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