Thursday, September 1, 2016

Belts In Medieval America


On the subject of Medival America's new, or condensed "Grain Belt", I began thinking about other  "belt regions", like the Rust Belt or Bible Belt of industrial belt. Most of these will be defined by the ability to produce goods, though natural and cultural belts do exist. (And it can be said industry can have an influence on culture and politics) To qualify as a belt, they have to fit these criteria.

1) More narrow than not.
2) At least three million people.
3) At least somewhat contiguous.
4) Transcends a single nation state.

So for instance, there's not necessarily a "Sheep Belt" because shepherds make up isolated pocket communities. California has a "Fruit Belt" inside of it, but it's not part of a fruit belt, because its orchards and wineries are largely in one Nation State.

Of the already established belts, there's the naturally occurring Snow/Frost Belt. The Sun Belt may or may not be extant, as eastern and western united states are a lot more separate (than they used to be. There's also still a Cotton Belt in southeast, inland America. (Historically this was sometimes called the Black Belt because of its soil and populace, but this is somewhat obsolete now). There's also a somewhat smaller Tobacco Belt.

The Rust Belt is one of the more famous terms to describe Industrial America. Nobody is going to be manufacturing  cars anytime soon, but jobs can't be shipped overseas, so any metalworking that's done is going to be done at home. The Rust Belt has regained its luster and become a Steel Belt once more, albeit one that only reaches as far as the Grain belt begins.

The traditional Bible Belt is gone, as almost everybody is an avid churchgoer these days, (And if anything, the southern United States are probably relatively more hedonistic) but one should note the tight cluster of District Headquarters for Non-Denominational Church in the Northeast. This may be a new Bible Belt, owing to what looks like a thriving book industry in the Northeast. An inordinate percentage of the population are probably members and thus, literate. And the most read book would be the Bible. Therefore, "Bible Belt" would would not be about the peculiarity of adherence to Scripture, but of reading at all. It's quite possible it would be called the "Court Belt" due to concentration of Supreme Court politics, and that its republican structure means they're not settling their beefs on the battlefield.

Speaking of beef..while the great Plains are no longer the continent, there is a Cow Belt which largely makes up the New Israelite World, although some of it extends into the Rocky Mountains as well.

The Gulf Coast of the United States has three things that are unique to it 1) The practice of Voodoo, 2) The Secretarial States, and 3) Sugar being grown as a cash crop. This means the Gulf can be called all three things simultaneously, but names that may indicate all three would include rather deogatory names like the "Blood Belt", "The Witch Queen Belt" or the "Candy Belt".

5 comments:

  1. Well, who knew there were actual requirements for a "belt." very interesting.

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  2. What year does White's Medieval America take place.

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    1. About 2900, since it says it take place about nine hundred years after industrial civilization's collapse.

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