2010 World
Beer Cup Gold) Vienna-style lager beer.
Milk - Wisconsin
is particularly famous for its fresh dairy products,
including milk, cream, and a variety of cheeses.
Wine -
Wine is made in all Midwestern states. Catawba grapes were
first discovered in Ohio in 1802, and Catawba vineyards line
the shores and islands of Lake Erie. Michigan and Missouri
are also important wine-producing states. The Amana Colonies
in Iowa have five wineries that feature traditional sweet
fruit wines, as well as a number of German and French-style
wineries. There are approximately 90 wineries in Iowa, many
of which feature the unique flavors of "cold climate"
grapes.
Rural areas and small cities in the Midwest are among the
safest in the nation for travelers and residents. Some of
the larger cities, especially south of Chicago, north of
Milwaukee, east of Cleveland, East St. Louis, and some areas
of Detroit, should be avoided after dark.
Weather in
the Midwest can vary from hot spells in July and August to
blizzards in January and February. Tornadoes are common in
the southern part of the region in the spring, but warnings
are often sufficient to protect property and lives. Local
radio and television stations provide ongoing advice and
information when weather conditions on the roads are likely
to worsen. Disastrous weather is rare, and the region is not
an earthquake-prone area.
The climate is continental. This means that there are hot
summers and cold winters. In summer you can expect
temperatures around 40 degrees, in winter temperatures
around -20 degrees Celsius. Temperatures are generally
reported in Fahrenheit. 100 Fahrenheit corresponds to about
40 degrees Celsius, 0 Fahrenheit to about -20 degrees
Celsius. In the US, almost every enclosed space has air
conditioning. That's why the heat is usually bearable.
It depends a lot on the place how much snow falls. In
general, weather warnings on television are very good,
although sometimes they seem a bit exaggerated. Blizzards
can make the roads impassable.
Hurricanes (tornados)
can occur in summer. It is important to follow the weather
forecasts. In the event of a tornado, you should go to
houses. The safest place is either a bunker or a basement
and if you can't find that, usually the bathroom in the
house. If you are outdoors at the time of a tornado, you
should lie down.