MexAmerica

 

              The MexAmerica region is located in the far southwest part of the United States.  This region contains the west side of Texas, almost all of New Mexico, most of southern Arizona, and southern California.  Most of Washington State is the opposite of what MexAmerica is.  MexAmerica is an extremely dry place, home to the driest place in North America: Death Valley (Hardwick, 2008).  There are a number of mountain ranges that are part of the region, including the southern portion of the Rocky Mountains which extend to southern New Mexico.  These ranges, however, do not compare to the Cascades of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. 

            Washington’s mountains are lust, green forests and are one of the places in North America that receives an abundance of rainfall.  There is so much precipitation that logging was once a major primary industry.  MexAmerica on the other hand has dry, rugged mountains with very little rain throughout most of the region.  The mountains of California and Mexico tend to block any moisture that comes of the Pacific Ocean (Hardwick, 2008).  The eastern portion of MexAmerica is not as dry but are drier than most of North America.  During the summer, temperatures can average as high as 104 degrees.  In the winter, however, an average low of 43 degrees is common (Hardwick, 2008).  Washington has overall lower temperatures in both the summer and winter months. 

            MexAmerica has a very interesting political economy compared to that of Washington’s.  MexAmerica has only two major sectors: primary and secondary.  The primary sector consists of mostly agriculture in the eastern and western extremities (Hardwick, 2008).  These “Winter Gardens” specialize in production of fruits and vegetables that can tolerate little or no frost.  It is stated that the secondary sector has become an important part of MexAmerica in recent years (Hardwick, 2008).  This includes U.S.-based firms moving their operations onto the south side of the international border.  I do not see how this is relevant to our study of the United States since this part of the economy is helping Mexico, not the U.S.  Washington has a better economy, with its high technology sectors becoming a major part. 

Hardwick, Susan W., Shelley, Fred M., Holtgrieve, Donald G. The Geography of North America. Glenview, 2008. Print.