Ch. 5 The North American Manufacturing Core

Monterey, California is unfortunately not a part of the North American Manufacturing Core. The Manufacturing Core resides in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and parts of Virginia and West Virginia.

Chapter 5 talks mainly of the Manufacturing Core, but does mention that manufacturing is found west of the Mississippi River such as California's Silicon Valley, which is about an hour and a half from Monterey. Silicon Valley plays a big role in the technology world. It is home to many of the world's biggest technology corporations like Apple, Adobe Systems, Google, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and many more.

Silicon Valley got its name from the large number of silicon chip manufacturers that were present there. Many parts of a computer, like the motherboard and a lot of its components contained silicon.

Although it doesn't go into detail in Chapter 5, the manufacturing that occurs in Silicon Valley is comparable to the Manufacturing Core. Different things are being manufactured like iron and steel in the Manufacturing Core, and technological devices in Silicon Valley, but it is all for the same reason. Things are being produced to create revenue for the companies and to cater to what the consumers want.

Ch. 4 Megalopolis

The city of Monterey itself is not part of a Megalopolis, but the nearest one would be San Francisco, which is 2 hours north of Monterey. That Megalopolis consists of the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, and Reno.

San Francisco is considered a Megalopolis because of its proximity to the ocean; its many harbors; the many major freeways including the 101, 880, and 280; its large population of 12.7 million people in that region, and much more.

Ch. 3 Foundations of Human Activity

Before the European settlement of Monterey, the Ohlone tribe were the original inhabitants. Most notably, it was the Rumsien people who inhabited Monterey. The fish, wildlife, and other natural resources are what attracted the Rumsiens to Monterey.

European Settlement
In 1602, Sebastian Vizcaino of Spain was the first to set foot on Monterey. But Father Junipero Serra and Gaspar de Portola were the ones who established it in 1770.

Population and Demographics
The population density of Monterey measured in people per square mile by county is 79.6 to 159.9.

The racial makeup of Monterey is 78.3% White, 2.8% African American, 7.9% Asian, 0.5% Native American, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 5% from other races, and 5.1% from two or more races.

The predominant religion in Monterey is Catholic.

Ch. 2 Geographic Patterns of the Physical Environment

Monterey belongs in the Pacific Mountains and Valleys physiographic region. Monterey's climate is Mediterranean with the warmest month mean under 71.6°F. From my experience, Monterey is mostly cold and very foggy at times, especially in the morning. The summer is always the warmest, average temperature is about 65°-75°F. When it's warm, many people like to go to the beach, but don't expect the water to be warm, it's cold and it's almost always windy at the beach!

Monterey's vegetation region is: cold needleleaf forest and coastal forest. And their soil type is Highland. There are no mineral fuels or metallic minerals found in Monterey.