The document discusses how agricultural geography and population movements influenced the outbreak of the American Civil War. It explains that the potato originated in South America but was adopted in Northern Europe due to its ability to thrive in harsh climates. This population growth in Europe led to a famine in Ireland and mass migration to the United States in the mid-1800s. Most Irish immigrants settled in the industrializing Northern states, shifting the population balance between the North and South. This impacted the political power dynamics between free and slave states, contributing to the South's decision to secede from the Union and fight to preserve the institution of slavery.

1. What caused the Civil War
Geography’s answer to History

2. Human geo is the center of
the learning universe

3. Human Geo Subdisciplines
Population GeographyPopulation Geography
Cultural GeographyCultural Geography
Economic GeographyEconomic Geography
Urban GeographyUrban Geography
AgriculturalAgricultural
GeographyGeography
Political GeographyPolitical Geography

4. So, what caused the Civil War?
• Slavery
• States Rights vs. National rights
• Other
• Geographers say it was the potato!!!
• Huh? What?

5. Potato Origins
• -Where is the potato native?
• Bolivia, Peru and the
broader Andean region
• -Where is it grown today?
• -Why is it grown there today?

6. Why is it grown
in these areas?

7. Agricultural Geography
• Where in Europe does the potato grow
and why was it grown there?
• Northern European countries like:
England, Ireland, Germany, Poland and
Sweden. (Also rugged areas of
China/India)
• Potato could handle harsher climate and
thrive!

8. How did the potato get from
SA to Europe?

9. Columbian Exchange!
• Side Note: Where was Columbus from? (think!)
• Genoa (not Italy...Italy didn’t exist!)
• WHY didn’t he sail for his homeland?
• WHY did he sail for Spain?
• POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

10. Impact of Potato on Europe
• What impact does the potato have in
Ireland, Sweden, Russia, etc?
• Population explosion
• What impact does more people have on
a country and its economy?
• Job shortages + Irish potato famine
create a need to _______
• POPULATION AND MIGRATION

11. Where do you go?
• You love your country, but you can’t
make it!
• Where would you migrate if you were
Irish? Why? or...
• Why would the Irish want to go to the
U.S. when it’s so far away?

12. Irish migration to US
• Industrial Revolution...the U.S. had a need
for workers (Economic Geography)
• What other motives? (Cultural Geography)
• Language
• Religion (The idea of freedom of religion)

13. Irish migration mid-1800s
• Dramatic increase in Irish in United States:
• 92,484 in 1846 196,224 in 1847 173,744
in 1848 204,771 in 1849 206,041 in 1850
• By the end of 1854 nearly two million people -
about a quarter of the population - had emigrated
to the United States in ten years.
• U.S. population grew roughly 35% every decade from
1800 to 1860 mostly through immigration. Could you
imagine that many immigrants coming to America
today!?!

14. Wait a second...
• How does any of this connect to the
Civil War?
• If you are a European immigrant, where
in the U.S. would you go and why
would you go there?

15. Where do you go in U.S.?
• The 1850 census revealed that Irish
mainly lived in NY, Penn., Mass.,
Illinois, Ohio and New Jersey. WHY???
• Slave labor in South
• Factories in the North

16. Population/Political Geography
• European migration to the North
changed things...
• In 1800, the South was home to half the
U.S. population
• In 1860, it represented just over 1/3!
Why is this important?

17. Political Geography
• The U.S. is a federalist state. States have
power in Congress based on _________
• In 1847, the Union compromised 15 slave and
14 free states, so Southerners maintained
control of the Senate.
• Population growth is sponsoring Westward
expansion and new states with immigrant
labor, not slave
• Plus, Northern States are growing

18. Done..Dun...Dun...
• South sees the writing on the wall!!!
But, first it:
• tries stopping transcontinental railroad. (Why?)
• sponsored 3 invasion attempts of Cuba (Why?)
• 3 efforts to seize Nicaragua (why?)
• 1 invasion of Baja California
• tried to purchase 1/3 of California

19. Done..Dun...Dun...
• By 1860, slave states were a minority.
• Political power had shifted to the North.
• South had to choose:
• give up their way of life or
• fight and claim that State rights
trumped the Federal Government

20. See... I did it!!!!