The Midwest

Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Oklahoma

Major Cities: Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri

This farm in South Dakota presents the archetypical vision of the Midwest, with its wheat field, barn, and farmhouse.

Literature: Mark Twain, Carl Sandburg, Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Sinclair Lewis, Jane Smiley, Jonathan Franzen

The Midwest is a cultural crossroads. Starting in the early 1800s, Easterners moved there in search of better farmland, and soon Europeans bypassed the East Coast to migrate directly to the interior. In recent years, the immigrant population has continued to grow and diversify. There is also a large population of Native Americans. The region’s fertile soil made it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops like wheat and corn. The region was soon known as the nation’s “breadbasket.”

Most of the Midwest is flat and fertile, qualities that lend themselves to huge expanses of wheat fields. The Mississippi River has acted as a regional lifeline, moving settlers to new homes and foodstuffs to market. The river inspired two classic American books, both written by a native Missourian, Samuel Clemens, who took the pseudonym Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Other Midwestern writers include novelists Ernest Hemingway and Toni Morrison, poets Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou, and the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Sinclair Lewis.

Midwesterners are praised as being open, friendly, and straightforward. The region’s hub is Chicago, Illinois, the nation’s third largest city. This major Great Lakes port is a connecting point for rail lines and air traffic to far-flung parts of the nation and the world. At its heart stands the Sears Tower, one of the world’s tallest buildings, at 447 meters. The region has other noteworthy cities, but perhaps is best known for its iconic small towns. The Midwest is sometimes called America’s Heartland.

Regional foods include “Chicago-style” pizza and many German, Scandinavian, and Eastern European dishes that reflect the area’s heritage.

A Brief Tour of the United States — The West