Appalachia

Appalachia ( AP-ə-LATCH-ə or AP-ə-LAY-chə) is a geo-cultural region located in the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. West Virginia near the center, is the only state entirely within the boundaries of Appalachia. While its geographic boundaries stretch as far north as New Brunswick and Newfoundland, Canada, the Appalachian Regional Commission's (ARC) borders begin in the Southern tier of New York and continue south through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Smoky Mountains into northern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The cultural area that has been traditionally perceived as Appalachia, also known as "Old Appalachia", is generally defined as a subregion inside of the ARC's boundaries. In 2021, the region was home to an estimated 26.3 million people.

Since its recognition as a cultural region in the late 19th century, Appalachia has been a source of enduring myths and distortions regarding the isolation, temperament, and behavior of its inhabitants. Early 20th-century writers often engaged in yellow journalism focused on sensationalistic aspects of the region's culture, such as moonshining and clan feuding, portraying the region's inhabitants as uneducated and unrefined; although these stereotypes still exist to a lesser extent today, sociological studies have since begun to dispel them.