Regional Differences in North America

The assignment discusses the book 'American Nations' by Colin Woodard, which identifies 11 rival regional cultures in North America. The author explores how these cultural divisions have shaped the past and will continue to influence the future of the continent. The assignment focuses on the historical context of colonialism, the impact of Spanish colonials on Native American cultures, and the significance of regional differences in shaping politics and culture.

Running head: HISTORY OF EL NORTE
HISTORY OF EL NORTE
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1HISTORY OF EL NORTE
This essay discusses the history of El Norte, the southernmost part of North America.
The main focus of the author is not the great and modern civilizations like the United Sates of
America or Canada but the southernmost section of the American territory where the states
like Mexico, Texas, Arizona, a part of Colorado and California lie. These part of the territory
is not so well celebrated in the history of the American continents. El Norte is a part of land
where the culture is a hybrid product of different international cultures in this book the author
has discussed the history of foundation, the history of conflict between different powers to
dominate the people of this region and socio cultural diversity of this region.
The continent of America has been dominated by the tensions between the local values and
national purpose which may tamp down the individuality of the nations but cannot destroy
them completely.
“El Norte is the oldest of the Euro-American Nations, dating back to the late sixteenth
century” (Woodard). The territory of this region starts from the southwest Texas to the
southernmost point of North America. As the history of El Norte revels the fact that the
actual civilization of this region started with the advent of the missionaries and the soldiers
coming from the south in order to expand the New World Empire. From the European point
of view, the Spanish expedition in 15th century lead to map the region of southern part of
North America. It was the Spaniards who foist established their short lived colonies in this
region along the shores of Virginia and Georgia. In 1565 these soldiers founded the oldest
European city in America, St. Augustine. The original residents therefore were mainly
Spanish which was the world’s superpower with wealth and more than 7 million people
spread in two continents (Brinkley). Their mission to spread morality however led their
competitors to involve in the most apocalyptic wars of human history. In addition to this, the
eternal conflict between the protestant and Catholicism had ignited the feeling of hatred in the
minds of the other European countries including England, Netherlands, Scotland. Due to this

2HISTORY OF EL NORTE
reason, the situation of the residents became more grave. The villages were abandoned and
transformed into jailhouse for its abundance and unhealthy environment. Thus towards the
nineteenth century the history of El Norte records isolation and deprivation.
In chapter sixteen of his book ‘American nations: A history of the eleven rival
regional cultures of North America’ Woodard has pointed out that the war of Mexico had
bankrupted the country, by killing one tenth of population, and the provinces had no authority
to govern. A huge number of immigrants were entering the region though immigration was
officially banned (Hoxie). Santa Anna captured power in the year 1833 who was revolted
against the Texans. These Texans were led by Juan Seguin and Stephen Austin with whom
the Mexican shared good bond hence supported. In 1845, Texas was admitted to be free state
which was opposed by the Mexicans thus the war broke again. Mexico refused to recognize
the border and the US had the best army in the entire region. This is how in 1848, the El
Norte was entitled as the property of the US. El Norte was one of the major region in the
southern part of America, the civil war had a great effect on the economy and society of the
country (McCusker and Russell). The dependence and abundance of slavery in the southern
states were the chief reason of American Civil war. In this aspect, the leaders of the Deep
South and Tidewater were strong supporters of slavery whereas other states including the El
Norte were not so bothered about this changes. Between the election and inauguration of
Lincoln, only Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas
seceded. However, the culture of the south was not much affected by that of the north
because the policies of the north was offensive and the north had failed to maintain their
policies for a long time in the southern region. Woodard writes, “Since 1877, the driving
force in American politics hasn’t primarily been a class struggle or tension between agrarian
and commercial interests, or even between competing partisan ideologies, although each has
played a role” (Woodard).

3HISTORY OF EL NORTE
This region of El Norte is a cultural hybrid of English and the Spanish culture.
According to the scholars it is due to the fact that the region has different invaders at different
time. This diversity of religious, cultural, ethnic and political differences among numerous
strains of settlers’ have affected the culture of this region over the time. The people of this
region are well reputed to be exceptionally independent, adaptable and self- sufficient. These
people are focused too their works. The region is most prized for its diversity of language.
Towards the end of the fifteenth century the region of El Norte was established by the
Spanish soldiers whose leaders were very much concern with transmitting their culture from
generation to generation and protecting them (Okihiro). The chief culture of this region was
Spanish and followed the norms of Catholicism. The chief idea of religion and culture at that
time was morality. However, these were the wealth acquired by the Spanish and religious
mission summoned by Vatican for enslaving the world, paved the way for struggle among the
superpowers of Europe. As most of the part of El Norte had Spanish as its residents, the
change of policies of the mother country directly affected the situation of the residents in the
colonies. In the late sixteen centuries the power and wealth was fast deterioration of the
Spanish emperors and the wave of protestant supremacy was fast approaching (Littell)
After the Spaniards invaded the region of El Norte, they governed everything starting
from work, dress codes of conduct and even their faith. They provided training to the native
people of that region who learnt to manage their own trades. They had catholic faith in their
minds, Spanish working habits and Castilian language. The culture of the region completely
changed into hybrid, mixing the native Indians’ and the Spanish. However, these mixed
culture of the Mestizos were changed with the advent of Christian missionaries who whipped
them in the name of religion. The colonialism changed the peace loving culture of the people
of this region which was gradually create good haven for the immigrants. In the chapter 23 of
the third part of his book, Woodard has spoken about the probability of takeover of the entire

4HISTORY OF EL NORTE
region of El Norte by the Norteño culture that currently extends both the north as well as the
south of US-Mexico border. Towards the end of twenty centuries the people of these southern
states along with El Norte supported new war culture for their own profit and growing
military bases.
The future implication of what Woodard has predicted in his book, is completely
agreeable. In his writing the author has tried to contemporary American struggle over cultural
change as well as the overseas military engagements to the historical diversity among the
nations of the continent. The country’s two major controversial wars namely Vietnam as well
as Iraq were waged by the presidents of these warrior nations (Schlozman). Woodard has
concluded that the equality and balance of power in the future political and cultural struggle
among the nations will be held by the two nations namely El Norte and the First Nation. By
El Norte he meant the United States and by the First Nation he meant Canada. Both of these
nations have become the most important lands in the history of humankind. The economic,
political and cultural ideologies that influence the whole world record divisions not only in
the present time but from the historical origin of the states and their shaping. In the prudential
election of 2016 also exhibits same regional patterning. This patterning was always there
since the establishments of the states. This division is not only due to the cultural differences
or differences in their ancestral heritage but in their political ideologies and understanding of
the changes in political power (Midcoastforum.org). This presidential election has captured
the prediction of Woodard more brilliantly as the intellectual gap becomes implicit with the
change in region and culture. For being more communitarian minded candidate, the votes
from Yankeedom, New Netherlands and Left Coast were given to Hillary Clinton. Moreover,
she got support from the blue coalition of El Norte, Tidewater and Southern Florida. On the
other hand, Donald Trump captured the ethos of three major regional cultures of Deep South,
Far West and Great Appalachia that support the red coalition.

5HISTORY OF EL NORTE
Therefore, it can be concluded that the regional differences among the 11 nations of
the North American continent largely influenced the culture, economy and polity of the
nation. The social norms and influences followed by the Spanish colonials largely affected
the lives of the native people both in the cultural as well as political aspect. American Nations
is a book that has a revolutionary take on America’s myriad identities. It records the conflicts
between these 11 nations have shaped the past and molding the future of the continent.

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Reference:
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People, Volume
I. Vol. 11. McGraw-Hill, 2015.
Hoxie, Frederick E., and Peter Iverson, eds. Indians in American history: An introduction.
John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
Littell, Franklin. From State Church to Pluralism: A Protestant Interpretation of Religion in
American History. Routledge, 2017.
McCusker, John J., and Russell R. Menard. The Economy of British America, 1607-1789.
UNC Press Books, 2014.
Midcoastforum.org. "How Colin Woodard’S ‘American Nations’ Explains The 2016
Presidential Election." Midcoastforum.org. N.p., 2018. Web. 30 Mar. 2018.
Okihiro, Gary Y. Margins and mainstreams: Asians in American history and culture.
University of Washington Press, 2014.
Schlozman, Daniel. When movements anchor parties: Electoral alignments in American
history. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Woodard, Colin. American nations: A history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North
America. Penguin, 2011.