Southwest United States
As the southwestern United States , a region that is the United States designated. The demarcation to the Midwest , the West Coast , the Mountain States and the Southern States is fuzzy, depending on the use, different parts of the USA are counted as the southwest.
Historically, the southernmost states of the south were the southwest. In the 19th century, this included in particular the states and territories that belonged to or were close to the Confederate states during the Civil War . Of those, only Texas and Oklahoma are now referred to as the southwest in this context .
Culturally, the states are considered to be southwest, which are clearly influenced by Mexico . Texas, New Mexico and Arizona form the core according to this definition, southern Nevada and parts of California are often included.
Archaeologists and ethnologists use the term Southwest for prehistoric and historical Indian cultures between Las Vegas , Nevada , to the west and Las Vegas , New Mexico , to the east, as well as Durango , Colorado , to the north and the Mexican state of Durango to the south. Thereafter, the region extends over Arizona and New Mexico, plus the neighboring regions in Mexico . For the archeology of North America , the southwest with its widespread pueblos is one of the central research areas.
In tourism, the Colorado Plateau in particular is marketed as the American Southwest. These then include the four corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah . The tourist highlights are the Grand Canyon , Zion , Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley national parks .
See also
- Indians in the "Southwest" cultural area
literature
- Arno Heller : American Southwest . Innsbruck University Press, 2006, ISBN 3-901249-91-5 - History and Culture of the Southwest, defined as Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Utah and Colorado, respectively.
- Keith L. Bryant, Jr .: Culture in the American Southwest: The Earth, the Sky, the People. Texas A&M University Press, College Station 2001, ISBN 978-0-89096-948-9 .
