Deep South

Deep South
Subregion
Nickname:  The Cotton States
States highlighted are geographically the southernmost states in the contiguous United States. The states in dark red compose what is commonly referred to as the Deep South subregion, while the Deep South overlaps into portions of those in lighter red.
Country	United States

The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on plantations and slavery, generally Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. East Texas, North Florida, the Arkansas Delta, South Arkansas, and West Tennessee are sometimes included as well. Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the region experienced significant economic hardship and become a focal point of racial tension during and after the Reconstruction era.

Before 1945, the Deep South was often referred to as the "Cotton States" since cotton was the primary cash crop for economic production.^[1][2] The civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s helped usher in a new era, sometimes referred to as the New South. The Deep South is part of the highly religious, socially conservative Bible Belt and is politically a stronghold of the Republican Party. It is contrasted with the Mid-South and Tidewater region, as well as the Upper South and the border states, although considerable overlap between these regions exists, with the Mid-South including South Arkansas, the Arkansas Delta, and West Tennessee, and Appalachian Alabama and Georgia belonging to the Upper South.