Back Appalachia (streek) Afrikaans أبالاشيا Arabic অ্যাপালেশিয়া Bengali/Bangla Apalaĉio Esperanto آپالاشیا Persian Appalachia ID アパラチア Japanese 애팔래치아 Korean Appalachia Latin Appalachia (regio) Dutch

Appalachia

This article is about the region in the United States. For other uses, see Appalachia (disambiguation).

Appalachia
Region
Left–right from top:
Red and dark red counties form the Appalachian Regional Commission; dark red and dark red striped counties form traditional Appalachia.[2]
Red and dark red counties form the Appalachian Regional Commission; dark red and dark red striped counties form traditional Appalachia.[2]
Coordinates: 38°48′N 81°00′W / 38.80°N 81.00°W / 38.80; -81.00
CountryUnited States of America
Counties or county-equivalents423[1]
States13[1]
Largest cityPittsburgh
Area
[1]
 • Total206,000 sq mi (530,000 km2)
Population
 (2022); ARC estimate.[3]
 • Total26.4 million
 • Density127.7/sq mi (49.3/km2)
DemonymAppalachian
Dialect(s)Appalachian English

Appalachia (/ˌæpəˈlætʃə, -leɪtʃə, -leɪʃə/) is a geographic region formally located by the federally legistated Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) as following "the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi" (and so lying entirely in the eastern United States),[4][5] but that has, per colloquial parlance, no definite boundaries.[6] Its formal boundaries can further be described as stretching from the western Catskill Mountains of New York into Pennsylvania, continuing on through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Smoky Mountains into northern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi,[according to whom?][not verified in body] with West Virginia being the only state of 13 touched by the region to lie entirely within the boundaries.[4]

While endowed with abundant natural resources, Appalachia has long struggled economically and has been associated with poverty. Beginning in the 1930s, the federal government sought to alleviate poverty in the Appalachian region with a series of New Deal initiatives, specifically the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).[not verified in body] The TVA was responsible for the construction of hydroelectric dams that provide a vast amount of electricity and that support programs for better farming practices, regional planning, and economic development.[not verified in body] In the early 20th century, large-scale logging and coal mining firms brought jobs and modern amenities to Appalachia, but by the 1960s the region had failed to capitalize on any long-term benefits from these two industries.[according to whom?][dubious – discuss][7][better source needed] In 1965, the Appalachian Regional Development Act created the ARC to further alleviate poverty in the region, mainly by diversifying the region's economy and helping to provide better health care and educational opportunities to the region's inhabitants.[8][better source needed]

By 1990 Appalachia had largely joined the economic mainstream,[clarification needed][according to whom?] but still lagged behind the rest of the nation in most economic indicators.[9]: xix–xxv  As of the 2020s, the percentage of Appalachia's population living in rural areas was approximately twice the U.S. average; and although tally of counties with poverty rates 150% or more of the U.S. average dropped by about 70% in the fifty years before the 2010s, poverty rates in the region still remain high.[5] As of 2022, the region was home to an estimated 26.4 million people, of whom 20.6% were described by the ARC as being "[p]eople of color" (about half of that percentage for the nation as a whole).[3]

Since its recognition as a cultural region in the late 19th century, Appalachia has been the focus of stereotyping regarding the isolation, temperament, and behavior of its inhabitants; early 20th-century writers often engaged in yellow journalism focused on sensationalistic aspects of the region's culture,[not verified in body] such as moonshining and clan feuding, portraying the region's inhabitants as uneducated and unrefined, where sociology studies have since helped dispel these stereotypes.[not verified in body][9]: xix–xxv [10][better source needed]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ARC1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference MappingAppalachia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ARC2024 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference arc1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ARC_EB2024 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference MerriamWebster was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Sokol, Anna (April 19, 2005). "Economic Redevelopment in Appalachia: The Appalachian Regional Commission" (apparent self-published essay, student or faculty). UMich.edu. Ann Arbor, MI: Anna Sokol and the University of Michigan. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  8. ^ Ziliak, James P. (September 16, 2010). The Appalachian Regional Development Act and Economic Change (PDF). IRP Summer Research Workshop: Current Research on the Low-Income Population. Madison, WI: Institute for Research on Poverty. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 10, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2024.[verification needed]
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference abramson1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Banker, Mark (February 16, 2022). "When Grappling with Appalachian Identity, Don't Resort to Stereotypes". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved March 13, 2022.

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