Mid-Atlantic (United States)

Definitions of the geographic components of the Mid-Atlantic region differ slightly among sources.^[15] Generally speaking, the region is inclusive of the states and federal district of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, with some additional sources including or excluding other areas in parts of the Northeast region and the South Atlantic states, for practical reasons.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

The United States Census Bureau defines the Mid-Atlantic as a sub-region of the Northeast and only includes New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.^[5] The Bureau of Labor Statistics excludes New York;^[3] the Environmental Protection Agency excludes New York and New Jersey;^[7] and the U.S. Department of Transportation - United States Maritime Administration includes North Carolina.^[8] In 2004, the United States Geological Survey within the context of Ground-Water Vulnerability to Nitrate Contamination, defined the region as including Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., and parts of New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina.^[6]

West Virginia and Virginia are atypical of this region in a few ways. These states both primarily lie within the Southern American dialect region,^[16] and the major religious tradition is largely Evangelical Christian, with 30% in Virginia and 39% in West Virginia identifying as evangelicals.^[17] Although a few of West Virginia's eastern panhandle counties are considered part of the Washington metropolitan area, the major portion of the state is rural and there are no major or even large cities.^[18]

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  A USGS fact sheet on the Mid-Atlantic region's groundwater^[19]
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  An 1897 map displaying a broad definition of the Mid-Atlantic region
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  An 1886 Harper's School Geography map showing the region, which excludes Virginia and West Virginia
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  The U.S. Census Bureau's geographic definition of the Mid-Atlantic includes three states, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

Shipping and trade have been important to the Mid-Atlantic economy since the beginning of the colonial era. The explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to see the region in 1524. Henry Hudson later extensively explored that region in 1611 and claimed it for the Dutch, who then created a fur-trading post in Albany in 1614. Jamestown, Virginia was the first permanent English colony in North America, it was established seven years earlier in 1607.

From early colonial times, the Mid-Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of European people than in New England or the South. The Dutch New Netherland settlement along the Hudson River in New York City 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 Quakers and Anabaptist Pennsylvania Dutch. In time, all these settlements fell under English colonial control, but the region continued to be a magnet for people of diverse nationalities.

The area that came to be known as the Middle Colonies served as a strategic bridge between the North and South. The New York and New Jersey campaign during the American Revolutionary War saw more battles than any other theater of the conflict. Philadelphia, midway between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates who organized the American Revolution. Philadelphia also was the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the United States Constitution in 1787, while the United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified and the first Supreme Court of the United States sat for the first time, in the first capital under the Constitution of New York.

While early settlers were mostly farmers, traders, and fishermen, the Mid-Atlantic states provided the young United States with heavy industry and served as the "melting pot" of new immigrants from Europe. Cities grew along major ports, shipping routes, and waterways, including New York City and Newark on opposite sides of the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, Allentown on the Lehigh River, and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay.

Metropolitan areas

States and federal district

State capitals and federal district

Note: The Mid-Atlantic region is also home to the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

• Bold denotes election winner.

Sports

The Mid-Atlantic is home to 33 professional sports franchises in the five major leagues and the two most prominent women's professional leagues:

Notable golf tournaments in the Mid-Atlantic include the Barclays, Quicken Loans National and Atlantic City LPGA Classic.

Two high-level professional tennis tournaments are held in the region. The US Open, held in New York, is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, whereas the Washington Open is part of the ATP Tour 500 series and WTA 250 series.

Notable motorsports tracks include Watkins Glen International, Dover Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway, which have hosted Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, World Sportscar Championship and IMSA races. Also, the Englishtown and Reading drag strips such have hosted NHRA national events. Pimlico Race Course at Baltimore and Belmont Park at New York host the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes horse races, which are part of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

With a GDP nominal of over $5.2 trillion, the Mid-Atlantic economy would be third-largest in the world if calculated separately, only behind the remaining United States and China and nearly $1 trillion larger than next place Japan. This economic prosperity is buoyed by a significant financial services and banking sector, healthcare and chemicals industry, and telecommunications and entertainment conglomerates.

According to the Global Financial Centres Index,^[22] the Mid-Atlantic region is home to the leading financial center in the world (New York) at #1, with Washington also present at #15.

Notable companies (over $100 billion market cap) headquartered in the region include:

• List of regions of the United States

• Bodle, Wayne, "The Mid-Atlantic and the American Revolution", Pennsylvania History 82 (Summer 2015), 282–99.
• Heineman, Kenneth J., "The Only Things You Will Find in the Middle of the Road are Double Yellow Lines, Dead Frogs, and Electoral Leverage: Mid-Atlantic Political Culture and Influence across the Centuries", Pennsylvania History, 82 (Summer 2015), 300–13.
• Landsman, Ned C. Crossroads of Empire: The Middle Colonies in British North America (2010)
• Longhurst, James. "'Typically American': Trends in the History of Environmental Politics and Policy in the Mid-Atlantic Region". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 79.4 (2012): 409–427.
• Magoc, Chris J., "In Search of a Useable—and Hopeful—Environmental Narrative in the Mid-Atlantic", Pennsylvania History, 82 (Summer 2015), 314–28.
• Mancall, Peter C., Joshua L. Rosenbloom, and Thomas Weiss. "Exports from the Colonies and States of the Middle Atlantic Region 1720–1800". Research in Economic History 29 (2013): 257–305.
• Marzec, Robert. The Mid-Atlantic Region: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures (2004)
• Richter, Daniel K, "Mid-Atlantic Colonies, R.I.P.", Pennsylvania History, 82 (Summer 2015), 257–81.
• Rosenbloom, Joshua L., and Thomas Weiss. "Economic growth in the Mid-Atlantic region: Conjectural estimates for 1720 to 1800". Explorations in Economic History 51 (2014): 41–59.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mid-Atlantic.