The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia Encyclopedia World Factbook Columbia Gazetteer American Heritage Coll. South, the region of the United States embracing the southeastern and south-central parts of the country. The contemporary South, however, is generally regarded to be those states mentioned above minus Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, and Oklahoma. The humid subtropical climate, however, is one unifying factor.
Winters are neither long nor very cold, and no month averages below freezing.
Cotton, once the region's dominant crop, is now mostly grown in Texas, the Southwest, and California. Since World War II, the South has become increasingly industrialized. The chief cities of the South are Atlanta, New Orleans, Charlotte, Miami, Memphis, and Jacksonville. Its principal subject has been the Civil War, reflected in song and poetry from Paul Hamilton Hayne to Allen Tate and in novels from Thomas Nelson Page to Margaret Mitchell. Issues of race have been central to the history of the South.