The United States is traditionally divided into geographic regions and the American South is one of the oldest of these regions.
Geographically, it stretches from the East Coast to Texas and Oklahoma, its northern border is the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic States; its southern border is the Gulf of Mexico and Northern Florida.
Many foreign visitors, and particularly immigrants, find the so-called Southern Accent to be one of the friendliest and pleasant sounding of American Accents. This may be partially rooted in the tradition of “Southern Hospitality”.
The South is full of such traditions that recall a simpler time, a time of long and pleasant afternoons where often the only entertainment to be had was another person’s (who that person was could easily have been anyone) company and conversation.
Because of the South’s history of being a primarily agricultural region of the country and proponent of the usage of slave labor up until the civil war in the 1860s, the region is often erroneously labeled backward or racist.
The United States has progressed a great deal in the two hundred years the country has existed, and today is mostly uniform in terms of economic and social development.
A great deal of cultural value has risen from the South during the history of the country. The majority of American music is directly descendent from distinctly southern art forms. An excellent example of this is jazz or blues eventually leading to the development of rock and roll and rhythm and blues music.
Some of the greatest writers of the United States came out of the South where they were able to parlay their sense of identity and place into fabulously engrossing tales that reflected the reality of the place they lived.
The South is also renowned for its very mild and rather warm climate. Only mountainous regions of the South ever really experience snow and the states that line the gulf experience nearly tropical conditions.