The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America traditionally refers to that section of the Atlantic Seaboard between New England and the South.
In recent years, the popular usage has also included the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area with the growing economic integration of that region into the Northeast Corridor.
Traditional definition
Definitions of the Mid-Atlantic region usually include the following states:[1]
In addition, many consider Virginia and West Virginia to be part of the Mid-Atlantic region.
These areas provided the young United States with heavy industry and served as the "melting pot" of new immigrants from Europe. Cities grew along major shipping routes and waterways. Such flourishing cities included New York City on the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay.
The region is among the most ethnically-diverse regions in the nation and world. Large populations of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, West Indians, Arabs, and Europeans reside and continue to come to the Mid-Atlantic states. The region's ethnic diversity dates back to colonial times, with Dutch and Swedish colonies, and colonies such as Pennsylvania actively promoting ethnically diverse immigration.
Southern expansion
Historically Maryland and Delaware were considered part of the Southern United States due to their Slave state status and the Census Bureau still places them in that region. However, due to their higher levels of urbanization and industrialization they are now usually considered part of the Mid-Atlantic. Southern influence has waned considerably in Delaware and the metropolitan areas of Maryland, but remains present around the Eastern Shore, Western Maryland, and Southern Maryland.
The same could be said for Virginia and West Virginia which are often placed in this region as due to their geographic position. The EPA and USGS both include those states in their respective Mid-Atlantic administrative regions.
History
From early colonial times, the Mid-Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of European peoples than in New England or the South. The New Netherland settlement along the Hudson River in New York and New Jersey, and for a time New Sweden along the Delaware River in Delaware, divided the two great bulwarks of English settlement from each other. The original English settlements in the region notably provided refuge to religious minorities, Maryland to Roman Catholics, and Pennsylvania to the Friends and the mostly Anabaptist Pennsylvania Germans. In time, all these settlements fell under English control, but the region continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.
Early settlers were mostly farmers and traders, and the region, called the Middle Colonies, served as a strategic bridge between North and South. Philadelphia, midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates from the original colonies that organized the American Revolution. The same city was the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787.