THE UNITED STATES INTRODUCTION THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES Books for Consultation General Readings. - Shaler in Winsor's America, IV, pp. i-xxx, especially pp. xx-xxx. Special Accounts. — *Shaler in his United States, I, chs. i-iii, vii-ix; Tarr and McMurry's North America. Sources and Bibliography. - Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, §§ 21, 21 a, 21 b, 77. Maps.-United States Geological Survey, United States Relief Map and Contour Map. Wall Map: United States Land Office, Map of the United States. The maps in Frye's Geography give an excellent idea of the topography. THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES 1. Geography and History. — The life of a nation depends Influence of mainly on its moral and mental make-up and the opportuni- geography on history. ties of improvement which are placed within its reach. On the one hand, the Spanish-Americans have made slight use of the great natural resources of South and Central America ; on the other hand, the Danes have accomplished little in Greenland. In the territory now occupied by the American nation, a strong people found opportunities for development such as no other country of equal size possesses. In the present chapter will be found a brief description of the great natural resources which a kind Providence has placed at the disposal of the inhabitants of the United States. Without this knowledge, the student will seek in vain to understand the history of the American people. Influence of Since the early years of the nineteenth century, the appliscientific dis- cation of steam to modes of transport has greatly lessened coveries on history. the importance of many natural forces. The railroad and the steamboat have overcome in great measure the obstacles to intercourse offered by distance, by mountain systems, and by river courses. The markets of the world are now more accessible to the farmer on the western prairies than they were to the cultivator of central New York in 1820. Modern scientific discoveries have enabled man to make a better use of fertile soils and rich mineral deposits. As yet, however, science has not been able to increase the rainfall of a rainless region or to moderate the climate so far as to affect agriculture. The historical student ought to note every important application of science to the improvement of the mechanical arts. If the cotton gin (§ 218) had never gin, Rhodes's been invented, it is probable that slavery would have been peaceably abolished in the South before 1825. On the other hand, if slavery had been profitable in Pennsylvania and the Middle West it might still be in existence. Of all natural forces, the climate and rainfall are the most important, because an excess of cold or an absence of rain forbids the development of human activity. The cotton United States, Climate and civilization. 2. Temperature of America and of Europe. — On the following pages are maps showing the lines of equal temperature for Europe and North America. It will be seen that those portions of Europe which have been the seat of the greatest activity and the abode of the highest civilization are situated between the lines of average annual temperature of forty and seventy degrees. These countries are Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The winter temperature of these lands is between twenty and sixty degrees, and the summer temperature between fifty and eighty degrees. Turning now to the western side of the Atlantic, it is evident that these conditions are nowhere reproduced with exactness. A glance, however, suffices to show that the United America and Europe compared. Shaler's States, as a whole, enjoys about the same annual tempera- Temperature as western Europe as a whole, but the winters are much,tures of colder and the summers are much warmer in America than in Europe. A further remarkable fact is also revealed: the annual and the winter temperature lines turn sharply to the United States, south as they approach the American coast and become 1, 9, 23. pinched together. The summer lines, on the other hand, pursue a more direct westerly course, and some of them even trend to the northwestward. The southward trend of the two former sets of lines indicates that the valuable portions of eastern North America are far to the south of the corresponding portions of European lands. For example, the southern end of Greenland and the entrance to Hudson Strait are in the same latitude (sixty degrees north latitude) as the southern end of Sweden, but the winters are very much more severe in the former than in the latter. The cause of the failure of many early colonies is now evident. The old voyagers were ignorant of this great difference in the climates of Europe and America; they expected to find similar conditions prevailing on both sides of the Atlantic. Effects of this differ ence in temperature. They were further led into error through the fact that their explorations were made in the summer, when the climatic conditions of the two sides of the North Atlantic most nearly resemble one another. For instance, Weymouth, who visited the coast of Maine in the summer, found a temperature which resembled that of southern France; but the colonists who came over in consequence of his favorable reports found a winter temperature like that of northern Norway. Furthermore, the charts give average temperatures, and in this way tell only a portion of the story; for the extremes of heat and cold are much greater on the western than on the eastern side of the Atlantic. For example, Savannah has a mean winter temperature not unlike that of Cadiz, in Spain. The actual climate, however, is very different, as there are frosts at Savannah and none at Cadiz. It follows from this that tender trees, like orange trees, will thrive in the vicinity of Cadiz, but will be killed or seriously injured in the country around Savannah. This difference in the winter temperature of the two sides |