East Coast of the United States

Encyclopedia : E : EA : EAS : East Coast of the United States

Regional definitions vary from source to source. The states shown in dark red are usually included, while all or portions of the striped states may or may not be considered part of the East Coast.

The "East Coast," "Eastern Seaboard," or "Atlantic Seaboard" are terms referencing the easternmost coastal states in the United States of America. They touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. It usually includes all thirteen original colonies, as well as such selected places as Washington, DC, Florida, Maine and Vermont. People elsewhere in the United States sometimes refer to the East Coast colloquially as "back east".

Inclusion of States

"East Coast" is sometimes associated with the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States, particularly for cultural concepts such as an "Eastern college" or "East-coast liberal" or I-95 Corridor" (referring to Interstate 95); the Southeast coast from the Carolinas to Florida is more associated culturally with the larger American South. "East Coast" may also refer even more narrowly to the highly urbanized strip along the coast from Boston, Massachusetts to Richmond, Virginia, which is also known as the "Northeast Corridor", a definition which excludes the hinterlands of Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania, which may have more in common with the Midwest than with cities like New York, Washington, and Boston.

History

The "East Coast" can be loosly defined as any state that has shipping interests in the Atlantic Ocean. Culturally it is also where most of the first wave of immgrants from Europe, Africa, and Euraisa settled before America began it's western expansion. Historically the Mason-Dixon Line cuts this area in half at the northern boder of Maryland, which still indicates a cultural change. The Appalachian Trail runs through most of these states from Maine through Georgia.

Cultural References

Beach Boys - Califorinia Girl "The East Cost girls are hip, I really dig those styles they wear."

See also

• Geology of the Appalachians
• West Coast of the United States

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