East Coast of the United States
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The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S. states of (from north to south): Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Although they do not border the Atlantic Ocean itself, Pennsylvania, which borders on the tidal southern reaches of the Delaware river; Connecticut, which borders Long Island Sound, but is bounded to the east at sea by New York and Rhode Island; and Vermont, claimed before statehood by New Hampshire and in 1764 declared by King George III a part of New York state,[1] are normally included in this grouping.[2]
The population of the East Coast states, extending from Maine to Florida, was 112,642,503 as of the 2010 Census (36% of the country's total population).[3] The seaboard is susceptible to hurricanes in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
The primary roadways linking the entire coast are U.S. Route 1 and Interstate 95. Much of the coast is also connected via the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
Major cities
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Major metropolitan areas on the East Coast include (from north to south):
- Portland
- Albany
- Boston
- Springfield
- Providence
- Hartford
- New Haven
- Bridgeport
- New York
- Jersey City
- Newark
- Wilmington, Delaware
- Baltimore
- Washington, D.C.
- Richmond-Petersburg
- Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (Hampton Roads)
- Raleigh-Durham
- Greensboro/Winston-Salem
- Charlotte
- Charleston, SC
- Columbia
- Atlanta
- Savannah
- Jacksonville
- Orlando
- Miami (South Florida)
Physical geography
Significant bodies of water and regions along the East Coast include (from south to north):
- Chesapeake Bay
- Delmarva Peninsula and Eastern Shore of Virginia and Eastern Shore of Maryland
- Delaware Bay
- Jersey Shore
- New York Bight and Lower New York Bay
- Outer Lands
See also
- Atlantic Canada and the Maritimes - Eastern coast of Canada
- Atlantic Coastal Plain
- Atlantic Seaboard fall line
- Gulf Coast of the United States
- West Coast of the United States
References
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2010) |
- ^ The Council of Revision of the State of New York, Alfred Billings Street, p 102
- ^ A History of Pennsylvania, Philip S. Klein, Ari Hoogenboom, p 17, http://books.google.com/books?id=AB24rFZOmzcC&dq=pennsylvania+eastern+seaboard&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- ^ http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php