PART II. COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY 
OF THE UNITED STATES 
CHAPTER VII 
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE UNITED STATES 
The student who begins commercial geography should have 
mastered the chief principles of physical geography and should 
know his own country well. This short account of the United 
States will not supply such knowledge. It will serve to review 
a few leading facts and to give a bird's-eye view of American 
topography in its relations to commerce, 
83. Position. The lands of the republic are in the middle 
latitudes of North America, and, excepting Alaska, include no 
frozen grounds or Arctic wastes; nor are there tropical lands, 
save the island possessions gained in recent years. The conti- 
nental United States has enough land in regions of temperate 
climate to provide all characteristic grains, vegetables, and fruits ; 
and it reaches so far toward the tropic of Gancer as to produce 
abundance of cotton, rice, cane, and subtropical fruits. Being 
on the Gulf of Mexico and near the Caribbean Sea, this coun- 
try readily trades with the West Indies, Central America. and 
the tropical parts of South America. 
The nations which led the civilization of modern times are 
in western Europe. The lands of the United States are directly 
across the Atlantic and were naturally colonized by Spain, France, 
Holland, and Great Britain. In more recent times almost every 
country of Europe has given many of its people to America, 
So that ancestry, present kinship, and neighborly positions on