The Midwest

It is 12 states that belong to the Midwest, and they are: 
 Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. 
















The therm Midwest has been in use since the 1880s to refer to portions of the central U.S. 
A variant term, "Middle West", has been in use since the 19th century and remains relatively common.

Chicago is the largest city in the American Midwest, and the third largest city in the entire country. 
 Illinois is the most populous of the states(12,869,257 in 2011) 
Major cities include, Chicago (Illinois), home to the 44th US President, Barack Obama, Detroit (Michigan), the automotive capital of the world and the Twin Cities: Minneapolis and St. Paul, (Minnesota). 

The people of the Midwest are often considered conservative, but also friendly and open. They are known to speak their minds when occasion calls for it. There are some nicknames for the people living in the Midwest, and some are:  yokel ,country bumpkin, hayseed, chawbacon, rube, redneck, hillbilly, and hick.
Yokel is a derogatory term referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people. 





Rust Belt, Bethlehem Steel, PA
Originator: Danny the MCL


The eastern part of the region used to be the industrial center of the country, the so-called “steel-belt”, but after several of the factories were closed down or relocated to other areas, the area saw large unemployment and was re-named “the rust-belt”. The situation is now improving due to the new high tech industries that are being set up.

It is no coincidence that this region is referred to as the nation’s "breadbasket", as there are so many big farms here. In Minnesota and other states west of the Mississippi, the flat prairie landscape stretches out and seems to go on indefinitely. Some of this land made for excellent farmland. 1862, millions of Europeans settled here, many Norwegians settled in places like Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota.

 I took this pictures on my way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota this summer. There was a lot of wind mills everywhere, and large arabel fildes where they among other things cultivated as maize and wheat. It was also sunflowers as far as the eye could see.   

Sources: 
http://ndla.no/en/node/4467?fag=42&meny=2041
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokel


I found my pitures at : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Map_of_USA_Midwest.svg/350px-Map_of_USA_Midwest.svg.png 
and 
http://ndla.no/sites/default/files/imagecache/Hovedspalte/images/Bethlehem%20Steel,%20PA%20_Danny%20MCL_ccnc.jpg