Midwest

The MW is a region known as “America’s Heartland”. Manufacturing and farming sectors. Heavy industry is developed.

The MW Manufacturing region is bounded by the Ohio River to the south, the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Lakes to the north.

The state of Minnesota is the largest producer of iron ore in the USA.

The region is sometimes referred to as the “rust belt” because of the decline in older heavy industries.

The state of Ohio is the most industrialized in the nation. It’s also very rich in natural gas.

Since the 1980s Japanese industries, especially car manufacturing, have been attracted to the Midwest with its existing support base (плацдарм) for heavy industry.

Indiana is the largest car manufacturing state in the region with Japanese involvement.

5 Japanese automakers – Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, and Mitsubishi – assemble cars in the US today.

The motor vehicle industry in the USA is dominated by 3 large companies – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Largest cities: Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, St. Louis.

Chicago is a major port in the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan), has more than 8mln residents. It is known as the “Windy City”.

Cleveland is located in Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie & has a population of nearly 3 mln.

Detroit is known as the car capital (motor town). It’s a home of Ford Motor Company.

GM hq are located in Detroit. In May 2012 the unemployment rate in Detroit was 15.8%.

St. Louis located on the Mississippi River (which separates Missouri from Illinois) is known as the gateway to the west.

The Midwest Agricultural Region is an area of generally flat land that covers much of the centre of the United States.

The prairie states of the Midwest are known as the country’s breadbasket. The fertile lands of the area in combination with flat terrain and perfect weather provide the ideal conditions for growing maize, soybeans and wheat.

Wheat is the most popular grain in the US.

More than 50% of the US grain comes from the 5 Grain Belt states of Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio. Other Corn Belt states are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, the Dakotas.

Production in all these states is characterized by giant farms using the very latest equipment, chemicals and techniques to achieve the highest productive output in the world.

Idaho produces 1/3^rd of the potatoes consumed in the USA.

The Mississippi River system, the Great Lakes and many railways give the region an excellent transportation network.

The Midwest has a varied population – people from Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, eastern and southern Europe.