REGIONS AND HUMAN ECOLOGY 27 



CITIES BUILT ON COTTON 



The location and growth of southern cities have been 

 determined largely by their relation to cotton culture. 

 The human ecology of the Cotton Belt would include an 

 account of the agricultural capitals, the distribution of 

 cities built on cotton. Cities in relation to cotton are di- 

 vided into future markets, spot markets, and points of 

 export. A spot market may be either bona fide or used 

 for determining difference for delivery on future con- 

 tracts. These do not include the primary markets, the 

 name given to the interior towns and villages where the 

 cotton first leaves the hands of the producer. 48 For 

 the Eastern Belt, Savannah, Norfolk, Augusta, Charles- 

 ton, Atlanta, Columbia, Brunswick, Wilmington, Macon, 

 Greenville, lead as spot markets in the order named. 

 Savannah, Brunswick, Wilmington, and Norfolk are also 

 export points. For the Gulf states, New Orleans, Mobile, 

 Montgomery, and Pensacola, Florida, serve as outlets. 

 The alluvial regions form the hinterland for the great 

 cotton metropolises of New Orleans and Memphis, with 

 Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and Helena as smaller Arkansas 

 spot markets. New Orleans is remarkable as the cotton 

 outlet of the Mississippi. Third as a spot market in re- 

 ceipt of cotton bales, second after New York as a future 

 market, and second as a port of export, New Orleans is 

 a really great cotton metropolis. 



The great Western Belt is dominated by Galveston 

 and Houston, which lead the world as spot markets. 

 Texas City, Fort Worth, Paris, Dallas, and Chickasha, 

 Oklahoma, are also cotton centers. Galveston leads as 

 point of export. The leading cotton points outside the 



48 "The Cotton Situation," pp. 383-85. 



