Lab 8: Census 2000/2010

     I found working with US Census data extremely easy. There is a lot of information on not only population and elevation but other interesting subject areas as well. The tutorial was relatively easy to understand and it described exactly how to navigate the site particularly well, especially since the actual site is unrecognizable compared to how it was a year and a half ago. Overall my experience with working with www.census.gov was positive.

     Below these paragraphs, there are three maps. The first map "US Black Population" displays the information taken from the US census website in the different colors. This map is an illustration of the distribution of the African American population in the US. It has a varying color scheme that ranges from light pink to dark red. The darker the color the more concentrated the population. There is an imbalance of colors shows that there is an imbalance in population in the US. Here, the majority of the population is primarily centered in the south. This is most likely due to the long history of slavery in the area that dates back to more than a hundred years. There are other places on the map that have a large amount of African-Americans but that is because they are largely metropolitan areas where population is higher in general.

     The second map "US Asian Population" and it, like the first map, displays the information form US census. It shows the same type of population distribution but for Asian-Americans. There is also an imbalance of population. It is shown through the spectrum of blue throughout the map. Once again the darkest blue is the most concentrated while the white is the least populated by the demographic. Most of the Asian-Americans are concentrated in the west coast and the metropolitan areas; the heaviest concentration being in the San Francisco bay area in California. Other than the major metropolitan areas the Asian demographic is almost the complete opposite from the African American demographic in how there is nearly no concentration in the south. This could be because the majority of the Asian-American population sought out places with better school systems or maybe decided to go to more liberal states. California stands out as the most heavily populated followed closely by New York

     The third map "Other Population" consists of Hispanics and Native Americans. It is also taken from US census data but is shown through the spectrum of light and dark green. Here, the map shows that the most concentrated parts of the demographic is in the general southwest, although there is some in the metropolitan areas of New York and it's surrounding states. Unlike the other map which had small but heavily concentrated areas this map had large and heavily concentrated areas. I think the reason why the demographic is in the southwest is because many Hispanics immigrated from the South and Central American countries. Whether the fact that New Mexico is the second most concentrated state next to California is a factor is up to debate. Also Native American tribes were pushed out of the general east throughout the first few hundred years after the New World was discovered. The infamous Trail of Tears is a definite factor that explains why there is hardly a concentration of this "Other Population" in the south.