Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before experiencing natural erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east–west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most highways and railroads running east–west.

Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division as consisting of 13 provinces: the Atlantic Coast Uplands, Eastern Newfoundland Atlantic, Maritime Acadian Highlands, Maritime Plain, Notre Dame and Mégantic Mountains, Western Newfoundland Mountains, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, St. Lawrence Valley, Appalachian Plateaus, and New England province. The Appalachians do not include the Adirondack Mountains, a distinct and growing range that is a part of the Canadian Shield and belongs to the Grenville Orogeny.

Literary comment

In the Atlantis Series, the continent of Atlantis is bisected by the Green Ridge Mountains, an analog of the Blue Ridge. The cover of The United States of Atlantis shows a map which labels this range the Appalachians, a name which does not exist in-universe.

Appalachian Mountains in The Two Georges

Per the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Appalachian Mountains marked the westward limit of white settlement in the North American Union. Governor-General George Washington loyally enforced the Proclamation. Eventually, the sheer unmanageability of white population growth made the Proclamation untenable, and it was repealed in 1798. However, the 35 years of its force gave the Red Indians time to prepare and industrialise their civilisation, so that when white territory began expanding, the Indians met the newcomers on even terms.