Midwestern United States

A U.S. region centered on the Great Lakes and the interior plains west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its states share histories shaped by Indigenous nations, migration, agriculture, manufacturing, and inland trade.

Great Lakes: A group of five large freshwater lakes on the United States–Canada border. They anchor the region’s northeastern edge and connect its cities through shipping and waterways.
Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands: Indigenous peoples whose communities and cultures developed across the forested eastern part of North America. Their nations and trade networks long predated the region’s U.S. state boundaries.
Corn Belt: A U.S. agricultural region where corn production is especially concentrated, spanning much of the central Midwest. Its farms make the region a major source of food, animal feed, and biofuel.
Northeastern United States: A U.S. region in the country’s northeast, commonly including New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Its urban history and Atlantic orientation contrast with the Midwest’s inland geography.
Interior Plains: A broad North American region of mostly low-relief plains between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Their fertile soils and open terrain underpin much of the Midwest’s agriculture and settlement.
Northwest Territory: A U.S. territory established in 1787 across lands north and west of the Ohio River. Its organization established an early framework for U.S. settlement and statehood in much of the Midwest.
Rust Belt: A region of the northeastern and Midwestern United States marked by historic manufacturing and subsequent industrial decline. Its industrial cities reveal how manufacturing shaped the Midwest and how economic change altered them.
Southern United States: A U.S. region associated with the states south of the Midwest and extending toward the Gulf of Mexico. Historical and cultural distinctions between the South and Midwest are prominent but overlap along their boundary.
Mississippi River: A major North American river flowing south from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. It links Midwestern farms and cities to inland and international trade routes.
Indian Removal Act: An 1830 U.S. law that authorized the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples from lands east of the Mississippi River. Removal policies displaced Native nations as U.S. settlement expanded through the region.

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